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Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 5:30 am
by windy_kid
Newbie to Moho here so sorry if this is covered somewhere else. Is ther a way to edit the motion paths of target bones so that they move in arcs?

Thanks

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 5:48 pm
by Greenlaw
Just off the top of my head: Make a parent bone for the target bone that you can use as a separate 'pivot point'. At the frame where you want the target to arc, rotate the parent. Naturally, you should set the influence for the 'pivot' bone to zero.

When setting it up, I'd probably set up the arc animation first, then unparent the target bone if it needs to animate independently at some point.

Here's an example:

Image

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:01 pm
by Greenlaw
The above assumes you want a circular arc of course.

If you want it to follow other curves, you might draw out your curve and then keyframe the bone to follow the shape. (I don't think there's any way to make a bone follow a path in Moho like you can with artwork, so you'll need to keyframe the positions.)

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:10 pm
by Greenlaw
Oh, just had another idea: if you animate the length of the parent, you can change the shape of the arc... you can even make the target move in a 'spiral' path this way.

Just tried it. It's kinda fun. Now I just need to think of what I can use this for. :)

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 7:29 pm
by hayasidist
Greenlaw wrote:I don't think there's any way to make a bone follow a path in Moho
that's right - but there is script for that back from AS11 days.. viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25384&p=162945

and as well as that neat bones solution from Greenlaw, if you use Bezier interpolation you can edit the motion graph

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 7:41 pm
by Greenlaw
Ooo...I'll have to look at that. Thanks!

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:06 am
by windy_kid
hayasidist wrote:
Greenlaw wrote:I don't think there's any way to make a bone follow a path in Moho
that's right - but there is script for that back from AS11 days.. viewtopic.php?f=12&t=25384&p=162945

and as well as that neat bones solution from Greenlaw, if you use Bezier interpolation you can edit the motion graph
Thats what I ended up doing. It's a little bit fiddly compared to what I am used to in after effects. In AE the motion path has bezier handles and that is how you create arcing motion. But AE's movement is based on the volicity along the path not the movement on the x and y axis.

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:06 pm
by hayasidist
I do agree that Bezier is fiddly - but you can separate the motion dimensions in the motion graph and that makes it easier.

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:22 pm
by Greenlaw
windy_kid wrote:But AE's movement is based on the volicity along the path not the movement on the x and y axis.
Yes, I sometimes wish I had that for individual bones too.

Moho has velocity control but only for layers and groups following a path (Follow Path tool), but not individual bones. You can get a Bones layer to follow a path based on velocity but that's not the same thing. The issue is that you can't get a 'sub-item' of a layer (like a single bone in a group of bones) to follow a path independently of other 'sub-items' in that layer.

Depending on what you need to do, it might be worth trying though.

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:16 pm
by synthsin75
This is probably way more convoluted than anyone would use regularly, but this would be one way to do it in Moho.

Do follow layer with a simple filled circle, with a high contrast, thick stroke.
Render this animation and import the movie (doesn't need to have transparent background).
Motion track the circle animation and set the target bone to follow this.

Somewhat time consuming, and a pain to edit the arc after motion tracking. But the resultant animation could be moved and reused.

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:15 pm
by Greenlaw
Ooh! That's very clever!

Depending on the situation, I may not find that convoluted at all. :)

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:32 pm
by synthsin75
Greenlaw wrote:Ooh! That's very clever!

Depending on the situation, I may not find that convoluted at all. :)
:D When you come across that situation, I'd be real interested in learning about it. I almost didn't mention it, because I can't imaging needing to go to those lengths.

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:41 am
by chucky
synthsin75 wrote:This is probably way more convoluted than anyone would use regularly, but this would be one way to do it in Moho.

Somewhat time consuming, and a pain to edit the arc after motion tracking. But the resultant animation could be moved and reused.
Did you say " Pain in the arc?"

Re: Creat arcing motion on target bones

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:52 am
by synthsin75
chucky wrote:
synthsin75 wrote:This is probably way more convoluted than anyone would use regularly, but this would be one way to do it in Moho.

Somewhat time consuming, and a pain to edit the arc after motion tracking. But the resultant animation could be moved and reused.
Did you say " Pain in the arc?"
Doh, how did I miss that. Now I am kicking myself in the arc.