I've been trying to animate 2d in Carrara but struggle with creating the 2d vertex object. I want to control it with bones, similar to what is being done in Creature Pro - any ideas? My issue is creating the thin vertex object, mapping the image to it. My attempts have a unpredictable triangles. Could I trace my image with the pen tool in spline, then convert to vertex, fix triangles?, add bones... I need ideas. Thanks!

You may be making things harder than they need to be.

Unless you are going to intentionally turn the figure during the animation so the viewer can see how thin it is, there is really no need create a super thin model. It's easier to adjust lighting and textures to visually imitate a flat object, especially if you'll be doing any type of head or body turns if it's a life form.

If you really want to have flat objects, I'd suggest modeling the 3D object and then reduce the depth in one axis prior to rigging. (x=100%, y=5%, z=100%) This technique is something I did on the attached image for a Carrara project a loooong time ago.

If you can show a style sample, I can help you brainstorm.

Very nice. I think I'm on to something with a flat vertex object, rigging it with bones. I'm trying to load the image I want to trace (the sprite) - something I draw in Procreate and save it as a png with a transparent background. I want to map it to the flat vertex object. I'm having trouble with Carrara. It keeps crashing when I try and adjust the mesh - weight mapping. Every time I touch the bone to increase its influence, Carrara crashes. Ugh! I like your method. I am hoping to come away from Carrara with animated gifs similar to what can be done with Creature Pro - lots of mesh manipulation on a sprite to show dynamic movement. Thanks Mark! Any idea why Carrara Pro 8.5.1 is crashing in the vertex room when adjusting weight mapping?

I can’t be specific with the problem, but I suspect it stems from Carrara being designed to use bones for 3D instead of 2d. And, if the mesh density isn’t high enough, Carrara may simply not know what to do. If it’s going to work, each vertex plane will probably need to have about 500 polygons in quads with no triangles - triangles and bones do not play well together.

Programs like Moho (anime studio pro) and other 2d animation solutions are designed specifically to handle this stuff. If your budget allows, and if Carrara can’t deliver on the 2d bone rigging, you might want to check out Moho. It’s very powerful and easy to use.

Good advice. Thank you. At the moment, this is a hobby. I like to see what I can do with what I have... and I get ideas and want to see them realized. I like being back in this forum.

I've started playing with Opentoonz. It contains some powerful 2d manipulation features.