Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Pivot For Dummies (Beginner's Guide to Pivot)

I've noticed an increased interest in Pivot in this sub forum lately, and I've noticed that many questions have been asked in other user's threads. Now, this might not be a big problem, but seeing as how most of those questions are the same, I decided to answer them in a new thread. Here we go.

First of all, the "Where do I get Pivot?" question.

Pivot can be found in many places, and is a free program. A Google search should provide several sources. There are, however, more than one version of Pivot out there. Pivot 2.2.5 was the last version made by the original creator, and is the most commonly found one. There is also Pivot 3 BETA, which is a modified version of Pivot, created by another person. This is the version I'm using and would recommend. You should be able to find it too via a Google search, but I'm gonna go ahead and post a link to where I got it. In the rest of this tutorial I'm going to assume you're using version 3.

Next question, "How do I load pictures into Pivot?".

To load BMP and GIF pictures into Pivot you go to File, in the top left corner, and then press the "Load Sprite" button. Then select the image you want to load, and there it is. The image can then be rotated, moved and re-sized.

"What if I want these super-cool stickmen, with moveable limbs?"

Then you're going to have to either open File and press Create Figure Type, and draw it yourself, or Load Figure Type, and load a .STK file. A good source for .STK files is droidz.org.

"I wanna draw my own stickman. Got any advice?"

No, go away. Fine, I'll help. As you can see, there's a line, a circle, and a circle with a line through it. The line draws lines, the circle draws circles, and the circle with a line through it turns existing circles or line into the other segment type.
The small up and down arrows change thickness of the line or circle. You might notice that the two smallest options look like they've got the same thickness when the segment is targeted, but that is not true. If you target something else you will notice that the thinnest line is actually invisible, while the next one is very thin, but visible.
Next's the button with the two lines. It copies the segment you've currently got targeted.
Now, the next button is very useful. The one with a line, and a red cross. It toggles whether your segment will be dynamic, or static, in other words, whether you should be able to move that joint in the animation window. This is useful because you can make sure only the joints you're going to move are visible, so your stickman wont be full of red dots when you start animating.


Those were some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ), and maybe a few I made up myself. Who knows?

Next, I'll give you some tips which can turn an animation like this:


Into an animation like this:



First of all, if you want your animation to run smoothly, you should use at least 16 frames per second. Personally, I use 20. Some use more. Another way to make the movements seem a bit more smoothly is to use easing. I'm going to give you a link to a guide that helped me learn about easing, and a quick summary.

Easing is when you start a character or object's movement by making small changes, and then increase the amount you move the joint(s) with every frame, and then end the movement with some smaller movements. This will both make it look realistic and flow more smoothly. The guide will tell you more about this.
Here's an animation I did while learning about easing.


Using the entire body is also something you can try to do. For example, if your character jumps, don't just make him fly into the air. This will also add some realism and smoothness to your animation. If you don't know how it should look, try to either get off your chair and do the movement yourself, picture it in your head, or find a video clip with someone who does it. This is something which requires patience and practice to learn. The only thing I have to add is that it makes a huge difference, and putting a little extra work into making these details could improve the overall quality of your animation.

Here's an example of a jumping stickman.



Make enough frames! If you animate in X FPS, this means that every frame is 1/X seconds long. For example, if you animate with 16 FPS, every frame is shown for 1/16 seconds. This means that a second of animation is 16 frames long. When you make, for example, a running stickman, and you move him forward, try to ask yourself, "Do I really want him to move 16 times this distance in a second?".

Test your animation often. If you make a mistake, it's a lot easier to correct it if it's the last thing you did than if you have 20 frames afterward which all contain the same error. It's also a good idea to save every now and then. I've never lost any work because of a Pivot crash, but hey, better safe than sorry.

Now you have the knowledge to make some neat animations. The only thing that's left for you to do now is to practice.

Have fun... or else! *Shakes fist*


Oh, and if you are new and just looking for constructive criticism, perhaps you could post your animation here. When you feel like you're good enough to start showing off, then you make your own thread.