smart bones and fixing deformed joints?

[cabbage0896]

Using V.12 and windows 10 I am trying to fix deformed elbows and knees when they are bent to their constraint limits using smart bones. can someone direct me to a tutorial that can help me using my version? I am unable to move the bone in the actions window/timeline to its limits. the manual says use the rotate bone tool to do this,and I don't see one.. has it been renamed or relocated? I know how to fix the vector layer afterwards for the fix but right now I can't get past moving the bone to its limit, am I even doing the right thing or is there another way entirely? I'm stuck. many thanks in advance. C.

[Greenlaw]

You need to use the transform bone tool in rotate mode. First, you need to be on a bone layer. Then select the tools with the bone and 'rotate' icon underneath. Now, when you hover over different parts of the bone, you should see the cursor changing: at the base it's in move mode, at the tip it's stretch, and along the middle it enters rotate mode.

BTW, you cannot rotate using the bone manipulator tool (the one with the vertical double-arrows) when editing an action. You must use the transform bone tool.

If the bone still can't be edited, try closing the Tool pallete and reopening it. This happens very rarely but sometimes I find the pallete can get 'broken'; closing/reopening it should reset it.

[cabbage0896]

You need to use the transform bone tool in rotate mode. First, you need to be on a bone layer. Then select the tools with the bone and 'rotate' icon underneath. Now, when you hover over different parts of the bone, you should see the cursor changing: at the base it's in move mode, at the tip it's stretch, and along the middle it enters rotate mode.

BTW, you cannot rotate using the bone manipulator tool (the one with the vertical double-arrows) when editing an action. You must use the transform bone tool.

If the bone still can't be edited, try closing the Tool pallete and reopening it. This happens very rarely but sometimes I find the pallete can get 'broken'; closing/reopening it should reset it.

Thanks Greenlaw for the fast response. That is a working fix for my problem, thanks again. after posting that topic I stumbled on " creating smooth joints for bone pair" (v.12?) which also had some inherent problems for the hand bone further down the line by losing the point binding in the hand. Which also exposed some of the flaws in my methods by not having separate layers for hand and both arm parts. here nor there. your method works, Thanks. C