Switch Layer

[Ruwan]

Dear Friends
i have a one problem
I can animate mouth using papagayo & switch layers in moho
but i can't understand how can we animate facial expressions like
angry mode or happy mode using switch layer
pls tell me how can i do this

I want More details about adding bones to the switch layer

[RASH]

Right click the switch layer in the Layers Menu and select the vector layer you want.

[kasjorg]

Well, it would work just like your mouth shapes, just put your face on a different layer and copy it to the number of layers you want different expressions then either draw og move the vectors -keep in mind if you want to interpolate the layers (tell moho to do the inbetweens) you have to keep the same amount of vectors in the sub layers! Then go to the frame where you want your new exp. right click the switch layer and choose! I find it very usefull to put my different shapes of the head on different switch layers, u can get really cool 3d effects. Good luck

[myles]

Are you talking about while speaking? You can create 3 different mouth sets - one happy, one sad/angry, one neutral, and either keyframe visibility or put 3 switch layers into another "emotion" switch layer.
Alternatively, you can add bones to a switch layer, and use them to curve the mouth.

If you are talking about non-speaking mouths, eyes and eyebrows, you can add "emotion" mouths to the speaking mouth sets and add angry and happy eyes and eyebrows to their own switch layers.

You will probably have to manually set switch layer keyframes for these - you don't have to use imported switch data files and Papagayo to set keyframes to change a switch layer.

If, for example, you have a set of eye layers (angry eyes, happy eyes) in an "eye" switch layer, select the eye switch layer in the Layers panel, go to the appropriate frame in the timeline where you want to set a switch keyframe, then as RASH said, right-click on the switch layer in the Layers panel to select the switch sub-layer to keyframe.

Alternatively, with the switch layer highlighted in the Layers panel and the correct frame set in the timeline, select the Switch Layer tool in the Tools panel and use the drop-down box at the top of the workspace to select the correct switch sub-layer to keyframe.

Regards, Myles.

[Ruwan]

I want to know more about adding bones to the switch layer
More More More!!!

[Rai López]

More More More!!!

JAJA, I undestand you very well, I was very excited too when LM include this USEFULL&COOL feature, it's a PITY that we can't do inside Switch layers things like masking for moving texturing, Depth Sort and another interesting things, but well... ENJOY IT!

[RASH]

keep in mind if you want to interpolate the layers (tell moho to do the inbetweens) you have to keep the same amount of vectors in the sub layers!

It is more subtle than simply the same number of points. See what happens if you misalign the points:
circle/square, points aligned
same, points not aligned
happy/sad, points not aligned

One would expect that Moho picks the nearest points, but it seems that the order in which you put the points of a shape on the screen matters. So if the order changes between switch sublayers, Moho gets "confused" and produces unwanted results. The safest way is to copy all your switch sublayers from one switch sublayer and modify the points in the copied switch sublayers.

[Lost Marble]

One would expect that Moho picks the nearest points

That would only work if you had very small movements between layers. In general, matching up the "closest" points could lead to similar errors.

The basic idea is to draw a shape once, and then duplicate the layer and modify it by moving the points around. That way, you don't have to figure out which points match up at all. As long as you don't add or delete points in the duplicated layers, it should be easy to modify the shape and get the points to line up.

[Ruwan]

I got what i want
Thank all of you for help me

[RASH]

The basic idea is to draw a shape once, and then duplicate the layer and modify it by moving the points around.

So the point interpolation done by a switch layer actually only effects Point Motion. Point Curvature, Fill Color and Line Color interpolation all have to be done by hand. Quite different from what happens in interpolation within a single vector layer (where these channels are interpolated as well).

Always nice to know