Pivot Stickfigure Animator in Detail
Pivot Stickfigure Animator is a simple, easy-to-use animation software designed for personal use. The main feature is that instead of having to redraw your character, you are able to move the specified joints inside your character from the position of the last frame. This software is ideal if you are starting out in animation. It is easy and fun to use as not only does it quickly introduce you to the animation world, it gives you a nice headstart by quickly improving the quality of your animations.
The Layout
As soon as you open up pivot, you know it won't be hard. the toolbar has only 3 tabs: File, Options, and Help.
The file tab is the place you will be at the most when you are working with Pivot. The functions of File are to Load/Save an animation, Load/Create a stickfigure, Load a background, create a New animation, or to Exit.
When you click the options tab, a small window will appear with the text "Animation Dimensions" and two options labeled Width and Height. The default is W: 506 and H: 415.
Normally I never open the dimensions tab, but if you feel you want to work with a larger/smaller screen you can change them accordingly. The quality of your animations are never affected.
The Help tab is pretty intuitive, there is a readme file and an About section. Personally it is so simple that I never have had to open either of them.
The main buttons are off to your left. You will see a small box on the top of that left tab. There you have your main playback options: Framerate, Repeat, and Play/Stop.
Below that you have a dropdown menu with a button that reads "Add Figure." Just select a figure from the dropdown menu (that you have already loaded from the file tab) and press the button. The figure will appear in the middle of your screen.
Below is another box with the main stickfigure options: Delete, Edit, Center, Flip, Color, Size, Front, and Back. They all are self-explanatory. Right below that is the last button, the Next Frame button. Of course, that button goes to the next frame.
Getting Started
1. Start up Stickfigure Animator. Right away you should notice that the default is a single stick figure in the center of the screen. You can position it however you like before clicking the "Next Frame" button.
2. Add any figures you want with the "Add Figure" button. This only applies to stick figures, and it has an upper limit of five.
3. Position your "actors" so that they'll be at a point that you'd like them to be. Do this by selecting the dot indicating the joint in the figure and moving your pointer device in the direction you want the limb to go in relation to the figure base. You can move the figure by selecting the central stick.
4. Press the "Next Frame" button on the left side of the screen. In the frame across the top, you should see your frame appear.
5. Reposition your stick figures. This should be a slight alteration of each of your character's position to make the animation smooth.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you've completed your animation sequence with at least 30 frames.
7. Press "Play" on the upper side of the left-hand frame. You will then see your stick figures go through the sequence that you put them through.