Creating an Anchor for a Game Character

An anchor is simply a layer that has been marked as an anchor. Creating anchors is required to make props follow the animation of the layer they are rigged to.

In Unity, an anchor is a point, whereas a layer in Harmony is more like a canvas. Hence, the exact position of the anchor is based on the position of the layer's pivot point in Harmony. Because of this, it is recommended to create a layer specifically for the anchor in Harmony, instead of using one of your character's existing layers, so that you can position its pivot point without affecting your character's animation. 

For example, if the character's hand is meant to be an anchor for a weapon prop, the hand's pivot point would usually be on the wrist to optimize animation, but you'd want the anchor for this hand to be positioned in the palm. Hence, you could create an empty drawing layer, rigged under the same peg as the hand, make this layer the anchor, and position its pivot point in the hand's palm.

NOTEFor a layer to work as an anchor, it must have a drawing, because drawings store pivot points. Hence, if you want an empty layer to be used as an anchor, you must put an empty drawing in it so that you can set its pivot point.