Looking for a way to keep a storyboard file in view

[chucky]

Yeah Wes
That's really cool, I think it might be useful for a bunch of other stuff.

[chucky]

Would pin to workspace work for bone translation?
(for rig controls)

[Víctor Paredes]

This is great! Thank you very much, Wes.
(And I'm part of the people who is in Windows and use Autohotkey )

[Greenlaw]

This sounds very clever Wes. I'm gonnal check it out at lunchtime today.

[synthsin75]

Would pin to workspace work for bone translation?
(for rig controls)

So moving a control rig's root bone, instead of moving and scaling a layer? That's doable.
I'm not sure how I'd handle scaling of a bone rig without affecting the sublayers too.

I'll have to think on that.


EDIT: If your control rig is controlling a reference bone layer, you could unsync the control layer's translation and scale and use dock layers on it without affecting the reference.

[synthsin75]

Does everyone usually parent their SBDs to one root bone to move them around?

[Greenlaw]

I normally make a common 'anchor' bone for the SBDs which is parented to the character's root. This anchor has Independent Angle enabled so it doesn't flip around like crazy when the character moves and turns.

Usually, I'll have two 'mover' bones to either side of the character, which are parented to the 'anchor'. The actual SBDs are then parented to the 'mover' bones. Typically, I have head and face controls on one side and body controls on the other. I call these 'mover' bones because that's what I use them for: to move the SBD controls out of the way when necessary.

With some characters, I may add a third mover bone and place that above the head or under the character. This one is usually for unusual character controls or scene-specific controls.

Some controls may get parented directly to a limb or the head bone if it makes sense to do so.

[synthsin75]

Do you give your SBD "mover" bones unique names? Not necessarily a specific name, but just a non-duplicated name?

[Greenlaw]

Yes. For example, SBDMoverFace or SBDMoverBody. I generally give all bones a unique and descriptive name. It makes it a lot easier to find them in the Bones list. (It's not unusual for me to have hundreds of bones.)

I also try to use a naming pattern that groups the bones when sorting the Actions panel alphabetically. Until we get a better system for organizing bones and bone sets in Moho, this system works reasonably well for me.

[Lukas]

Same here. All our studio rigs have a bone called “GUI” that all smartbone dials are parented to.

[chucky]

Hi Wes sorry for my late reply- I was ill and out for the count.
Answering the question
Yes I do exactly that.
Probably the same as Dennis and Lukas
Normally a master ui bone with most controls attached , I often have child ui bone parented to that ( head UI mostly).


I actually tried having them unattached to the rig and having them in another ui window split screen , just like Lukas' storyboard method before your script.
THat method almost works brilliantly.
The problem with that is not that it takes up too much room, in fact, layout wise, it's perfect.
The problem is that the split screen does not update in real time- you have to let go of the mouse before the character's position updates.
Not the ideal rig to hand off to another animator with a caveat, eh?
Catch 22.

[chucky]

I don't mind changing to GUI as a standard name, I love any kind of sensible standard procedure.
I shall try to remember and convert all my rigs in time to that.

[synthsin75]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I think I'm pretty close to having docked rigs solved.

The specific name doesn't matter, Chucky. Just as long as the bone name is unique on that layer.

Another question. Is there any pressing need to have several SBD rigs on the same layer independently pinned to the workspace? Like body rig in one corner and head rig in another? I assume they can be positioned relative to the main rig root bone.

[chucky]

Hmmm don't know about that, maybe some would find it very useful?
This is pretty exciting though Wes, getting all giggly about it.

[jezjones29]

I like your script Wes. I've been using it today and it works well. Thanks.

When I need to follow an animatic or video, I place the video/s in a switch layer (Don't render this layer set). I then align them in the seqencer, then use Window > Switch Selection.
The videos play with the timeline, but it stays fixed when zooming in and out.
You can also use this method for storyboard images, and you can show hide them when needed (and the slider makes this quick to change)
It would be good if this window was resizeable, but it doesn't take up too much room.