Create Smooth Joint for Bone Pair?

[WakkoCat]

I have a question. I was reading both User manual and Tutorial manual and they mentioned creating "Smooth Joint" for bone pair. I've tested on bitmap figure and it seems to works (particularly when I'm using Flexible Binding) but if I'm using Region binding, it doesn't seem to work. Nor does it work on vector figure either (either with Flexible or Region binding - it just distorts). So the "Smooth Joint" feature works only on bitmap and if I use Flexible binding, correct? Thanks~

[Greenlaw]

Smooth Joint works amazingly well for bitmaps. I use it often at work because many of our characters tend to be based on bitmap paintings. The trick is the make sure the artwork and bones are aligned more or less in a straight line. I occasionally get some curious deformations when using Smooth Joint and bending the joint at extreme angles, but most of the time the texture bends look way better than I would expect, and usually better than flexi-binding (which can work well for many bitmaps too.)

Smooth Joint is not flexi-binding, it's its own binding mode. The effect can be similar to flexi-binding but it only works between two bones. That said, you can work around this limitation using a clever cropping trick Victor came up with. (A quick search in this forum should turn up the topic.)

I'm not sure Smooth Joint is meant for vector graphics. Regardless, I think if you're using vector art it's better to plot your points strategically and use Smart Bones to maintain good deformations--you have far more control this way and you'll get exactly the result you want. Note that with Moho 12, Smart Mesh and Smart Bones, it's now possible to do this for bitmaps too. I would even say it's the best way to deform irregularly shaped bitmap elements. However, Smooth Joint is still easier to set up and very reliable for bitmap art that follows a relatively straight line and has fairly constant thickness.

Hope this helps.

[WakkoCat]

Thank you, it is indeed helpful!