Moho Forum

I'm not entirely sure what exactly this is called, but in 3d apps, you can have a rig set up, such as a rigged leg or arm. In front of the leg or arm, specifically in front of the knee or elbow, you'd have a bone which would control the direction said body part was facing, or if you move that control point behind or in front of said object, it would invert the way it was facing.

If somebody can, please clarify what I just explained. I just think it'd be useful for, say, moving a leg, or the knee specifically, without having to touch other bones.

Darn, I confused myself...

I *think* what you are referring to is called a "fan bone". You can use them in AS. Take a look at the Tips & Techniques section, ***Resources*** thread, p2, second post from Cribble (phew!) -- I have supplied an AS Pro rig from Odd Job Jack artwork which uses fan bones.

I thought fan bones were middle bones like feathers in a wing, or spines in a 'fan'.
Try HeyVern's aim bone layer script that works great for exactly the purpose you describe- it can do many other cool things too.
Look in the scripts sticky thread.

Thanks for both replies

Sorry I checked back so late

I'll look at both suggestions.

Just to clarify the original post, here's an example:
You have a wing rig, with a bone assigned in appropriate places. Say you want to move the wing from where our hand would be anatomically placed if it were in place of the arm of the bird (you have the shoulder, the elbow, the forearm, then the hand, which the primary feathers are attached to). Instead of rotating the parent bone of the forearm bone, or using the manipulate tool to rotate the whole arm (and adjust afterward), you could use a bone (which could be a single floating point) to influence the preferred bones from a specific point.


Please tell me that makes sense lol.
If that didn't here's a slightly better one. You know how in car engines, or, even better, on train wheels (old trains), the wheels are moved when a bar rotates around a metal piece on the wheel, pushing and pulling to create movement (no idea what the parts are called, bear with me)? That's the idea.

*Found a better example lol*

http://www.badongo.com/pic/164637