Lost the connection of my smart bone

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Gaston
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Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:24 am

Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by Gaston »

Hi,
I've a character and for the body turn I've created a smart bone (with two actions) for the arm to change the layer order. After the animation I've changed foolishly the name of the two actions (arm in front, arm behind) and the connection to the smart bone is lost. If I rename the smart bone to the name of the first action it runs but only one direction. How can I connect it to the second action too?

Any ideas?
Thanks
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Greenlaw
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Re: Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by Greenlaw »

The second smart bone needs to have the same name but appended with 2. For example:

ArmRoll
ArmRoll 2

HeadTurn
HeadTurn 2

When the names are matched correctly, the Action should 're-link'.

I've even been able to re-purpose smart bones and elements from different scenes/rigs by matching the names. (Not especially recommended if the original setup was very different, but it's a convenient timesaver when you can do it.)
Last edited by Greenlaw on Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gaston
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:24 am

Re: Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by Gaston »

Greeeeaaat !!!
Thanks a lot
Gaston
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:24 am

Re: Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by Gaston »

Ok, that works now.
At another point in the timeline the layer changes the order but I don't know why.
There're keyframes at that point but no (smart) bones move.

How can I see which bone is active with the keyframes? If I click on the keyframes no bone is selected.
Is there a way to see what the keyframes makes? Sorry, this is standard perhaps but I work with Moho not so often.

In AE the keyframes are in the line of the object or in the layer. That's easier.

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dueyftw
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Re: Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by dueyftw »

My guess with out seeing the start of the time line. You should have a time line of the layer order with the keys.

Dale
Gaston
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Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:24 am

Re: Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by Gaston »

That could be. But how do I find the time line of the layer.
To find the time line of a bone I've to click it. Where do I click to edit the timeline of the layer?

In my case there is a layer change of the right hand between frame 154/155 but there is no keyframe
at any layer when I click on them individually. Or I do not see it. :shock:
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Greenlaw
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Re: Lost the connection of my smart bone

Post by Greenlaw »

Moho displays keyframes for the currently selected layer. If there are no keyframes associated with the layer, you do not see its timeline.

Moho only shows the timeline for the layers you need/to see. If you need to see the timelines for multiple layers at the same time, use the Timeline Visibility box for each layer. This will make those timelines persist even when you select different layers.

Another feature which may or may not be useful to you is color bones. Moho can display a separate timeline for each color bone that has keyframes. Personally, I find this feature generates way too much screen clutter (probably because I use a lot of color bone labels,) so I disable all the color bone display options from Timeline Channels.

Most of the time, I only pay attention to the top rows: The white rows, which are the a global timeline for the current layer, and the red rows, which represent the currently selected item(s), and this is usually just the bone layer. (Most of our switch layers are being drive by Smart Bones to keep all the keyframes in one layer.) Sometimes I'll use Timeline Visibility for layers where I'm also doing manual point animations for the character.

FWIW, we use AE for a lot of animation too. The trick to adapting is to not expect Moho to work like AE. Once you've done enough animation in Moho, you'll see it's not really relevant.

That said, if you haven't already done so, make sure you have your Timeline Interpolation set to Copy Previous Key. This makes Moho's timeline keyframe similarlary to AE and makes it more efficient when you're mixing interpolation modes throughout the rig. (i.e., Smooth for most things, Step for non-linear switching with SMDs', Linear for setting up actions, etc.)

Hope this heips.
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