Can I animate characters using states?

Mar 06, 2013

I'm curious if I can animate characters using states. I would like to have a character change states for different poses, expressions, etc, while I'm narrating without any interactions. I have a feeling like this is possible but I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks in advance for any help.

18 Replies
Jesse Cabaniss

Bill Harnage said:

Yes you can by editing the states of the character and you can create as many states as you'd like for the poses.

However, you'll need to set a series of triggers to "change the state" of said object as needed.

What do I use as a trigger? I just want the character's state to change at a certain time, like 4 seconds into the slide.
Jesse Cabaniss

Garth Yorko, T.E. said:

I did a quick mock up for you.  I added some shapes off canvas that appear at different times.  This is managed in the Timeline.  Then I added a trigger to change the state of the character when the timeline starts for each shape.  Easier to see than explain.  See below.

That's exactly what I needed. If this is the best way of doing this type of animation, then I will get used to it. Thanks!
Jesse Cabaniss

Bill Harnage said:

You could bypass the states and triggers all together and use the characters poses/expressions as an image sequence on the main timeline.  Add each image on its own layer and adjust its duration to match what you need.  Then group them to reduce layer clutter.

The only problem with this is lining the characters up. I try to copy and paste but the pasted object is offset to down and to the right. Lining it up again is possible, but it's kind of a pain. That is the method I tried initially, and it proved to be troublesome enough for me to seek out another option.
Bill Harnage

Are they characters in SL or external images?

If they're external and you have something such as Photoshop to edit them in, drop them all into on PSD and align them there.  Once they're all aligned make sure there is space around and then export the layers, File>scripts>export layers.

Name the sequence and pick your image format - I always use png.  Make sure to UNCHECK Trim layers.

This will make aligning in SL much easier as you'll use the same X,Y for all of them.  I do this all the time when using hosts, which sounds similar to what you're doing.

Jesse Cabaniss

Garth Yorko, T.E. said:

This time I separated the head from the body, Sorry Character Female 19.  I just did a state change on the head.  It looks okay with a consistent body position.  With a little playing around, I think this will work.

Take a look.

That definitely works. This is probably the method I'll use because I can't seem to line up characters if I just copy and paste them.
Bill Harnage

Jesse Cabaniss said:


The only problem with this is lining the characters up. I try to copy and paste but the pasted object is offset to down and to the right. Lining it up again is possible, but it's kind of a pain. That is the method I tried initially, and it proved to be troublesome enough for me to seek out another option.

Are you trying to align them one at a time as you paste them?

For the offset, paste them all into your slide, then select them all and use the align tools under the format tab to align them all at once.  This shouldn't take but a few seconds to do.

Manuel Maldonado

Jesse Cabaniss said:

Garth Yorko, T.E. said:

I did a quick mock up for you.  I added some shapes off canvas that appear at different times.  This is managed in the Timeline.  Then I added a trigger to change the state of the character when the timeline starts for each shape.  Easier to see than explain.  See below.


That's exactly what I needed. If this is the best way of doing this type of animation, then I will get used to it. Thanks!
Gordon UBS Lam

I believe each new character that you paste is automatically placed one arrow key down and to the right. So if you past a new character click the up arrow once, and the left arrow once, and they should be aligned.

Another way is to past the character in the same exact pose as many times as you need. Then use the align tool to align them based on both middle and bottom. You can then hide them, and change each to the pose you want. It's sometimes tough to align the same character in different poses.

Garth Yorko

The shapes that are off canvas are tied to triggers that change the state of the characters.  The shapes appear at various times in the main taimeline.  A trigger changes the shape of the character when a specific shape appears.  For example, change the state of the character to Surprise when the timeline starts for shape 1.

Hope this helps.

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