Should I Flexi-Bind?

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Ahayut
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Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Ahayut »

Hey again Moho people..

I signed in to Moho Motion Design course and I've seen the instructor rigging a character in no-time using Flexi-Bind.

I rarely ever use Flexi-Bind Because I find it very fiddly, unstable and not very clear. For example if I release flexi layer binding I can never get it to bind back. I ususally use Point/Layer- Bind which can take for ever.

Does anyone have experience with Flexi and share some point, work process and troubleshoot?

Much appreciated,
Assaf
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Designspaceman
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Designspaceman »

Yes, I use flexi binding mostly. I often combine it with elements that need point binding. It depents on what your character needs, there is definitely no right or wrong, just works good or not. There are tutorials from McCoy Buck about this and his complete rigging course on Udemy.
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Ahayut
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Ahayut »

Thanks Spaceman (for the great facial expression examples too!)

I have watche
d McCoy Bucks videos, I even signed for a few of his lessons. It's not that I don't get what Flexi Bind does I just always have technical issues with it.

For example: I used flexi bind on an arm and it's sleeve. I had to point bind few sleeve points to the chest bone. I then wanted to release those two points back to the arm bones. I then wanted to release only the points i Point bind, I wasn't really sure how to go about that so I released the whole arm. After that when pressing the arm the bones where still highlighted but did not affect the arm. From there I was no loner able to re bind using flexi bind and bones had no longer any influence over the arm art.

Maybe I should ask more specific questions:

- What kind of feedback do I get to confirm that Layers are Flexi Bound? (like Layer Bind has highlighted bones and Point Bind coloured points)

- How do I release Flexi Bind?

- After releasing Flexi Bind how can re bind, is it the same process?

Many thanks
Assaf
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slowtiger
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by slowtiger »

1. Flexi-Bind is the default, so it doesn't show. I agree this gets confusing when you release and re-bind a lot.
2. Menu ->Bone -> Release Flexi-Bind.
3. Same menu, Flexi-bind Points.

I recommend to experiment with a dummy arm and shoulder, then stick to your favourite workflow. This will save you the hassle of guessing which point is bound by what method.
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Ahayut
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Ahayut »

Much appreciated Slowtiger :!:
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Greenlaw
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Greenlaw »

Every binding mode and rigging method has its strengths and weaknesses. The choice should depend on the character design and how it's going to be animated.

The methods I use for a character can vary a lot between different TV shows. For example, the way I rigged characters for All Hail King Julien and Puss In Boots is VERY different from how I rigged characters for Boss Baby.

With vector art drawn in Moho, I generally like to use 'Use Selected Bones For Flexi-binding' in combination with Point Binding, and some Layer Binding where appropriate. IMO, 'global' Flexi-binding is usually too broad for complex rigs and 'Use Selected...' lets me localize the Flexi-binding deformations to specific regions of the character. It's super useful and much more controllable than 'global' Flexi-binding which essentially allows every bone in the rig to affect every layer.

Hope this helps.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Greenlaw »

Here's another tip: whenever I goof up binding something and lose track of what I did, I just select the 'broken' layers and choose 'Reset All Bone Rigging'. This command resets the binding for the selected layers to the default Flex-binding mode. I often find it's quicker to re-bind the layers using my intended binding method than spending a lot of time trying to figure out what went wrong and try to backtrack it.

Note that if you don't select any layers before running this command, Moho will assume you wish to reset the binding for the entire character, which is probably not what you want most of the time.

Hope this helps and good luck!
Ahayut
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Re: Should I Flexi-Bind?

Post by Ahayut »

Very very much so!
Thanks, again..
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