Twirl

Arms up and a leg kicked back, then a fast turn right round through the side, the back, the side and the front; a dancer's twirl.

A cartoon person seen side-on with its arms up and one leg kicked back, mid-turn, and a dog beside it.

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

What it is for

Twirl is a dancer's spin: a flourish at the end of a routine, a character showing off a costume, a moment of pure joy. Holding the arms up and the leg kicked back through the whole turn gives it a more dramatic silhouette than a plain spin, closer to a real dance pose than a cartoon pirouette usually bothers with.

The principle it shows: exaggeration

A real dancer's turn does not hold one leg kicked back at the shin the whole way round; Twirl holds that shape fixed through all four turns regardless. Keeping one dramatic, extreme pose constant through the whole spin, rather than letting it soften partway through as a real body would, is exaggeration.

The program, line by line

when it starts
  glide right arm 160, right forearm 30, left arm -160, left forearm -30, right leg 18, right shin -60 over 0.16 s (out)
  turn to the side in 0.17 s
  turn to the back in 0.17 s
  turn to the side in 0.17 s
  turn to the front in 0.17 s
  glide right arm 0, right forearm 0, left arm 0, left forearm 0, right leg 0, right shin 0 over 0.16 s

when it starts — begins when the move is put on a character.
glide right arm 160, right forearm 30, left arm -160, left forearm -30, right leg 18, right shin -60 over 0.16 s (out) — both arms swing almost straight out, and the right leg lifts with the shin kicked back 60 degrees, easing into the shape.
turn to the side in 0.17 s — the first turn: the character squashes to nothing and opens out side-on, the raised leg and arms held through it.
turn to the back in 0.17 s — and again, to its back.
turn to the side in 0.17 s — and again, side-on the other way.
turn to the front in 0.17 s — and a last turn back to facing you: a full twirl in four quick turns.
glide right arm 0, right forearm 0, left arm 0, left forearm 0, right leg 0, right shin 0 over 0.16 s — the arms and leg return to rest.

Try this

Kick the shin back to -90 degrees instead of -60. The raised leg folds much further back, a sharper, more extreme line through the turn.
In the program: ramp · to.part:shin:1 -60 → -90
Slow the opening pose from 0.16 s to 0.4 s. The character winds up into the arms-and-leg shape more gradually before the turning starts.
In the program: ramp · over 0.16 → 0.4

How it differs from Spin and Look around

Spin uses the same four turns but keeps the arms out and both feet down, a plainer rotation. Look around holds each view for a moment to be seen clearly, with no turning at all otherwise; Twirl runs through its views back to back with no pause.

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	turns, arms, legs
4 legs (a dog)	yes	turns, front legs, back legs
no legs (the monster with no legs)	yes	turns, arms

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