Why do these layers only work when not binded to a bone?

[TheMinahBird]

Hello! It’s been a very long time. I am just getting back into animating and it’s been fun for me:

https://youtube.com/shorts/Qo63okTpLn8?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/z8aIbLH-oeg?feature=share

However I have a question and I’m sure this has been answered but Googling it hasn’t been successful as it’s too niche I think, and searching it on here has been hard because I don’t think I’m using the right keywords.

Im rigging a face that has a mix of warp meshes, images and I just added a vector layer.

This layer isn’t being affected by a mesh, it’s just a regular vector layer.

I am doing a smart bone head turn, and the vector moves perfectly in the smart bones timeline.

The layer’s shapes also move fine when I am actively on the layer itself playing with the dial.

But when I press the bone layer, which holds all the other layers and groups together and animate the dial past frame 0, it breaks?

Like, it just won’t update live or showcase the layer of the turn live. It sort of updates to the proper position if I scrub the timeline, like it’ll show it moving like that, even pop into the correct position but it just won’t ACTUALLY do it live after pressing play.

I managed to make it work through unbinding the layer from the bone strangely enough. It’ll work then, update live on the timeline like it should.

BUT if I rebind it to that bone, it goes back to not working. It won’t update live, it’ll just stay still.

I even binded it to different bone just to test if it was that bone in particular that was the issue, and it doesn’t work with other bones either.

I even did a random vector layer to see if it was the layer I was working with that had a bug specifically and just like that one, it only would do the smart action unbinded.

Im guessing it has something to do with the meshes even though they aren’t being linked to any of them? Like maybe too much is going on with in the rig so it’s breaking?

[TheMinahBird]

Also! It’s not a case of it being step interpolation on frame 0 in the vector layer’s smart actions, I thought it was that but it’s not.

If only it were that easy!

[synthsin75]

For smart bones, you only want to bind the layers being influenced, not any group/bone layers. Binding group/bone layers will cut off smart bone influence from layers inside the group/bone layer.

[TheMinahBird]

Yeah I’m definitely not explaining this right I think.

It’s a vector layer that is being binded to a bone.

When it’s bonded to a bone, the head turn works still but that specific layer doesn’t move. It won’t update live like the other layers.

When unbinded from the layer it’ll move like normal , in sync with the rest.

It’s not attatched to a smart bone but a regular rig. It only moves because of a smart dial.

[TheMinahBird]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ruz3sk ... share_link

Here I posted the file for better reference.

[synthsin75]

You have v-bangs bound to torso bone B12, but v-bangs2 bound to head bone B4.

[TheMinahBird]

I know. I explained I did that to test my theory.

When I turn the smart bone dial, the bangs don’t move but the rest of the stuff does.

It’ll do it though if I unbind it! I tested binding it to another bone (torso) to see if it was just because it was bonded to a bone in general and that’s what seemed to be why it wouldn’t update with the rest of the head turn.

Does that make any sense? Or am i still confusing?

[TheMinahBird]

ALSO! vbangs2 LOOKS like it's binded to B4 but it's binded to nothing!

It only works if it's binded to nothing, go ahead and bind it to B4 and it'll do the weird thing where it doesn't move in accordance to the head turn either.

[TheMinahBird]

Okay so I found a solution BUT I don't understand why it's like this.

Instead of binding the vector layers to B4 with the bind layer tool, I had to bind the points to B4.

Now it updates like it's supposed to with the rest of the layers, only issue is I don't understand WHY this works, but it works.

[synthsin75]

Layer binding to B4 works here.

[TheMinahBird]

Then it must be a me problem, my tablet or something isn't acting right. Thank you though!