bones and smart mesh?

[edmund12]

can you use regular bones in conjunction with smart mesh?
every effort has thus far failed.
thanks.
edg

[Greenlaw]

Sure. A Smart Mesh is the same as any other vector element in Moho, so it can be animated point by point, bound and deformed by bones, and driven by Smart Bones.

What makes a Smart Mesh different is that you can create custom meshes (as opposed using the invisible auto-generated mesh when you bind an image to a bone directly,) and you can deform multiple layers, vector or image, using the same mesh.

What is it that you want to do and what's not working for you?

[edmund12]

ok so i have successfully created a smart mesh.
It will deform a psd image fine.(NON-vector)
it is a scanned watercolor drawing of a hand

what id like to do is connect regular bones to points (the points that control the smart mesh) so that i can manipulate the wrist, thumb and index finger.
try as i might, i cannot seem to connect the bones to any points. Bones do not seem to "connect" with the points on the vector line layer OR the points on its triangulated reference later that contains the actual mesh.

can you offer any advice?
thanks!

[Greenlaw]

Not exactly sure what you're asking.

A custom mesh can be bound to bones like any vector drawing. If it's not working, it's possible that you've completely unbound the layer or you have the layer in a group that is using Layer Binding, which can prevent the contained layers from being affected by bones.

If it's the former, just select the layer and use Reset All Bone Rigging for that layer. This will set it to the default Flexi-binding mode, and from there you can choose your preferred binding method.

If it's the latter, you need to un-Layer Bind the parent group so that other binding methods can be applied to the Mesh layer.

Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

Just wondering, have you set the image to use the Mesh as a deformer? You need to do that in the Layer Settings.

Make sure you click Apply before closing the window. Sometimes the chosen Mesh may not apply correctly unless you click Apply.

[edmund12]

yes i have.
mesh *will* deform the image. everything works as its supposed to up to this point.

what i cannot do is get regular bones to affect or work in conjunction with *the mesh itself* (which in turn affects the image)

How do you suggest connecting regular bones to the mesh/reference layer or to the vector lines?

I had assumed it would be through binding the points to individual bones (with bone strength turned to zero)

is this a mistake?

can it be done?

thank you!

[edmund12]

stop the presses!!
i just got it to work at least partially.
so far...with bone strength on...bones manipulate the mesh which manipulates the image!

ill post more tomorrow when i continue this rig.
hopefully i can make bind points work as well

i had created the reference layer incorrectly. your answer wasn't directed at the ref layer but it caused me to go looking for a bug.and i found one!

thank you!!

[Greenlaw]

It depends on how you want to deform it.

Normally you would use Flexi-binding, or more specifically, select the bones you want to deform the Mesh and then use Use Selected Bones For Flexi-binding. This should give you a smooth, natural looking bend at the joint, and it will exclude the affects of bones you don't want deforming the mesh. You can, if you wish, use a Smart Bone Action to make the bend look exactly the way you want.

You can bind the points directly to the bones with the Point Binding tool but the deformation will be somewhat rigid at the bending region. There is nothing wrong with that if that's the look you're going for. You can combine a Smart Bone Action here as well make it look smoother.

From your description, it sounds like you've unbound the points or have another binding method blocking it, as mentioned in an earlier post. I would reset the layer as described in that post.

If you really want to use Point Binding, you can do so after the reset. If you want to use Flexi-binding, you'll need to increase the bone strength.

Without seeing what you're trying do, that's my 'best guess' recommendation. Good luck!