Join figures together

Joining attaches one figure to a joint of another: a sword to a hand, a hat to a head, a second character riding on the first. On this page you learn to join, check what is joined to what, and take it apart again.

Watch it first

Join a figure to a joint

The figure you attach is the child; the figure it holds on to is the parent. The child's orange dot (its origin) goes onto the parent's joint, so put the child's origin where it should grip: at the handle of a sword, at the bottom of a hat.

1. Click the child, for example the sword. Only one figure may be selected.
2. Press J. You can also click Join… in Properties → Arrange, or right-click the sword and choose Join figure…. The stage header says Click the joint to join to, with a Cancel button.
3. Click the joint it should hold on to, for example Blue's hand. The sword's orange dot jumps onto the hand.
4. Pose the arm. The sword moves and turns with the hand.

While you pick, the joints you can join to are shown as red dots (and orange for origins). The child itself and anything already joined below it are left out, so a chain can never loop back on itself. Changed your mind? Press Esc or J again, or click Cancel.

If there is no other figure to join to, or the others are hidden or on a locked layer, the header says Add or unlock another figure to join to.

Try it

Blue and a sword. The sword's orange dot is already at its handle. Point at the stage first so it hears your keys.

Unjoin

1. Click the child (the sword's own lines, not the hand).
2. Press J, or click Unjoin in Properties → Arrange, or right-click it and choose Unjoin figure.
3. The sword stays exactly where it is on screen and gets its own orange dot back. It just stops following the hand.

Joining and unjoining are one undo step each: Ctrl+Z takes them back.

See what is joined to what

Select a joined figure and Properties shows a Connection section: Joined to names the parent figure and the number of the segment it hangs from (for example Blue · 4, his left forearm). The Arrange section's button reads Unjoin instead of Join….

On the stage, a joined figure has no orange dot of its own: the parent's joint is the shared point, and it is drawn white on the selected parent. To change the child (its colour, its own joints), click its lines. To move the whole assembly, drag the parent's orange dot.

Joined groups

• Double-click an orange dot or a body to select the whole connected group: the parent, its children and theirs. Then copy, move or flip them together.
• Joins chain. A gem joined to a sword joined to a hand follows all the way.
• Copying keeps joins inside the copy. Copy Blue and his sword together and the pasted sword holds the pasted hand. Copy only the sword and the copy is free, at the same place on screen.
• Combine connected (in Connection) melts the parent and everything joined to it into one single figure. You can't unjoin that afterwards; use Ctrl+Z to go back.

Joins and frames

A join belongs to the animation, not to the figure's design: joining one copy of a figure doesn't join every copy. With no frames selected, Join and Unjoin work on the frame under the playhead; select a range of frames first to change all of them at once. For a prop that changes hands, unjoin it on the frame where it is let go, then join it to the other hand. Make sure the parent is on every frame where the join is needed.

Keys

Common mistakes

Common questions

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