Bones the Size of a Pixel

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Toontoonz
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:28 pm

Bones the Size of a Pixel

Post by Toontoonz »

As I was trying to make some bones in my character, my finger slipped on the mouse button and I realized (later after scratching my head with a Parent-child bone problem) that I had made a bone the size of a pixel: the Pixel Bone.

All one has to do to create a Pixel Bone is during the boning process, click the mouse button. You have to zoom in reallllllllllllly close to see it, but it is there. Just one little blue (red if selected) pixel.

Now what could a one Pixel bone be good for? No idea. Maybe a joint between larger bones? One has to really work on getting its strength up to see its strength, but it does work. And it can be tricky getting the Parent child relationship right -( that was how I found the Pixel Bone, one bone was pointing to the backside of a bone, whereas the other bones were pointing to the middle of the same bone).

I was trying the Pixel Bone on fingers, putting a regular sized bone, pixel bone at the knuckle, regular bone, etc. It seemed to work, sort of - difficult to control, flops things around if one handles it wrong. Works best as a pivot point - sort of. But I don´t know if Pixel Bone should be used.

Any thoughts about or experiences with the Pixel Bone?
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jahnocli
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Post by jahnocli »

is this anything to do with April 1st?
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
Toontoonz
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:28 pm

Post by Toontoonz »

No April Fools joke - try it, it is for real.
Make regular size bone, then move your mouse up or over, then click, then make another regular sized bone (whatever regular sized means).

Then click on the Parent bone tool and you will see the three red arrows - if the Pixel Bone is far enough away from the others.

If you zoom in really close you can see a tiny dot (pixel sized) of a bone.
Click on it, it will change from blue to red. Use the strength tool on it about 3-5 times and you will see the glow of the strength build around it.

Since the Pixel Bone can be created, I was wondering how one could use it. And conversely, be aware that a slip of the mouse finger during the boning process could add a teeny, tiny bone to your character.
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stephen
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Location: Rochester,NY USA

Post by stephen »

Hey, the Pixel Bone can be used to bone a snake shape:

http://home.rochester.rr.com/morgana/snake.mov

Please excuse the quick and dirty drawing.

Stephen
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jahnocli
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Location: UK

Post by jahnocli »

more of a caterpillar than a snake, but yeah, that looks like an interesting technique!
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
Toontoonz
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:28 pm

Post by Toontoonz »

stephen wrote:Hey, the Pixel Bone can be used to bone a snake shape:
Stephen
That is a good idea for the PIXEL BONE.

I was wondering (haven´t tried it yet) if one assigned the points manually in the character to the bones instead of the automatic regional method one could control things better. From my quick playing around with the Pixel Bone it seemed to have possibilities as a joint pivot to give more precise control. One would want to draw their characters keeping this Pixel/Pivot Bone in mind - like add more points around the pivot area...

I have to play with it some more. If anybody has any ideas or experiments I would be interested in seeing them.
Toontoonz
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:28 pm

Post by Toontoonz »

Pixel Bones revealed:

Here is a link to a screen shot with text added to show several Pixel Bones.
This is an extreme close up of part of the fingers, wrist and hand.
You can see the Pixel Bones as tiny dark dots the same color as the regular bone. On some I increased the strength so that can be seen, too.

http://toontoonz.com/pixelbones2.jpg
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