Cry

The head dips, both hands go up to the eyes, and the body sobs in place over and over — a small dip, lift and squash that eases in on the way down and out on the way up.

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

What it is for

Cry is for sadness that needs both hands: the head dips, the hands come up to the face, and the body sobs in place, over and over, for as long as the move plays. It works under a sad line, or on its own to show a character has just started crying.

The principle it shows: secondary action

The main gesture is simple and held — the head tilted down, both hands up at the eyes. Everything that makes it read as crying, rather than just resting the head in the hands, is the secondary sob loop underneath: a small dip, a small lift of the head and a small squash that rise and fall, easing in on the way down and out on the way up, every eight tenths of a second.

The program, line by line

when it starts
  glide head 10 over 0.3 s (out)
  reach hands for the mouth + 0.09 up (× its height) in 0.3 s
  forever:
    glide dy 3, head lift -3, sy 0.97 over 0.35 s (in)
    glide dy 0, head lift 0, sy 1 over 0.45 s (out)

• when it starts — begins the moment the move is put on a character.
• glide head 10 over 0.3 s (out) — the head tilts down 10 degrees.
• reach hands for the mouth + 0.09 up (× its height) in 0.3 s — both hands reach for a point 0.09 above the mouth, the eyes; the offset is counted × its height, the character's own height, so the hands find the eyes on any character, over three tenths of a second.
• forever: — the sob repeats for as long as the move plays.
• glide dy 3, head lift -3, sy 0.97 over 0.35 s (in) — the body dips a little, the head lifts a little on its own, and the whole figure squashes to 97% of its height, easing into the dip.
• glide dy 0, head lift 0, sy 1 over 0.45 s (out) — all three ease back out over a slightly longer stretch, the next sob about to begin.

Try this

1. Squash to 88% of full height on every sob instead of 97%. The crying becomes a heaving, dramatic sob instead of a quiet one.

   In the program: ramp · to.sy 0.97 → 0.88

2. Let the head take a full second to droop down instead of three tenths. The cry now builds slowly rather than starting all at once.

   In the program: ramp · over 0.3 → 1

How it differs from Laugh and Think

Laugh uses the same shape, a reach to the face followed by a loop, for the opposite feeling, and loops faster and less evenly. Think also reaches a hand toward the face, but holds it there without Cry's repeating sob.

Works on

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