How do you go about designing patches?

Question

Hello! I watched the videos regarding patching and was wondering if there was a specific procedure to it like designing/planning like how you would plan different types of joints? In the patching article it is mentioned "Patching needs to be done creatively, and even though there are universal principles of patch engineering and design, the specifics have to be decided on a character-by-character basis, and will be dependent on each individual design, details and proportions" What are those univeral principles?

Answer 1

Hello Stasia,

 

My first rule is to use as few patches as possible, because each patch adds a layer to the character timeline.

This will be dependent on the design.

If we take the blue cartoony cat in the article as an example, the hip joint could be treated without the need of a patch.

 

 

The next decision to be made is where to put the patches. Whether to have them as frames inside the body part symbol, or as a separate symbol. Both approaches are valid.

In both cases you can use Smart Graphic Control to sync the patch to the body part.

For most people it seems more intuitive to have a separate patch symbol, with corresponding frame numbers.

Say if you have a foreshortened version of the arm on frame 5 of the arm symbol, you will have its matching patch on frame 5 of the patch symbol.

 

The simplest starting point for a patch is to repeat the fill shape (copy/paste) of the underlying element. Then no wrinkle will appear at all. (See the foot of the cat.)

You can also start with a simple rectangle, hard-weld it and start rounding one of the vertices, and test.

After a while you will get a good sense how shapes interact, but you can use the examples in the article as a starting point.

Of course, you can have variations of the patches inside the patch container for different situations.

 

 

Hope this helps!