Snap claws

Both hands go up and hold there, then snap open and shut, once a beat, over and over.

A cartoon person holding both hands up with the fingers spread, and a dog beside it.

Use it in a cartoon Open it in the block editor The pack file (JSON)

What it is for

Snap claws is for a character keeping time with music, showing off, or being theatrically cool, especially one with actual claws: a crab or a monster reads it as snapping pincers, while a person or a dog's hands open and close the same way. It loops forever on a steady beat, so it suits a whole scene of waiting or showing off rather than one line.

The principle it shows: timing

The snap itself is quick and sharp, 0.08 seconds with a little overshoot at the end, but it only happens once every half second, with a plain wait filling the rest of the beat. That gap between a fast, sudden action and a long, even pause around it is what makes a single snap read as hitting a beat, rather than a constant fidget.

The program, line by line

when it starts
  glide right arm 120, right forearm 60, left arm -120, left forearm -60 over 0.2 s (out)
  forever:
    glide claws 34 over 0.08 s (snappy)
    set flag_snap to (tau)
    glide claws 0 over 0.17 s
    wait 0.25 s

when it starts — begins when the move is put on a character.
glide right arm 120, right forearm 60, left arm -120, left forearm -60 over 0.2 s (out) — both arms lift and bend, hands up and ready, easing into place.
forever: — the snap then repeats for as long as the move runs.
glide claws 34 over 0.08 s (snappy) — the hands snap open 34 degrees quickly, with a sharp little overshoot.
set flag_snap to (tau) — marks this instant, when the snap is fully open, as a named moment called Snap!.
glide claws 0 over 0.17 s — they close again.
wait 0.25 s — a pause before the next snap.

Try this

Wait 0.6 seconds between snaps instead of 0.25. The rhythm slows right down, a cool, deliberate snap instead of a quick one.
In the program: wait · s 0.25 → 0.6
Open the snap to 55 degrees instead of 34. The hands spread much wider on each snap, a bigger, showier gesture.
In the program: ramp · to.part:claw 34 → 55

How it differs from Angry shake and Side step

Angry shake also snaps claws, but as a fast, constant judder alongside a full-body shake rather than a single clean beat. Side step is the other move built on a steady repeating beat, but it steps the feet rather than snapping the hands.

Works on

Worked out by the build: it plays the move in the engine on each body and checks what moves on screen. Nobody types this table.
Body	Moves?	What moves
2 legs (a person)	yes	arms
4 legs (a dog)	yes	front legs
no legs (the monster with no legs)	yes	arms

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