Smart Bone Dials, "auto-freeze keys," and the timeline

Wondering how to accomplish a certain animation task? Ask here.

Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger

Post Reply
dondo
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:45 am

Smart Bone Dials, "auto-freeze keys," and the timeline

Post by dondo »

So most of the example rigs I see on the interwebs use Smart Bone Dials to select e.g. mouth positions in a switch layer. And it's pretty easy to understand why I need to make sure I'm using step interpolation when I use such bone dials, and e.g. smooth interpolation for the associated eye movements. However, continuously switching back and forth between step and smooth, and keeping track of which mode I'm in, is a PITA. Worse still, sometimes I need both, for example if an eye movement ends when an expression changes. And of course when I'm going into a big change and turn on "auto-freeze keys," it's really hard to have both a smooth motion and a step change.

So I've been playing around with the "switch selection" window instead, but that means I have to go digging around in the layers of the character to select the right switch layer. All things considered I'm finding it easier, but it still slows me down compared to the convenience of having everything right there in bone layer.

So I went back and did some research, figuring there must be a way to associate the interpolation with the smart bone, but if it's possible I can't figure out how.

Any suggestions for best practices here?
User avatar
Maestral
Posts: 531
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:44 pm
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Smart Bone Dials, "auto-freeze keys," and the timeline

Post by Maestral »

Have you tried `2 pass` routine - set all as step and then go once again to change desired ones to smooth?
User avatar
Víctor Paredes
Site Admin
Posts: 5646
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:18 am
Location: Barcelona/Chile
Contact:

Re: Smart Bone Dials, "auto-freeze keys," and the timeline

Post by Víctor Paredes »

Personally, I always use the 'Copy previous key' option in the timeline. That allows me to have some bones working with Step interpolation, while the rest are Smooth.
Image Image Image Image
Moho Product Manager

www.mohoanimation.com
Rigged animation supervisor in My father's dragon - Lead Moho artist in Wolfwalkers - Cartoon Saloon - My personal Youtube Channel
dondo
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:45 am

Re: Smart Bone Dials, "auto-freeze keys," and the timeline

Post by dondo »

And today's "holy tomato this forum is awesome" prize goes to Víctor Paredes!

So just to give back, with that hint I found this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu1UROdGSqE

Once again, the "surely there must be an better way" quest is rewarded. Thanks, Victor!
dondo
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:45 am

Re: Smart Bone Dials, "auto-freeze keys," and the timeline

Post by dondo »

Ok, so this approach is almost perfect, but I'm still having one problem. There is an interaction between my "actions" and the "copy last keyframe" that I can't figure out how to fix. I have an action that injects a series of random mouth movements (I know, I know, I need to figure out how to do automatic lip-syncing... it's on the list). When I "insert reference" to add the action to the channel, a "smooth" keyframe gets added (at the beginning of the action "bar"). So then I have to remember to go back and find it and right-click convert it back to step interpolation, which interrupts my flow.

I've tried everything I can think of (which was basically making sure each and every keyframe in the action itself is step interpolation), but I don't understand where that smooth interpolation keyframe is coming from. Any ideas?
Post Reply