Bone Copy?

[DaBeav]

I have run into a snag. I created all my "body parts" on different layers (which is fine), but... I also created a seperate bone layer for each body part. Then I placed all of body parts in their respective bone layers, thus I was able to animate each piece seperatly. I then put all of the bone layers in a "parent" bone layer for the entire body. This method works fairly well for the main animation window, I click which part I wish to animate, I manipulate the bones of that layer, I click the next part, etc etc. However, I found that if I wish to create a reusable "action" I have to create an action for EACH layer, which gets confusing and messy. So, I am left with 3 options, 1. Work with the mess, 2. Dont use actions, 3. Copy the bones all to one layer (lots of bones, with lost of constraints, and specific placement, I REALY dont want to have to redo them all), but I dont know if its possible to copy bones from one layer to another??

[Rai López]

...if you create the Action in the TOP layer level, this only Action must affect all sub-layers, isn't?

[Lost Marble]

Yes, if you create an action in a group layer (or bone, switch, or particle layer), all the sub-layers of that group will get the same action.

[myles]

However, I found that if I wish to create a reusable "action" I have to create an action for EACH layer, which gets confusing and messy.

Expanding a little on the previous answers:

DaBeav, (after a very simple and quick test) the trick (as suggested by Ramón and Lost Marble) seems to be to select the parent bone layer in the Layers hierarchy panel before selecting and inserting the action, which then applies the all the action sub-layer keyframes as well.

If you have a bone sub-layer selected in the Layers panel when you insert the action, only the sub-set of the action for that layer gets inserted, which seems to be what you're seeing.

Hmm, that could actually be useful for your kind of multi-bone-layer setup - have, for example, a walk action with swinging arms. Now if you want the character to walk while carrying something, just select the leg bones layer and insert the walking action but not the swinging arms.

Regards, Myles.

[DaBeav]

Thanx everybody. I think I have a better understanding of how I am going to setup my character rig now. I REALY like the idea of being able to create a "walk" action for the entire character, and then later on selectivly animated the "walk" based on which parts I tell to. That is just cool.