“Change segment thickness”: This edits the thickness of separate segments. “Toggle segment kind”: Change the segment from a line to a circle, or vice-versa. “Add circle”: Create a new circle segment to attach to your model. “Add line”: Create a new line segment to attach to the model. Highlight each button to see its function. Here you’ll see a straight line and a few buttons on the left. To create a model, click “file” and then “create figure type”. If you find my explanation of pivot confusing, look at this interactive tutorial made by Jon: This is called the “onionskin”.ģ)ğind the animation you want to load and double click it.ģ)ğind the figure you want to load and double click it. When you click “next frame” and move a joint, you’ll see a grey outline of where it was in the last frame.

When un-highlighted, all the joints will be displayed in blue. The orange circle (the origin) moves the entire figure. Click and drag the red circles to move each joint. “Help”: View legal data about the Pivot Stick Figure Animator program.Įach figure has a number of “joints” (the red circles). “Options”: Change the dimension values of the animation, or the size of the animation. “File”: Make a new animation, load a paint background, clear the background, create a figure, load a figure, open an animation or save an animation. “Next Frame”: Capture the screen as a frame, and move onto the next one. “Back”: Move the highlighted figure behind the other figures.

“Front”: Move the highlighted figure to the front of the animation, blocking your view of those behind it. A higher number means a bigger figure, while a lower number means a smaller figure. “100”: This figure denotes the percentage size of the highlighted figure. (I don’t recommend blue, red or orange, as this interferes with the animation.) “Colour”: Change the highlighted figure’s colour. “Flip”: Make the highlighted figure “mirror” itself, e.g. “Centre”: Move the highlighted figure’s orange joint to the centre of the screen. (Length, thickness, static/dynamic segment, toggle segment etc.)

“Edit”: Change the dimensions of the joints of your stickman. “Add Figure”: Add the currently selected figure to the animation. To load others, create and then save them. Click the downward arrow (drop-down bar) to view the list of figures currently loaded. “Stickman”: After loading a figure, its name will appear here. Scroll Bar (Located next to “play”): Adjust frames per second, or the speed of the animation. “Repeat”: Tick to make your animation loop, or play repeatedly. Beginners also need the most attention, so, this is where most of the guide will be. Mind Frame Of A Patient (Successful) Animatorīeginners will find this section the most helpful. Effects (Lightning/Electricity, Smoke, Shadows, Fire)Ĥb. Improving Movements (Speed Variance, Easing) and Effects (Basic Beams, Explosions, Debris Physics, Ground Shatter, Light Sources)ģb. Basic Idea Generation & Implementing Simple StorylinesĢc. Learning Basic Effects (Particles, Blood, Tremor, Fade, Blur, Trails)Ģa. Learning Basic Vital Movements (Walking, Running, Combat)ġe. Although this is designed more as a reference manual, anyone who honestly reads it all is a legend. Anyone who uses Pivot 3, I can’t help you. Your browser will guide you to the part of the tutorial that deals with lightning effects. For example, press ctrl+f and search for “lightning”. Use this to refer to some aspect of pivot you’re having difficulty with.

Play pivot stick figure animator