Insert Copy Issues

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rafael
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Insert Copy Issues

Post by rafael »

So I have a smart bone that controls my character's head turn. I now want to make a smart bone that turns the character's body AND head. I, of course, don't want to have to redo all the work of the head turn, so I need to copy the animation from it into the new body turn smart bone. I'm to understand that "insert copy" will do this for me, but when I try it, everything that I animated in the head turn smart bone is off a bit. Any ideas?

Thanks
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

That's not what Insert Copy does. That button is for inserting keys from a Regular or Morph Action into the Mainline. It's not meant to be used for editing keys in a Smart Bone Action.

To copy the keys from one Smart Bone Action to another, just select the keys in the original Action's timeline and choose Copy (ctrl-c); then open the new Action and choose Paste (ctrl-v). Keys in this case are copied and pasted as normal.

Hope this helps.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

Also, when copying and pasting keys from one Smart Bone action to another, note that the action's animation begins at frame 1, not frame 0. 0 is reserved as the 'rest' position of the Smart Bone.

Also, in many cases, when you have multiple layers that need to stay in sync during the animation, you may want to use linear keys from frame one onward. Don't set 0 to be Linear though...most of the time, you probably want 0 to be left as Smooth, which will be its default mode in the Mainline. Obviously, the interpolation mode on the Mainline can be anything you want when you're animating the Smart Bone; the mode only needs to be LInear for the keys inside the Smart Bone's Action.
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synthsin75
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by synthsin75 »

Just to verify what you're doing... Are you opening the body turn action for editing, right-clicking the head turn action, and selecting insert copy?

If so, I would guess that having both the head turn smart bone and body turn smart bone trying to control the same elements is adding their influence together.

You might be better off just having the body turn smart bone action turn the head turn smart bone.
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rafael
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by rafael »

Greenlaw wrote:To copy the keys from one Smart Bone Action to another, just select the keys in the original Action's timeline and choose Copy (ctrl-c); then open the new Action and choose Paste (ctrl-v). Keys in this case are copied and pasted as normal.
Oh man, way easier than I was making it. haha Thank you!

@synthsin75 - I was double clicking the "body turn" smart bone, single clicking the "head turn" smart bone, and then clicking insert copy.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

Yeah, just remember that Insert Copy and Insert Reference are animation features. Think of it as a button for inserting animation and pose presets. To make this even more confusing (ha, ha), if you animate the Smart Bones inside a Regular action, you can use Insert Copy to place that animation on the timeline. :)

But for editing keyframes, inside or outside of an Action, just use the regular keyframe editing tools.
mushfikpc1
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by mushfikpc1 »

How to use the keyboard Shortcut “Action> Insert Copy ” In the timeline,????
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/17ztRWo ... sp=sharing
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

Assuming you have your keys already set inside the action, you select the bones (or points if you're working with shapes), select the action, and then click Insert Copy. The keys from the action will be copied to the bones (or points) at the location of the current frame.

There are two types of actions you can insert like this: Regular and Morph. Regular Actions are for animated keys (i.e., more than one keyframe.) Morph Actions are a single frame, typically a pose. Regular and Morph actions are essentially presets you create for keyframes.

A Smart Bone Action is a different type of preset because its keyframes are not applied directly to the rig but rather 'played back' using the rotation of the Smart Bone the action has been applied to. If you're familiar with the concept of set driven key in 3D animation programs, it's the same idea but for 2D.

To create a Regular or Morph action: with no bone selected, click New Action. Name the action and then create your keyframe(s) for the action. If you create more than one keyframe, it automatically becomes a Regular Action. Clicking Mainline exits the action editing mode. Note: if you want to reuse an existing action, you can copy keyframes from the main timeline to the action timeline.

Hope this helps.
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synthsin75
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by synthsin75 »

mushfikpc1 wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:25 am How to use the keyboard Shortcut “Action> Insert Copy ” In the timeline,????
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/17ztRWo ... sp=sharing
The action shortcuts only add actions references, and only work while the timeline is playing.
I seem to recall the workspace updating as you used the shortcuts, but that seems to have been lost somewhere along the way.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

Oooh. Ok, I see what's being asked now. I guess I never used a keyboard shortcut to insert an action before because I'm typically using a tablet/stylus with Moho and it's easier to click on buttons with a stylus.

I just tried assigning a shortcut to an action and it does seem to be broken doesn't it? I can add the shortcut when I create the action but I can't seem to edit it after closing the window. Also, trying to use the shortcut doesn't seem to do anything, but clicking the button works fine as always.

This seems to be the case in 12.5 and 13.5.5. In which version did this option work properly? (I don't have older releases installed any more.)
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

Never mind! Action keyboard shortcuts do work.

I looked it up in the manual and here's the explanation...
If you create actions for objects in your scene you can assign shortcuts to those
actions. You can assign the shortcut when you create an action, or you can right click
on an existing action and assign a shortcut.

The shortcuts make it easy to reuse the actions in an animation. You can press the
shortcut keys while an animation is playing back
to insert the action into the timeline.
I tried inserting keys using a keyboard shortcut while Moho played the animation and the keyframes did get inserted....but only while the timeline was PLAYING the animation. It doesn't work while the timeline is stopped. Which apparently is how this feature is supposed to work.

TBH, I can't see the usefulness of this feature since there is no way to be precise with it. I guess if you prefer to animate like you're triggering music samples in a DAW? Not for me I guess. :?

But if anybody does have a need for it, you can edit the keyboard shortcut by choosing r-click > Rename, which opens up the window that appears when you first create the action.

Seriously though, it's not a big deal to click on the Action name and then click on Insert Copy to insert keys exactly on the timeline where you want them.
Daxel
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Daxel »

Greenlaw wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:59 pm
TBH, I can't see the usefulness of this feature since there is no way to be precise with it. I guess if you prefer to animate like you're triggering music samples in a DAW? Not for me I guess. :?
Haha yeah, everytime I see this feature I think it would be cool to use it but it never happens. I guess that maybe, if you have for example a large scene with a character talking, you could add blinking to it in just one pass without caring too much about precision. Things like that I guess.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Insert Copy Issues

Post by Greenlaw »

It's probably fine if you're not terribly concerned about precision and you just can't be bothered to do more. (I can see that situation, so not judging.) :)

Knowing me, after using the shortcut I'd be sliding the keys to where I really wanted them, so I may as well just go to that frame and click the Insert Action button to begin with.
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