resizing bones

[DaleG]

Hi...

I'm working on setting up images with skeletons and I'm open to suggestions on techniques.

Ive taken full body digital camera pictures of family members and then outlined them.. deleted the backgrounds and saved as png files. Ive then separated them further into separate png files that are divided into head, torso, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg png files. Next ive set up skeletons exactly like the tutorial 3.4 character set up.

I decided the images would look funnier with very large heads, compared with the bodies so I decided to try scale layer. The problem is that the bones same the same size..

Is there a better techique to set up skeletons from images.. or am i doing this right? How do i resize the bones to match with the image if Ive resized one of the layers? I'm very confused about working with bones if i have to make changes after the fact, once ive set it up.. (how to resize, change a screwed up parent-relationship.. etc) Is that covered in one of the tutorials..?

thanks

[Lost Marble]

Use the Translate Bone tool. If you're at frame 0, the translate bone tool works a little differently - if you drag the tip of the bone (as opposed to the base), it doesn't move the entire bone, but instead just moves the tip, allowing you to change the length and/or angle of the bone.

In other words, dragging the tip of the bone gets you back into the same mode as when you first created the bone.

[DaleG]

Is there a way to delete a bone? I used bones in my daughters pony tail but the hair seems to get distorted and the neck stretches with the pony tail when I manipulate those bones. How do I delete a bone I no longer want to use?

[DaleG]

Ive discovered that I can delete a bone by selecting the bone, clicking on the translate bone, then setting the length to zero. It seems like a kind of odd way to do it, but it seems to work. Is there a more straight forward way to delete a bone?

Also, the scale bone tool is always greyed out.. it seems that i need to use translate bone and grab the tip to scale the bone.

Also, if I try to use any of the menu items under the bone menu.. (like, reset bone ) they are also always greyed out. I have a feeling I'm missing something obvious and making this harder than it is.

[myles]

Hello Dale,

Ive discovered that I can delete a bone by selecting the bone, clicking on the translate bone, then setting the length to zero. It seems like a kind of odd way to do it, but it seems to work.

I'm worried that you may eventually get odd behaviour doing this, particularly where IK chains (and possibly bone dynamics) are involved. The bones are still there, only invisible and - as you specified - of zero length.

Is there a more straight forward way to delete a bone?

Yes - select the bone (using the Select Bone tool), then hit the Delete key on the (actual, physical) keyboard (Edit; Clear will also work). Note that deleting a bone will also delete any "child" bones in the skeletal hierarchy (e.g. deleting a thigh bone might also delete shin and foot bones).

Also, the scale bone tool is always greyed out.. it seems that i need to use translate bone and grab the tip to scale the bone.

A few things work differently on frame 0 (the "setup" frame).
The scale tool doesn't work at all on frame 0 - it's an animation-related tool only, not setup-related. On frame 0 setup, you use the translate tool as Lost Marble explained. On any other frame, the translate tool won't work for scaling but the scale tool will.

Also, if I try to use any of the menu items under the bone menu.. (like, reset bone ) they are also always greyed out. I have a feeling I'm missing something obvious and making this harder than it is.

Again, the reset entries are animation settings, and will work on any frame but frame 0 - the "reset" menu entries (as I understand it) basically just copy the settings from frame 0. Reset bone requires a bone to be selected, and Reset All bones requires a bone layer to be selected in the Layers panel.

The release and bind bone entries work on frame 0, but work when the "child" layer to be released or bound is selected in the Layers panel (otherwise Moho wouldn't know which child layer to release or bind), and in the case of points, when the points to be bound or released are in the selected state.

Regards, Myles.