Rigging, Smart Bones, Switch Layer

[slowtiger]

OK, I'm very late to the game, everybody's doing amazing stuff with smartbones for years now. I only want to do some simple stuff. But I'm stuck at the very beginning, the manual doesn't give enough info, and the Forum search only turns up 1 page where in fact there should be dozens ...

So I've managed to control a switch layer with a smartbone. Yeah. But I need more:

I've got a pretty normal rig:
- character bone layer
- - head switch layer
- - - head 1 bone layer
- - - - head image
- - - - mouth switch
- - - - - mouth1 image
- - - - - mouth2 image
- - - head 2 bone layer
etc.

Can I have a smartbone on the top character layer which controls the switch layer inside? How?
I've read that layer binding (the head switch layer to the head bone in the top character layer) breaks any connecion to a smart bone?

The exact sequence of doing is still a mystery. I can create a smartbone from the menu (although there's that difference between moving it 180° (from - 90° to 90°) but only be able to use half of that range because in the timeline it starts at -90° and stops at 0°.).
But the connection between a bone and creating an action assigned to that bone is still a mystery.

[Greenlaw]

Typically you want only one bone layer for the character and add the Smart Bones there. This keeps is simpler for Moho, and easier to animate because all the keyframes are in one layer per character.

That said, it's possible to to have a bone at the top layer operate bones in a nested bone layer. Basically, you need to recreate the Smart Bone Dial in the nested layer and have the one in the parent layer operate that. The trick is, the nested version of the SBD should have a different name to avoid conflicts.

As for where the Smart Bone's animation is stored, that should go with the nested bone layer...unless you need the parent version to control something up at that level, in which case the tasks might be split between the two.

A few months ago, I wrote a post about this here...

http://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 61#p202961

Jump down to the part "So if you ever need to create a 'nested' SBA setup, like the one used in this project, here's what you need to be aware of..."

[slowtiger]

Thing is that I really only want to operate the switch layer per smart bone, everything else in that rig is done by bones in the top ayer already.

OK, I try to follow your advice tomorrow, now it's bed time!

[Greenlaw]

The exact sequence of doing is still a mystery. I can create a smartbone from the menu (although there's that difference between moving it 180° (from - 90° to 90°) but only be able to use half of that range because in the timeline it starts at -90° and stops at 0°.).
But the connection between a bone and creating an action assigned to that bone is still a mystery.

I never use the script. It works well enough but since I wind up changing all the defaults anyway. I find it easy enough to create my actions manaully.

The basic workflow without the menu script is:

1. Create a bone and name it (i.e. 'HeadTurn')
2. Adjust the bone or set constraints as desired.
3. Click on the New Action button in the Actions window. A Smart Bone Action with the bone's name created.
4. Set a start and end keyframe for the start and end rotation of the Smart Bone.
5. Add the animation for the items controlled by the Smart Bone. The animation should fall within the range of the Smart Bone's rotation animation.
6. When you're done, double-click Mainline.

Your Smart Bone is now ready for animation.

If you want to create an action for turning the Smart Bone in the counter direction, select the bone and click the New Action button. A new Smart Bone Action with the bone name+2 is created (i.e., 'HeadTurn 2'.)

Some tips:

When setting up the Smart Bone and the animation, create a keyframe at frame 1 and set it to be Linear. Leave the keyframe at 0 to be whatever you want for the Mainline (probably Smooth.) This is because normally want the animation inside the action to be Linear. The mode you want to animate with should be animated on the Mainline. (Be sure to set the Default Interpolation mode to Copy Previous Key.)

When you create your Smart Bones, set their Bone Strength to 0. When I already know wat bones I'll be creating for the character, I'll make them all first and then select them all and set the strength to 0 all at once. Also, it helps to temporarily turn on Grid when laying out your Smart Bones.

(Edit: I had some stuff here about setting constraints but realized the info was incomplete and confusing so removed it. Will update this later this evening.)

BTW, if this sounds like a lot of steps, it's really not bad in practice. When I'm rigging, I don't think about the above when I'm doing it; after doing it a few times, it becomes second nature and you should be able to run through it pretty quickly.

Hmm...there's actually a whole bunch of other tips I can list, so maybe I should just make a tutorial. I'll put something together this weekend and let you know when it's ready.

[synthsin75]

OK, I'm very late to the game, everybody's doing amazing stuff with smartbones for years now. I only want to do some simple stuff. But I'm stuck at the very beginning, the manual doesn't give enough info, and the Forum search only turns up 1 page where in fact there should be dozens ...

So I've managed to control a switch layer with a smartbone. Yeah. But I need more:

I've got a pretty normal rig:
- character bone layer
- - head switch layer
- - - head 1 bone layer
- - - - head image
- - - - mouth switch
- - - - - mouth1 image
- - - - - mouth2 image
- - - head 2 bone layer
etc.

Can I have a smartbone on the top character layer which controls the switch layer inside? How?
I've read that layer binding (the head switch layer to the head bone in the top character layer) breaks any connecion to a smart bone?

Yes, bones in/layer binding of an intervening layer will stop bone influence from reaching lower sublayers. To avoid this, you want to bind the sublayers individually, instead of the usual old Moho practice of binding group/bone layers.

The exact sequence of doing is still a mystery. I can create a smartbone from the menu (although there's that difference between moving it 180° (from - 90° to 90°) but only be able to use half of that range because in the timeline it starts at -90° and stops at 0°.).
But the connection between a bone and creating an action assigned to that bone is still a mystery.

As long as the bone name matches the smart action name exactly, you're good (or name space 2, "name 2", for a smart bone that has separate actions for each direction of rotation). Just make sure any bone angle is only used once on the action timeline. Having an action with the same bone rotation twice will confuse Moho about which to display.

[slowtiger]

Wes, do you mean I can bind each image inside the switch layer to a bone in the top bone layer?

[synthsin75]

Wes, do you mean I can bind each image inside the switch layer to a bone in the top bone layer?

Yes. So long as the switch (or any other intervening layers) is not layer bound and contains no bones of its own.

[slowtiger]

Success! I have a smart bone dial now in the top bone layer which controls the switch layer inside.

[synthsin75]

Nice!

[Greenlaw]

Cool! Looking forward to seeing what you guys are working on. Good luck!

[slowtiger]

Finding nice stuff all the time along the way:
I have 5 body views, each contains a head switch layer. The top body bone layer contains the smart bone dial for its head switch.

Now I noticed I can just copy that bone and paste it into the other views, just had to re-do the head switch animation action in the switch layer. OK.

The copying also works across files! (other character, identical structure.) Nice.

Additionally I prepare a heads only project file for cases where we want to paste that talking head on an unusual bodypose which we draw in TVPaint. Duplicate project, take the head out of the body layer, erase body. Paste that dial into head switch layer - works. VERY nice.

(Yesterday I had the other animator who owns Moho over again and will do a big part of these scenes (other 5 only hatve TVP). Gave her a more in-depth introduction into the workflow with these puppet files now. Her comment when I showed her animated layer order: "That's what I always was missing in Toonboom!" Ha.)


This project is a tad bit cursed as the client finally noticed mid-project what I told them from the very beginning: too much footage in too little time. That's why I switch animation pipeline between parts now, it's all a bit hastily cobbled together. I will post links in September when it's all online.