Uploaded January 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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This is a lesson from the course Rigging a Character in After Effects
Hi, this is Mark Diaz for 2D Animation 101, and in this lesson we will learn how to set up the joints and forward kinematics for the precomps.
Ok. So far we have set the forward kinematics of the character, except for the parts that require replacement animation. In the last lesson we grouped together all the parts of the replacement animation and created these precomps... the ones with the composition icon in the timeline.
Now, in this lesson we will finish setting up all the forward kinematics. For that, we first need to put the pivot points in the correct position.
Look, if right now I rotate the hand...
It doesn’t rotate from where it should.
Let me undo
So, before setting the forward kinematics, I first need to fix the rotation.
Ok. Let’s select the pivot point tool, you can get it from the tool bar or press the short cut Y.
And with this tool, I just put the pivot on the correct position.
Same with the right hand...
Right foot
And left foot.
The eyes and mouth can have the pivot in the center, it’s ok. You can change it if you want, but I like it as is.
Now, let’s set up the forward kinematics.
All I do is, select the left hand.
And in the timeline, link it to the left forearm... be careful, don’t link it to the right forearm, be sure to link it to the left forearm. It happens sometimes.
Then the right hand to the right forearm
Then, right foot to right calf
And finally left foot to left calf
Oh wait. We still need the eyes and mouth to be linked to the face. I pick both of them and link them to the head
Perfect. Let’s test it.
I pick the rotation tool pressing letter W on the keyboard
And now I just basically rotate different parts of the body, and Yes. Everything is going as I have foreseen it. Every part of the body is fully connected. Great.
Let me hide the joints layer for this... we won’t be needing it anymore...
Now this character is easier to animate now. All I do is rotate different parts of the body and I change the position easily.
Ok. Now. Before we move on to the next lesson, let me just tell you about a little small accident that sometimes happens to some of my students.
Sometimes you might click a layer on the composition panel, but instead of just selecting it, you double click on it...
And some panic. If this is the first time this happens to you, relax... what just happened is that this opened new view showing nothing but the layer you selected.
All you have to do is, pay attention to the tabs on the composition panel... this is the layer view, and right here is the composition view
See?
If you hover your mouse on the layer tab... you will see an X, I will click on it to close it
There. Now we can move on to the next lesson, in which we will learn abouthow to set up the inverse kinematics. I mean, we can definitely save time in animation by using forward kinematics, but as we saw in an earlier lesson, using inverse kinematics makes our job even easier.
See you in the next lesson.
Get COMPLETE COURSE FOR FREE at tr4ckit.com/d48v
This is a lesson from the course Rigging a Character in After Effects
Hi, this is Mark Diaz for 2D Animation 101, and in this lesson we will learn how to set up the joints and forward kinematics for the precomps.
Ok. So far we have set the forward kinematics of the character, except for the parts that require replacement animation. In the last lesson we grouped together all the parts of the replacement animation and created these precomps... the ones with the composition icon in the timeline.
Now, in this lesson we will finish setting up all the forward kinematics. For that, we first need to put the pivot points in the correct position.
Look, if right now I rotate the hand...
It doesn’t rotate from where it should.
Let me undo
So, before setting the forward kinematics, I first need to fix the rotation.
Ok. Let’s select the pivot point tool, you can get it from the tool bar or press the short cut Y.
And with this tool, I just put the pivot on the correct position.
Same with the right hand...
Right foot
And left foot.
The eyes and mouth can have the pivot in the center, it’s ok. You can change it if you want, but I like it as is.
Now, let’s set up the forward kinematics.
All I do is, select the left hand.
And in the timeline, link it to the left forearm... be careful, don’t link it to the right forearm, be sure to link it to the left forearm. It happens sometimes.
Then the right hand to the right forearm
Then, right foot to right calf
And finally left foot to left calf
Oh wait. We still need the eyes and mouth to be linked to the face. I pick both of them and link them to the head
Perfect. Let’s test it.
I pick the rotation tool pressing letter W on the keyboard
And now I just basically rotate different parts of the body, and Yes. Everything is going as I have foreseen it. Every part of the body is fully connected. Great.
Let me hide the joints layer for this... we won’t be needing it anymore...
Now this character is easier to animate now. All I do is rotate different parts of the body and I change the position easily.
Ok. Now. Before we move on to the next lesson, let me just tell you about a little small accident that sometimes happens to some of my students.
Sometimes you might click a layer on the composition panel, but instead of just selecting it, you double click on it...
And some panic. If this is the first time this happens to you, relax... what just happened is that this opened new view showing nothing but the layer you selected.
All you have to do is, pay attention to the tabs on the composition panel... this is the layer view, and right here is the composition view
See?
If you hover your mouse on the layer tab... you will see an X, I will click on it to close it
There. Now we can move on to the next lesson, in which we will learn abouthow to set up the inverse kinematics. I mean, we can definitely save time in animation by using forward kinematics, but as we saw in an earlier lesson, using inverse kinematics makes our job even easier.
See you in the next lesson.
