Walk & run and Gestures

Walk & run and Gestures are the first two blocks on Preset moves . They are whole-fig moves: several parts at once, timed against each other, on the parts named under Rig . (An idle loop moves one part.) Walk & run holds Walk, Run, March, and Roll. Gestures holds Wave, Nod, Shake no, Wag, Flap, Chomp, Look around, and Perk up.

Walk & run

The cycles play in place. Each writes keyframes onto the named parts and loops them. With nothing chosen the block reads Walking and running cycles on the legs and arms, in place. They use the parts named in Rig.

• Walk: a walking cycle. The legs stride, the arms swing opposite, the body bobs.
• Run: a running cycle, faster and wider than Walk, with a higher bounce.
• March: the legs step in turn, in place.
• Roll: every wheel spins.

Gestures

With nothing chosen the block reads Gestures for one or two parts. Uses the parts named in Rig.

• Wave: one arm lifts and waves. It asks for the right arm first.
• Nod: the head nods.
• Shake no: the head shakes side to side.
• Wag: the tail swings side to side. A tail with a bend area curls; a rigid one turns at its root.
• Flap: the wings beat together.
• Chomp: the jaw opens and shuts.
• Look around: the head turns to each side.
• Perk up: droops, then springs back up.

Choose a move

Use Move to choose. The move is applied at once to the parts Rig named, and the hint names them: Walk uses Left leg, Right leg, Body. It plays in scenes and in Showtime. The block’s head reads on, and the move reads on in the list.

A fig can hold a Walk and a Wave at once. In one block, a move that shares parts with the move before it replaces it (Run replaces Walk). Two moves that share no parts both stay on (Walk and Roll, Wave and Nod); the head then names them, Wave, Nod on, and Move shows the one whose settings are open.

The app asks before a move replaces a move from the other block, or keyframes you made by hand: Wave replaces current part animations. Replace it? Tap Replace to go on. A part that is optional for Walk or Run (an arm, the body) is reassigned without a question: Wave uses the arm and Walk keeps playing without it.

Choose None to remove every move of the block from the fig. With two or more on, a coral Remove Walk button removes the one that is open. Removing a move removes the motion, not the parts.

A move the fig cannot do

A move the fig cannot do stays in Move, greyed, with a short reason. Choose it and the block opens a note: the full reason, then buttons for the fix.

• say what it is in Rig: the fig has no kind yet, so no part has a name. The note reads Wave plays on named parts., then This fig has no kind yet, so none of its parts has a name. Say what it is in Rig, then name its parts. Buttons: Say what it is in Rig › and Assign parts manually.
• a Thing has no named parts: the fig is a Thing. Buttons: Change what it is in Rig › and Assign parts manually.
• a Bird has wings, an Animal or a Bird has a tail, a Person has arms: this kind of fig has no such part. The note reads Flap needs wings. Your fig is a Person. A Bird has wings. Buttons: Change what it is in Rig › and Assign parts manually.
• needs a Right arm, needs a Left leg and a Right leg: the kind has the part, and no part is named for it yet. Buttons: Name a Right arm in Rig ›, or Name them in Rig › when several are missing. When the fig has the part on the other side, the note says so (Your fig has a Left arm (Cube 4) and no Right arm.) and adds a button, Wave with the Left arm, which applies the move to that side.

A button that ends in › opens Rig. Name a Right arm in Rig › opens it with that part’s box waiting for its tap. Assign parts manually starts the pick below, on any part, named or not.

Chomp, Roll, and Perk up are never greyed. No role names a jaw, a wheel, or a part that perks up, so these moves ask for the part.

Assign parts manually

The block asks for one part at a time and counts: Tap one leg (1 of 5), Tap the other leg. (2 of 5), Tap the arm on the corresponding side, or skip. (3 of 5). Tap the part on the fig, or choose it in the On dropdown. Skip this part skips an optional part, Skip and finish skips the last one, and Cancel stops the pick. While it runs the head reads choosing its parts.

If a part has its own keyframes or a move from the other block, the app asks before replacing them. A part’s idle loop stays (a leg that bounces keeps bouncing while it marches). When Rig chained a shin under a thigh or a forearm under an arm, Walk, Run, and March bend the knee and elbow too.

A part with no pivot set gets one from the move: legs and arms at the top, wings, tails, and jaws at the root, wheels at the center. A part with a pivot keeps it.

The settings

A move that is on shows its line and the parts it uses (It uses Left leg, Right leg, Body.), then its settings.

• On shows on a one-part move when the fig has another part it could play on. Use it to move the gesture: Wave to the other arm, Chomp to another jaw.
• Speed is on Walk, Run, March, and Roll. It has three stops: Slow, Normal, Fast. It sets the beat of the stride. In a scene, the route’s speed sets how far the fig travels.
• Stride is on Walk, Run, and March. It sets how far the legs reach, from 40% to 160%. 100% is the cycle’s default.
• Arm swing is on Walk and Run, when the move has an arm. It sets how far the arms swing, up to 160%. At the low end it reads Still and the arms do not swing.
• Starts is Always or On touch. On touch waits for a tap in Showtime or a scene: On touch: a tap starts it, and the next tap stops it.
• Pick its parts by hand starts the pick again from the first part.
• Use parts assigned in Rig shows when you named more parts after the move was applied (arms named after a Walk). Tap it and the move uses them.

A Walk or Run with no arm, on a fig whose arms have no names, shows a link: No arm is named, so the arms stay still. Name them in Rig ›.

▶ Play in the block’s head plays the open move on the stage, and ■ Stop stops it. Nothing is saved by either.

These moves play in Showtime, in scenes , and in every capture The Camera takes. A move set can hold a walk or a gesture as a step.