How do I build a full Smart Bones Character

[sceech]

I have been looking at various Smart Bone tutorials on line, and did the "blue rectangle with two Smart Bone / bulging bicep" tutorial about six times, but I have yet to see how to build a complete Smart Bones character from scratch. I am getting confused on when and how to incorporate Smart Bones in the process.

When you build a Character with Bones, you make one layer for each piece of the body, then make one Bone Layer. I get that.

What are the steps with Smart Bones? I'm getting lost. Let's say I am going to build a full human Character with Smart Bones, how many Layers will I need, how do I attach multiple Bones to the same Layer, when / how do I incorporate the Actions to polish movements, etc to create a fully mobile Character?

If someone could just map out the Drawing, Layering, and Smart Boning steps in the process it would be a big help. I'd like to build a character who can walk, run, and move around with Smart Bones, and whose face and eyes can be animated, but I am clueless on the exact construction steps to build these Characters.
Thanks
Dave

[heyvern]

Smart bones are simply an addition to the same type of bone rigging you would do for a character.

Basically you would create a character, add bones to control it, then add your smart bones to either; fix problems like joint deformation, or add features like head turns, switch layer mouth positions, eyes, squash and stretch, etc.

Smart bones can work on ANY points or layers. Smart bone actions are just like regular actions. An action can include key frames for all the layers in a group or bone layer so smart bone actions work the same way but are controlled by the bone they are named after.

You don't need to worry about "how many layers you need". It's irrelevant. Smart bones can work on one or many layers. Doesn't matter.

In the "arm" tutorial you did, that is the most basic use of a smart bone. That concept can work on all the bones regardless of the number of layers or how the character is put together. When you create an action for a smart bone you edit all the layers you want effected by it.

You can also use a smart bone that doesn't have any influence at all (0 strength) to change a switch layer. You can create a smart bone to translate, rotate or scale a layer.

There are no specific steps to create an entirely "smart boned character". The use of smart bones is so versatile that everyone can use them in different and unique ways. It's still a sort of "newish" feature and the full power of smart bones hasn't been completely discovered.

Smart bones don't require that the character be on multiple layers. If that's the way you want to do it, fine. If not that's okay to. Most people put arms, legs, head etc on layers so they can be ordered.

[sceech]

So, a Smart Bone Character is built the same way as a normal Boned Character, and the Bones become "smart" by creating an Action for that specific Bone through the Actions window? Essentially, you are able to "shortcut" a Character's construction with fewer Layers because you are planning ahead to use Smart Bones to smooth out the Character?

For lack of a better word, Smart Bones is almost like an "effect" that is added to the Bone design you originally made, with the designed results Bone-specific through each Action? Am I on the right path in digesting this?

If that's the case, the type of Bone response that is applied is based on which tab in the Actions window is active when you create the Action? Let me know if I'm track, thanks.

[Danimal]

A smart bone is simply a bone that controls an action. You designate what the action is, and the Smart Bone acts like a lever to control the action on and off, or at various stages between. The bones of a rigged character wouldn't be smart bones, the smart bones are separate controls that would make the character do various things based on the actions you assign them.

[synthsin75]

A smart bone is simply a bone that controls an action. You designate what the action is, and the Smart Bone acts like a lever to control the action on and off, or at various stages between. The bones of a rigged character wouldn't be smart bones, the smart bones are separate controls that would make the character do various things based on the actions you assign them.

Not quite. Smart bones were originally designed to handle joint deformation, so a forearm bone could control how the points of an elbow deform as that bone is rotated. So yes, they can be the bones of a rigged character. But yes, they can also be used as smart bone control dials.

[sceech]

If the Bones of a rigged Character are not Smart Bones, then how do you get them to control joint deformation, are you re-designating the rigged Bones as Smart Bones in the Actions window?

The connection I am trying to make is how to create a rigged Character, whose joints don't deform (using one drawn Layer for each arm/leg), so what are the steps to build such a Character, are the original rigged Bones becoming Smart Bones once an Action is added, or is the Character built / rigged using Smart Bones? Regular Bones don't allow Binding more than one Bone to a Layer...

Thanks

[Danimal]

are you re-designating the rigged Bones as Smart Bones in the Actions window?

Yes, you can do it that way. The name of the bone would be the same as the name of the action. In that vein, yes, that would be one way to use them and one of the actions they can control - point movement.

The questions you're asking are somewhat generic. Have you built any characters? Is there something specific that you're not able to obtain?

I'm not sure what version of Anime Studio you have, but in 9.5 it opens on a character named Jai which is chock full of Smart Bones. You would do well to just open up that character and toy around to see what they're doing. Have the Actions window open as well.

Believe it or not, the Character Wizard is also a good place to look at character construction. Drop in a character and see what's going on there. They don't use Smart Bones so seeing their construction will also show you some basics.

Finally, there's a whole host of tutorials in the program that walk through this kind of thing.

[Danimal]

"blue rectangle with two Smart Bone / bulging bicep"

If that's the same tutorial I'm thinking of, the "bulging bicep" was done using Bone Constraints, specifically the Control Bone field. This isn't the same thing as Smart Bones, though the theory behind it is similar.

I'd still recommend looking at the prebuilt character to see what's going on in there.

[heyvern]

If the Bones of a rigged Character are not Smart Bones, then how do you get them to control joint deformation, are you re-designating the rigged Bones as Smart Bones in the Actions window?

