All posts in Tutorials

A step-by-step guide to creating an edaptable rig from start to finish

Our free downloadable character rigs – KineFox and Smart Magnet Bot – have proven to be very popular with users. The article on Classic Tween Workflow has chapters dedicated to character specifics, but none of them covers the actual process in a step-by-step manner. Read more
The warmth of traditional Czech cutout films from the 70s has always fascinated us. They bring cosiness and sincerity, which are almost completely forgotten in the digital age of polished and intense visual stimulation.

Over the years, we have often wondered how closely we could emulate this look in Flash with SMR.

There are basically two approaches which can be taken. There are pros and cons with each one, but both are valid and can produce appealing results, bringing some of that lost warmth and sincerity back to cartoons. Read more
“Is there a way to rig a skirt and avoid Shape Tweens in a synced timeline?”

Smart Magnet Rigs are so flexible that they provide an effective alternative.
A simple setup of four elements allows dynamic and interactive posing, where the skirt is mostly animated at character level, and the body poses are automatically matched. Read more
The question how to rig characters with outlines has popped up multiple times.

In the world of digital cutouts outlines make life more difficult and complicate everything. This is why a large part of the character designs (and rigs) don't have any outlines at all, or only have partial in the facial area, hands, feet and some wrinkles here and there.

Ultimately, it is an artistic and stylistic choice. Read more
Smart Magnet Rigs have been around for almost a decade. While its core has remained unchanged since the inception, over this period the system has become very polished, commercially viable, extremely flexible and intuitive to use.

The goal of this article is to re-focus the attention on the interconnected tools, features and methods that will allow those who are already familiar with SMR and have experience with single-angle rigs to further their knowledge and explore a wider range of possibilities. Read more
For years we have refrained to give turnaround rigging prescriptions, because there are many IFs, and we thought that such advice has the potential to be misinterpreted.

When it comes to multi-angle rigging there are generally two possible approaches to organizing assets (or a combination of the two), and the choice is often dictated by personal preference or better suitability for a particular animation style.
The rig does not have some special intrinsic value. The meaning of its existence is to make animation faster and easier. Read more
“Can I transfer an existing animation from one character to another?”

The short answer is “Yes!”

Smart Magnet Rigs are so flexible that even this is possible. You can swap an already animated character with another one, which has different proportions and keep the animation. The process is fairly quick and straight-forward. It requires a couple of passes and some cleaning up, but is a huge time saver. Read more
Since the number of new users has exploded after the release of v.6, and many of them are super excited and impatient to start using SMR right away, we thought it would be appropriate to compile a couple of articles that will give quick answers to questions that seem to be common.

One such question asked over and over is:
“What's the best place to start learning about the Smart Magnet Rig system?” Read more
“My Smart Magnet Rig works well at Keyframes, but elements float during Tweens as if it is not rigged at all. Is this a bug?”

No, it is not a bug.
This is how Classic Tweens work in Flash / Animate. Elements tween from point A to point B in a straight line. SMR tools assist posing at keyframes in unthinkable ways, but tweening is still handled by Flash / Animate.

So how do we deal with this and how to make the elements move along arcs? Read more