Clap

Both hands reach toward each other and let go, once a beat, for as long as the move is on — a quick close and a slightly slower drift apart, never quite even.

Use it in a cartoonOpen it in the block editorThe pack file (JSON)

What it is for

Clap is for applause, excitement, or keeping time with music: the hands come together and apart, once a beat, for as long as the move is on. It works well under a cheer or a rhythm, or layered with another move that uses the legs or the face.

The principle it shows: slow in, slow out

The reach toward the clap eases in, accelerating as it closes — the usual snap of a real clap landing fast at the end — while the release afterwards eases out, decelerating, drifting apart more gently. The two halves also take different amounts of time, 0.22 seconds in and 0.28 seconds apart, so the rhythm never feels perfectly even or mechanical.

The program, line by line

when it starts
  glide right arm 30, right forearm 60, left arm -30, left forearm -60 over 0.2 s (out)
  forever:
    reach hands for the chest + 0.05 up (× its height) in 0.22 s
    let go with hands in 0.28 s

• when it starts — begins the moment the move is put on a character.
• glide right arm 30, right forearm 60, left arm -30, left forearm -60 over 0.2 s (out) — both arms lift and bend in front of the body, ready to clap.
• forever: — the clap repeats for as long as the move plays.
• reach hands for the chest + 0.05 up (× its height) in 0.22 s — both hands reach for a spot a little above the chest, 0.05 up; the offset is counted × its height, the character's own height, so the same clap fits a small character and a tall one. They glide in with an accelerating ease: the clap closing.
• let go with hands in 0.28 s — the hands let go of that spot and drift back apart, decelerating: the clap opening again, a little slower than it closed.

Try this

1. Close the clap in less than a tenth of a second instead of 0.22. The hands snap together much faster, a sharp, excited clap instead of an even one.

   In the program: reach · over 0.22 → 0.08

2. Let the hands drift apart over 0.7 seconds instead of 0.28. The clap becomes slow and deliberate between beats, almost sarcastic.

   In the program: release · over 0.28 → 0.7

How it differs from High five and Cheer with pom-poms

High five brings two hands together too, but once, between two characters, with a flag marking the touch; Clap repeats on its own, hands meeting only each other, with no flag at all. Cheer with pom-poms is the other beat-timed hand move here.

Works on

c4c:beh:clap · version 1.0.0 · c4c-free · by Jabbertoon