Point keys from bone movement? When did this get added?

[heyvern]

When the heck did this get added in? I had a rig using a ton of complex bone movement on a layer. On a frame I dragged a vector layer out of the bone layer and.... the layer didn't lose ANY of the BONE distortion! I was able to just key frame the points on that frame, copy the point keys to frame 0 and BINGO I had converted bone point influence to point motion.

My question is... how long has this been possible? Has anyone else been using this? It's freaking awesome.

I just did a video demonstrating how to use the new feature



-vern

[heyvern]

I fired up v7 and it works there as well. Sheesh. I can't believe I didn't know about that.

-vern

[funksmaname]

I don't think this is documented anywhere... nice find!

[heyvern]

Woohooooooo!!!!

This is AWESOME! I was trying to write a script to do this when I discovered it by accident. I have this wicked cool boned hand with movable fingers and wanted to key the points and save as switch layers. During my "testing" I discovered that dragging a layer out of the bone layer AND NOT DOING ANYTHING ELSE, will keep the point motion long enough to key it.

If you move the time line at all after dragging out the layer you lose that motion. It's a "one time option", but still amazing. I think I will try writing a script to do this automagically. Duplicate the layer, move it out of the bone layer, and key the points.

-vern

[chucky]

That's weird Vern nice discovery. Still processing that weirdness.

[heyvern]

I wrote a button tool that takes advantage of this. It is a weird thing and I am almost certain it was not intentional or even known. My tool script duplicates the layer, moves it out of the bone group and keys the points on that frame. then you just copy the point keys to frame 0.

I think it has to do with how AS processes layers and updates the screen. When scripting stuff there are situations where a script doesn't update the screen right away and you get a one frame lag. Other features of AS sometimes don't update immediately. Because of this delay in updating the screen, when you drag the layer out, AS doesn't update immediately but the points are still repositioned. I have sent this to Smith Micro so they can either "support it" or at a minimum don't break it. This is like getting a brand new feature and it's been hiding since v7!

I used this for a boned hand model and was able to quickly and easily save out vector layers for a switch. I just had different bone animations on different frames and would drag the layer out of the bone layer on that specific frame and key the points.

-vern

[heyvern]

Added a video to the first post.

[funksmaname]

wow again. This could be really useful! I guess this is proof of the adage "If it's a little broke, just leave it!" (is that how it goes? )
Thanks for the video explanation Vern