Troubleshooting Bones... What am I doing wrong?

[awbirkner]

Hey Everyone,

I'm trying to rig my first character built fully inside of AS (9.5 Pro) and I'm running into several issues with bones.

Here is a test file stripped to show the example of my issue.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/160 ... etest.anme

So essentially if I create a new bone layer and put a simple box in it... then manipulate the bones it seems to be working ok. But as soon as I add the leg neither the box or the leg are affected by the bones. If I put the leg in another layer (see the file) the box responds to the bones, but the leg doesn't.

Clearly I'm missing something.

Now, on to some general questions.
1) When using smartbones as the primary rigging system. Should I be using Flexible or Regional Binding?
2) In general, is it better to select points to bind to a bone or just use the default bone scenario (again focusing on the use of smartbones)
3) Can you bind the same point to more than one bone?
4) How do you unbind points from a bone.

Thanks for your help.

[ErikAtMapache]

I'm not sure what happened but it appears the binding to the bones was removed. To fix it what I did was:
1) Hide layer 4 so I can see what I'm doing
2) Select layer 3
3) Use the Select Point tool (G) to select all points
4) In the menu select Bone->FlexiBind Points

Now, on to some general questions.
1) When using smartbones as the primary rigging system. Should I be using Flexible or Regional Binding?
--I usually use regional binding for everything but that is a personal preference

2) In general, is it better to select points to bind to a bone or just use the default bone scenario (again focusing on the use of smartbones)
--probably the default but it very much depends on what you're doing

3) Can you bind the same point to more than one bone?
--I don't think so

4) How do you unbind points from a bone.
--Select the vector layer, select the Bind Points tool (I), deselect any points you DON'T want and press Bind. The tool is a bit tedious to use if you have complex shapes.

Good luck
Erik

[awbirkner]

That worked perfect!

Thanks for the help and tips Erik.