Hooks, hanging and loose parts

A fig can hang from a spot on its body. The parts below the spot swing like a chain and settle. A loose part, like a tail or a cape, lags behind every move the fig makes. A scene hangs a fig from a branch, a line or another fig’s hand.

Hooks

Hooks is on Rig . Its line reads tap one, then a spot on the fig. The five rows are Head, Hands, Seat, Back and Feet.

The line under the heading reads Hang, Swing and Sit on a chair use these spots. The app guesses a hook you leave alone.

1. Tap a row. The hint reads Tap a spot on the fig.
2. Tap the spot. Hands and Feet take two spots, one each side.
3. The row reads set, and a ring marks the spot on the stage. Tap the row again to clear the spot.

A row with no spot reads guessed: the app guesses the spot from the part’s roles, the top of the head, the hands, the seat, the back, the feet. A fig with no hooks set hangs from the guessed spots, so every fig hangs. Hooks save with the fig, and Undo brings a cleared hook back.

Hang and its family

Preset moves has a Hang heading with eight moves:

• Hang: Hangs from a hook. The parts below swing and lag.
• Puppet: Four strings lift the hands and feet in turn. Four hooks float above.
• Swing: Swings from a hook far above, in a long slow arc.
• Perch: Sits on an edge from the Seat hook. The legs dangle in turn.
• Balloon: Floats up and sways on a tether, from a hook below.
• Pinned: Back against a wall from the Back hook, with a small wobble.
• Upside down: Hangs by the feet, head down, like a bat. Action turns it over and back.
• Clothesline: Hangs by both hands from a line.

Each row has:

• Hook, on Hang, Swing and Balloon: The spot the fig hangs by. The other moves use their own hook.
• Loop or Action: Loop swings without stopping. Action drops and settles. A Loop’s last frame meets its first, so a GIF repeats cleanly. Action starts on a tap and has a Play button on the card.
• Weight: The time the chain takes to settle.
• Dangle: The looseness of the chain.
• Sway: The push. Wind comes from the scene’s weather, not from the move.

The head and body stay rigid under the hook, and the limbs dangle. Down a chain of parts, each link runs later and further than the one before. In the fig editor a hook floats over its spot while the move plays; it never shows in the Camera. One hung move plays at a time. A move’s Part pick on a hung fig takes the parts you picked and no more, so the parts it leaves swing with Hang again.

Loose parts

Loose parts is on Rig , under the hooks. Its caption reads a tail, ears, hair, a cape, and the line under it reads A loose part swings behind the fig when it moves. Tap Play the walk to see it. With On, dots mark the loose parts on the stage.

• On guesses the tail, then parts named a tail, an ear, hair or a cape: Loose parts guessed. Tap a part to add it. Tap a part adds another: Tap a part to make it loose.
• Each loose part has its own Weight and Dangle. Tap its line to clear it: [Part] moves whole.
• Off reads Loose off. and every part moves whole again.

A loose part’s far end lags on the way up and swings on the landing, under every move the fig has. It settles within its Weight time. A GIF loop starts after the loose parts settle, so its last frame meets its first.

Hanging in a scene

In the scene editor, Animate › Loops › New loop lists Hang, Zipline and Carried under the Hang heading. Pick the move, pick the fig under On, then tap a point on the stage or the map. The hint reads Tap a branch, a ceiling or a hook. A tap off everything hangs the fig in the air, and a tap on the ground lifts the fig clear of it.

• Hang: The whole fig swings from the point. Hang moves the neck and the arms past its chain with keyframes of its own, and they count as Hang’s: a new move on one of those parts asks The Neck is in Hang. Move it to [Move]? Point is the row; Set the point picks it again. Drag the fig to move a free point.
• Zipline: Two taps set the line: Set the line. The fig slides there and back, turning at each end. Route has Loop around and Draw a route….
• Carried: Tap another fig, the Carrier. Hand picks the hand. The hook follows the hand as the carrier walks.

The row has Hook, Plays with Loop or Action, Weight and Sway, and the line Parts bend with the fig’s own moves. The scene turns the whole fig about the point. Every bend comes from the fig’s own hooks and loose parts, so set them in the fig editor. One link per fig. Under Moves in the scene the line reads [Fig] hangs from the Oak., [Fig] hangs in the air., [Fig] slides along a line. or [Carrier] carries [Fig]. Delete, or a swap to another move, puts the fig back in its place.

In scenes, clips and files

Scenes, Showtime, clips, the Camera, GIFs and .glb files play a hung fig and its loose parts as the fig editor saved them. A live toy on the shelf lags its loose parts too. In Roblox the limbs swing, but the fig does not move around its hook, and loose parts do not lag.

Older versions of Ünflat open a fig with hooks, loose parts and a hung move. Hang plays there; the seven new moves play as Shift weight. A save there drops the hooks, the loose parts and the swing, and the move stays.