Layers drifting apart in an animation

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:10 am

Hi, this is my first time posting on this board. I looked around before, but couldn't seem to find an answer to this problem.

I'm very much a beginner with AS (done the tutorials; don't have AS Pro) and I made an animation to test bone animation and the like. It involves a fly zipping around a bit before lighting on a table and getting swatted. The problem I'm having is while the fly is moving around before landing, his wings (set one layer above his body) tend to drift behind the body. Everything is part of the same bone layer and I tried tweaking bone constraints, but that didn't seem to affect anything.

Any suggestions for a noob?

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:20 am

Do you have your bone layer set to region or flexible binding?

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:23 am

Flexible binding.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:28 am

That's what I thought. Flexible binding, as the name implies, only 'attaches' in a very flexible way. Anything controlled by flexible bones tend to lag behind more the further it's moved. I'll bet if you try regional binding you'll have better luck.

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:13 pm

I changed it to region binding (even making sure to set region binding on the switch layer that included the fly's bone layer) and I'm still having the same problem. I'm trying to figure out what else it might be.
The animation itself isn't important to me; I'm just making this particular one to try and get the hang of bones and it's a little discouraging to run into a problem like this right off the bat.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:44 pm

I changed it to region binding (even making sure to set region binding on the switch layer that included the fly's bone layer) and I'm still having the same problem.

???! Switch layer? Okay, I don't seem to have the whole story here. Your best bet is always to share an example file by hosting it at Mediafire or elsewhere, and then posting the link to it here. But I'll make a few more guesses at your problem.

First, check each layer for any stray layer translation keyframes (make sure this channel is visible in the timeline settings). You're not using Pro, so we can rule out 3D camera causes.

I don't quite understand how you're using the switch layer here. If you could post your layer structure, at least, it may help.

For example:
-Fly switch layer
--Fly bone layer
---body vector layer
---wing vector layer
--Fly bone layer 2
---body vector layer

Etc, etc..

As a general rule, sharing an example file will get you a faster solution as it avoids all of the guesswork, especially when people may not yet be completely familiar with the terms and software. Usually these things are solved very simply, but we have to figure out what could have gone wrong.

Since you said this animation isn't important, I'd suggest uploading it to http://www.mediafire.com/index.php. After uploading you will get a url to copy and paste here.

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:36 am

That's fine. Did you want me to just upload the exported animation, or the AS file itself?

Here's the layer order:

Arm and Paper (bone)
---thumb (vector)
---newspaper (image)
---hand (vector)
Fly (switch)
---Fly (bone)
------Wings (vector)
------Fly body (vector)
---Bug guts (vector)
Table (vector)

The switch layer is the fly after it's splatted by the newspaper.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:25 am

Need to see the AS file to figure out what's wrong. Since the fly is all vectors, no need to include any of the images.

That switch layer shouldn't be a problem, but I'll know when I see the file.

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:15 pm

Just a heads up: I'll get the file uploaded as soon as I can. You can thank the remnants of Hurricane Ike for knocking out my power (that, and my cable modem gave up the ghost a few minutes beforehand anyway). I'm posting this reply from school, so as soon as I can get my laptop near a wireless signal, I'll put the file on MediaFire.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:33 pm

Don't be so hasty ... if you're in hurrican area, you will have other things drifting apart than just alyers!

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:04 am

I'm actually in Louisville, so we're sort of the border between the South and the Midwest ... hardly a hurricane zone. It's just that Ike was freakishly strong over land and it happened to take just the right path inland, but it's passed now.

Anyway, here's the link to the file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=5d0d ... b9a8902bda

And yes, I realize that the bug's guts are not in the same spot as his body before the newspaper came down. I'm doing this to get the gist of bones and such.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:55 am

The motion blur on the wings is what is causing this. The blur is not only blurring along the 'flapping' of the wings, but also along the layer translation movement.

The way to solve this is to do your layer translation of the fly on its switch layer. This way the wings layer is technically not moving in relation to its top parent layer.

That's how it usually goes. The problem is commonly something people just don't think to mention. Hopefully this helps cure your frustration.

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:32 pm

Huh. I thought I turned the motion blur off... Okay, I'll try moving just the switch layer, then (that would seem to make more sense, anyway, when it comes to actually, you know, switching the layers).

the_other_lt · Post by **the_other_lt** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:52 am

All right, that took care of it. Thanks for your help; I was getting kind of frustrated, but I guess when stuff like this happens, I should go back and double-check to make sure I turned something on or off before I go looking elsewhere to solve the problem.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:10 am

This happens to all of us, no matter how much years of experience we may have. In a studio environment usually there's a workmate able to point us in the right direction. For the single animator this forum is the biggest help.