The connection I am trying to make is how to create a rigged Character, whose joints don't deform (using one drawn Layer for each arm/leg), so what are the steps to build such a Character, are the original rigged Bones becoming Smart Bones once an Action is added, or is the Character built / rigged using Smart Bones? Regular Bones don't allow Binding more than one Bone to a Layer...

Thanks

You are really over thinking smart bones and making it much more complicated. Using smart bones for a character isn't a "one time choice". You don't have to decide first if you plan to use smart bones, you can add them in at any time.

I think you need to learn just about bone rigging first. Some of your information is not 100% accurate.

FIrst off, using Layer Binding a LAYER can only be bound to one bone. If you use Point Binding the vectors of one layer can be bound to many bones. You can select some points, bind them to one bone, select other points bind to another bone, etc etc.
Or you can use Flexi-Binding which allows all the bones to control all the points on multiple vector layers without doing anything else.

A "smart bone" rigged character is NOT ANY DIFFERENT THAN A REGULAR RIGGED CHARACTER. It's EXACTLY the same. The difference is you can add smart bone actions to existing bones and they become smart bones. Or you can create new bones specifically to be "dials" or "levers" to move or change other things like points, bones, layers, shape color etc.

If you create these "separate" dial bones you MUST turn the bone strength down to zero so they won't move points. You only want that "dial bone" to control other things.

With an arm bone that is part of the rig, you can still use bone strength to control the points main movement. But in addition to that movement you create a smart bone action for that arm bone and then move points of the arm to fix the joint area.

You basically do everything the same as before smart bones existed and then create actions named for ANY bone that you want to adjust or add additional features.

There is a ton of information in this topic that explains things pretty well. Also the videos should help as well. My feeling is that it's possible you are missing some of the "basics" of bones, rigging and "regular" actions, that should be learned first to understand how smart bone actions work.

[synthsin75]

If the Bones of a rigged Character are not Smart Bones, then how do you get them to control joint deformation, are you re-designating the rigged Bones as Smart Bones in the Actions window?

The connection I am trying to make is how to create a rigged Character, whose joints don't deform (using one drawn Layer for each arm/leg), so what are the steps to build such a Character, are the original rigged Bones becoming Smart Bones once an Action is added, or is the Character built / rigged using Smart Bones? Regular Bones don't allow Binding more than one Bone to a Layer...

Thanks

Yes, the character is rigged like you normally would and then actions, named the same as the bones you need to handle vector joint deformation, are created to make them into smart bones. Originally, smart bones were only intended to be used to make corrections in what the normal bone rig is already doing.

[sceech]

Ok, things are a little clearer, and yes, I do need more insight on various Binding options. If you want to make a Character with single arm and leg pieces, with Smart Bone Actions for smoothing the joints, etc, what works best, Layer, Flexi, or Point Binding?

Thanks

[heyvern]

f you want to make a Character with single arm and leg pieces, with Smart Bone Actions for smoothing the joints, etc, what works best, Layer, Flexi, or Point Binding?

All of the above!

I don't ever use just one type of binding on a character. It all depends on what I need for any particular character or part of a character.

For example, working on a character right now. One point on the leg is in a bad spot and is being influenced using flexi-binding by other bones. To fix this I bind that one point to another bone that should be moving it. I could also use a smart bone for one of the leg bones to force the point into the correct location.

The problem is there is no "right way" to do these things. Each character is different and may require different techniques when rigging. Also I seriously doubt that that every person using Anime Studio rigs characters in the same way. Many people will demonstrate what they prefer, but that also will change from character to character.

[sceech]

I wasn't aware you could use multiple Binding techniques on a single Character, so I don't really know how to shift midstream from one Binding technique to another in the middle of a Character build. I think I tried it once, wasn't able to do it, so it hasn't been in mind. I will try to go through the manuals again to understand how to change Bind types while rigging.

[heyvern]

Some quick notes that might help out:

The Layer binding tool can only be used with one bone for that layer. It controls the whole layer so all other binding is ignored. Point binding tool will be grayed out and previously flexi-bound points will have no effect. To deactivate the layer binding, select that tool which highlights the bone and click on a blank part of the screen to deactivate the bone. Bone binding is now turned off and the other binding types will work again. Alternatively you can choose "Release Layer" under the bone menu.

Menu commands under the Bone menu for binding have both POINT and LAYER versions of the same or similar behaviors. Don't get them confused.

Another choice for binding layers under the bone menu is Flexi-Bind Layer. This is just like binding a layer to a bone, but instead it will use the bone influence of ALL the bones to move an ENTIRE layer. It's similar to points being flexi-bound but it effects the entire layer. So bones that are over the layer will all share control when rotated translated scaled etc.

Flexi-binding and point binding can be used together. Basically flexi-binding is the "default". When first creating a bone layer and adding vector layers, the default binding of the points is flexi. You don't have to set this. It's the default behavior.

If you choose to bind points to a bone and change your mind later, simply select those points and choose flexi-bind points under the bone menu. This is only required AFTER point binding to change the behavior. By default that command is not required to flexi-bind points.

Another option for points and layers is to "release" them entirely (under the bone menu, for points, Release Points, for layers Release Layer). This basically releases points or layers completely. Nothing effects them. They just sit there doing nothing .

[dueyftw]

Understanding how you can bind will help. There are 4 types.

Flexible
Region
Layer
Point

Flexible and region use bone strength and can be change in the layers setting window under bones.



Try making a stick-man out of just shapes and applying each of the types of binding to it.

Dale