Some questions about bones

Hookflash · Post by **Hookflash** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:23 pm

I noticed, in one of the tutorials that comes with Moho, that a character's limbs, head, torso, etc. are placed on separate layers, moved apart, boned, and then moved back together (with Bone Offset). I have some questions about this process:

1) Why put each body part on a separate layer? Couldn't one simply draw the whole character in a single layer, and then group each body part and move them apart without detaching them from each other?

2) I get the impression that moving a bone with Bone Offset does not cause any other control points to come under its influence, even when it's moved near other control points. Is this true?

TIA

mr. blaaa · Post by **mr. blaaa** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:46 pm

Hi.

1) You CAN do this, it is no "must".
But if you put all bones and vectors in only one layer it limits your ability to animate it much more. Different Layers give you lots of possibilities. Masking, Bones bound to points, switching, and another uncountable amount of opportunities.

2) I didnt understand that quite a lot.

Hookflash · Post by **Hookflash** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:17 pm

mr. blaaa wrote:Hi.

1) You CAN do this, it is no "must".
But if you put all bones and vectors in only one layer it limits your ability to animate it much more. Different Layers give you lots of possibilities. Masking, Bones bound to points, switching, and another uncountable amount of opportunities.

Ah, k. Thanks.

2) I didnt understand that quite a lot.

Well, in the tutorial, I separated the body parts, added bones, and then moved the parts back together using Bone Offset. It seems to me that, when I move a bone with Bone Offset, its "area of influence" does not move with it. So, for example, if I use Bone Offset to move a bone close to a bunch of points, it won't actually influence those points during animation; rather, it'll only influence the points it was close to before I moved it with Bone Offset. Is this true?

mr. blaaa · Post by **mr. blaaa** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:23 pm

2) now i got it. alright. For me it works perfectly if i autoassign the bones to the layers. Even if i move it with offset tool it affects the area of where the bone is placed.
But that all depends on your bone setup and the relation between the single layers, maybe you did a mistake, which can also happen if you never made a bone setup before.

Alternatively you can also offset the bones by using the "translate layer" tool.

If it still doesnt work, please upload the moho file and i will take a look.

Hookflash · Post by **Hookflash** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:24 pm

mr. blaaa: Thanks for the help. Everything is going smoothly now.

mr. blaaa · Post by **mr. blaaa** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:23 am

Hookflash wrote:mr. blaaa: Thanks for the help. Everything is going smoothly now.

Alright, now i am happy

myles · Post by **myles** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:26 am

mr. blaaa wrote: 1) You CAN do this, it is no "must".
But if you put all bones and vectors in only one layer it limits your ability to animate it much more. Different Layers give you lots of possibilities. Masking, Bones bound to points, switching, and another uncountable amount of opportunities.

Another example - if you have an arm that must go behind and in front of the body and/or head at different times, you can make two layers and switch between them using layer visibility.

However, if you are building a character that will only be used for a brief appearance, or is just another face in the crowd, and won't need any individual layer effects - sure, you can build it on one vector layer.

Hookflash wrote:Bone Offset [...] won't actually influence those points during animation; rather, it'll only influence the points it was close to before I moved it with Bone Offset. Is this true?

Yes - your understanding is correct. This is the reason for using the Bone Offset tool.

Regards, Myles.