Bone will only rotate???

[uncle808us]

I am building (learning practicing ) an Eye Rig.
I have a few bones bound to points and Parented but here is an issue.
I have run into before that I cannot find a solution for.
I have two bones to control the pupils independently Left and Right vertically and horizontally. These two bones are parented to a Main Bone to move both Pupil bones Vertically and horizontally that works.
The problem is the pupil bones will only rotate when manipulated. They will not move the Pupils Up or Down.
I don't want the rotate but only up and down how can I do this?
Thank you, believe it or not I am trying to be clear.
Here is an Image.

[hayasidist]

I've just tried this with a very simple rig that is only

bone layer- 3 bones - parent bone then two child bones, one for each eye
> vector layer two circles for the eyes - each circle point bound to the appropriate bone

all three bones can translate / rotate / scale as expected.

I'm therefore guessing that in your set-up the parenting chain / bone constraints are set in a way that prevent the "eye bones" from moving. If you'd like to upload the file ...

[synthsin75]

These two bones are parented to a Main Bone...
The problem is the pupil bones will only rotate when manipulated. They will not move the Pupils Up or Down.

That's how the manipulate bone tool works. It only rotates a parented bone, unless you hold a modifier key. You probably want to be using the transform bone tool.

[uncle808us]

These two bones are parented to a Main Bone...
The problem is the pupil bones will only rotate when manipulated. They will not move the Pupils Up or Down.

That's how the manipulate bone tool works. It only rotates a parented bone, unless you hold a modifier key. You probably want to be using the transform bone tool.

Hi Synthsin 75: What modifier key and how would I use the transform bone tool?

[uncle808us]

I've just tried this with a very simple rig that is only

bone layer- 3 bones - parent bone then two child bones, one for each eye
> vector layer two circles for the eyes - each circle point bound to the appropriate bone

all three bones can translate / rotate / scale as expected.

I'm therefore guessing that in your set-up the parenting chain / bone constraints are set in a way that prevent the "eye bones" from moving. If you'd like to upload the file ...

I can't see a way to upload the file. So I'll ask you a question Did you bind all points in the eye to each bone, Then Parent those bones to the Main bone? That's all I did so I wonder where I went wrong???

[synthsin75]

Hi Synthsin 75: What modifier key and how would I use the transform bone tool?

Sorry, I was wrong. Holding alt allows the manipulate bone tool to rotate an unparented bone, where the default behavior is to translate it.
So you want to use the Transform Bone tool. It translates any bone by clicking the bone's base.

[uncle808us]

Figured out the problem the translate bone tool won't work on frame zero as soon as I moved to a new frame(6) or any frame then the rig works as expected. And that simple solution only took me 5 or 6 hours.

[hayasidist]

yeah - frame 0 is always a special case -- the bone transform tool moves only the bones and not the bound points

[MrMiracle77]

Let me double check: what do you mean by 'parent'. Do you mean a control bone, or do you mean bone association? The 6th tool on your display in the bone section will show your associations.

There are two things I can think of that result in the behavior you're describing.

1. The parent bone is one of the 'root' bones of your rig. In other words: no other bones were selected when it was created. Bones that are derived from a root bone can rotate it (assuming it isn't locked out of rotation), but don't move it because the root bone is meant to provide a means to manipulate the rig within the bone layer itself (towards or away from the + crosshairs, for example).

2. The parent bone is assigned as the 'translation control bone' of the the two child bones, which is something you would have done from the bone selection menu, which appears on the ribbon when a bone is selected with the bone selection tool. When control bones are used, the selected feature (translate/rotate) locks the bone from changing except when manipulated by the controlling bone.

I assume you want a rig that can do cross eyes/derp eyes, otherwise you wouldn't need to manipulate the eye directions independently. I'd suggest doing a nested set of bone layers.

- Overall bone layer with bone that controls Left Eye Vector and Right Eye Bone
|- Left Eye Vector
|- Bone layer with bone that controls just the right eye
||-- Right Eye Layer

You do have to go into the nested layer to get a cross-eyed/derp-eyed look, but depending on the animation you're making you may not be doing that very often anyway.