I was recommended a software by my lecturer Spine 2D – https://en.esotericsoftware.com.
Unfortunately it is behind a paywall, however I was unaware of such softwares existing so this set me on a course of finding a free alternative.
I found this software called Open Toonz, used by Studio Ghibli for parts of their projects.
I installed it and created a new project, setting the framerate to 10 and keeping the 1920×1080 aspect ratio.
To be able to start rigging the character I looked online and found this tutorial on rigging a skeleton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJUYvEeVQU&list=LL&index=4
I then imported the differet pieces of the character into the project. This is how they appear in the timeline/frame view, each piece on a different layer.
This is the stage schematic view, when you first import the parts they are all attached to the table in order to create the skeleton yo uhave to reorder the pieces. To do this you match up the blue to red dots and recreate the character by having the legs attach to the body then the hands to the forearms and in turn the forearms to the body.
This is what the final skelton looked like, obviousely it does not match up completely as the sprite is a flying one and the head is part of the body.
To make the animation you had to switch to skeleton build mode and then press play and move the parts, if you moved the hand it would move everything attatched to it. Once you had moved it it created a keyframe as seen in this screenshot for the final animation there were three in total for the parts that moved.
This is the final animation I made with the software. This is not very good, I struggled not being able to control each individual part and due to how the skeleton is set up it caused weird residual movements especially on the hands.
I can see the use of this software and I am happy I explored it but ultimately I will not be using it for this project, the different kinds of animation I will be doing requires more software knowlegde than I could feasibly gain in the short timespan we have for this project especially as I am animating animals like the deer and the peacock.
I also just generally prefer to experiment and tweak with my hands until I am happy.
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