2 Switch Layer Character

[DK]

Hi.
Here's a very simple character that operates with only 2 switch layers.

1 x Switch Layer for the mouth and 1 x Boned Switch Layer for the body.



http://www.wienertoonz.com/DK2SWITCHBODY.swf

http://www.wienertoonz.com/DK2SWITCHBODY.anme


The main keyframes you need to adjust and keep in sinc on the timeline when dong head rotations are:

1. eyemover bone. Adjust it with the Scale Bone tool.

2.re-topr (eyelidbone) - controls eye blinks. Use the manipulate bone tool.

3. Mouth sets - there are two sets available to use in the one switch layer, one for front poses and one for head turning to the left.
The mouth layer is free floating so needs to be moved manually when the characters body bones are tweeked. (Vern?)


To add a new pose or expression, duplicate a layer, rename it, tweek it and add to the timeline. The character will intrerpolate into the new pose.
Drag keyframes around for timing. It's not a perfect rig yet only a proof of concept that I wanted to share with you all.

Cheers
D.K

[heyvern]

Cool beans!

Dagnabbit! What's he saying? I tried to lip read... but no luck... what the heck is he saying?



-vern

[DK]

He's speaking in random. I just shoved all the mouth positions together on the timeline to show what it looked like.

Cheers
D.K

[chucky]

Hey nice one DK.
Interesting rig, weird how the bones are only visible in the switch layer.
Really helps to limits confusions.

Side note- unrelated:
Wow dude how was that heat?
I was in Melbourne the other day for that 45 degree day, freaking fantastic.

[DK]

Hey Chucky

If Vern or someone could figure a way of attaching the mouth switch layer to the main skeleton t would make the whole thing a lot easier to operate. You would then only have to match two lots of keyframes on the timeline.

Re: sidenote. Man it was sooo hot.... and it's still boiling here on the mid north coast nsw......we're all going outside for a BBQ...house is way too hot to eat inside!!!!

Cheers
D.K

[heyvern]

The only way I can see to link the mouth to the "head" is to put a bone in the top parent layer. Bind the body and mouth to this bone. If you want to move the body I assume the head goes along for the ride . Then the mouth goes with it.

This would mean not animating "body" motion at all in the switch layer. Everything would have to be done on the parent layer. No head rotations either unless you put the head in another switch layer... hmm...

That might work. Put the head body and mouth in separate switch layers. Bind them to matching bones in the parent layer. Do the "body" animation (head/neck rotation, body up/down left right) on the top layer. Legs and arms would be animated by the bones on the body layer. Basically the body switch layer bones would be used to bend the hips and legs/arms. You wouldn't be able to bend the upper torso because the head/body are bound to bones in the parent layer.


So the body bone on the parent layer would "start" or pivot at the end of the hip bone in the body switch layer. The Hip bone in the body switch layer would be the only bone in that body that would rotate. It would need to be a child of the "torso" bone... which matches the "body" bone in the parent layer.

This would make it a bit tricky to have the character bend over. Even if you only bend at the legs you would still need a similar set up. To bend over you would rotate the body bone on the parent layer and counter rotate the legs or hips in the body "switch" layer. Only way to keep the head on.

This will mean a lot of jumping back and forth to different layers for animating... ick... I hate that.

-vern

[dueyftw]

I think it would be nice if there was a tab in the properties that said "render always" in the layer settings or 'force render' in the time line. That way you could turn it on or off. That would mean that the switch would now render two or more layers at once.

Dale

[funksmaname]

he looks like he has a lisp, and is saying:
"I'm gonna sleep, I'm gonna sleep, BAFF, BOFF"

lol.
nice work

[DK]

Vern wrote:

This will mean a lot of jumping back and forth to different layers for animating... ick... I hate that.

I totally agree. Just thought there may have been a script floating around that would allow something like unassociated layer binding to a bone.

dueyftw wrote:

That would mean that the switch would now render two or more layers at once.

That's a great idea! Switch layer Support for multiple layer rendering although I can't think any other use it would ever have other than this example but it would certainly solve the problem.

funksmaname wrote:

nice work

Thanks. I often wonder how deaf people interpret lip-sinc in animation. I imagine there would be some hilarious results.


Thanks for all the comments. I know this is a very simple experiment but for me it really does demonstrate the need for less grouping in AS character models. If all models could be somehow pose based with greater control over interpolation plus allow for bones and switch layers they would be WAY easier to work with.

Cheers
D.K

[heyvern]

Vern wrote:

This will mean a lot of jumping back and forth to different layers for animating... ick... I hate that.

I totally agree. Just thought there may have been a script floating around that would allow something like unassociated layer binding to a bone.

Ah! I thought scripts were off the table so to speak for simplicity. A script definately could bind bones on different switch layers or bind a layer to a bone in another layer. Especially something as very simple as one or two bones/layers at most. I don't think anything exists specifically at the moment but it should be simple to do.

My thought would be to just use a simple script to "bind" the mouth layer to the head bone in the body switch. One bone, one layer. Keeps it simple. You wouldn't need more than that as far as I can see.

A script would mean you couldn't animate the mouth switch layer by "hand". All layer movement would have to be done by the bone in the body switch layer. With this concept you could bind the mouth layer to a "sub" bone of the head bone so you could tweak the mouth position if needed.

-vern

[DK]

Hi Vern.

Scripts are definitely not off the board!!! It would mean you could keep all of your body animation with bones, interpolation and point animation on only one layer and just create new poses as they are needed. It would be like havng a library of animation contained in only one folder that can be reused over and over.

I guess it depends on how many AS users think this is a usefull idea and really want to create characters this way.

Cheers
D.K

[heyvern]

I guess it depends on how many AS users think this is a usefull idea and really want to create characters this way.

Cheers
D.K

We all have our preferred way of rigging and setting up characters. No one solution is the "right one".

I think your invention is very cool and very useful. I think it's simplicity is the huge benefit and new users could get started really quickly with this technique. I however would not lean in that direction as it still requires switching between layers to control animation. I prefer ALL keys on one bone layer... as much as possible. Even a ton of keys. that is just my preference.

----

By this time next week my nightmare Animation Master project will be "finished" and I might have some time to fiddle with that script.

Here are my thoughts on how it might work:

Option 1. Script is linked in the TOP parent layer (easier to find the sub layers). It finds a matching layer/bone combination and the layer is controlled by the bone.

Option 2. Same as above but instead of linking layer to bone it links bone to bone. This means the mouth layer would have bone controlled by the bone in the body layer. This is more work to set up in the file but easier to script... possibly. It also allows for further layer transformations.

-vern

[DK]

Hi Vern.
If you decide to create the script I will put the time into creating a much more detailed character to demostrate it. It's often the eye candy that impresses people rather than the mechanics. When I get new ideas in AS I like to whip them out onto the forum as fast as possible and not pay much attention to the artistic merrit of the idea. For that reason alone I really admire you for the hard work you put into your Lua scripting.

Cheers
D.K