RxLaboratory Forum

Hey,

Firstly, I just wanted to say that DUIK is literally the best thing ever to happen to After Effects. Donating to the last crowdfunding was a worthy investment, so thanks for all the great work.

I did have a quick question about stretching limbs. If I use separated AI artwork for the joints in the arms for example, when I stretch I get this effect. I know if I use puppet tools it's more forgiving. I've got a workaround of using an alpha layer to hide the bit that sticks out but wanted to know if there was something I was doing wrong.

All the best,

Chris

Hi, and many thanks for your support!

There are several ways to achieve this, depending on what you prefer/the style of the character:

- With puppet pins, but keeping the artworks separated: add only two pins per layer, one at each end, add bones, and parent them to the structures.

- By connecting the Y-scale of the layer to the scale value (which is exposed in the data of the IK Effect). It works well, but you may have to precompose so the Y axis is aligned to the artwork

- With an animated mask connected to the IK

- With an alpha matte, as you did

All of these work well, I think the alpha matte has the best performance, the puppet pins the worst