Control Action cycle with smart bone?

[kakubei]

Hello, I've got an Action that is not tied to any bones because it's a cycle of my character's mouth talking (cycling through images).

I'd like to have a smart bone to add that cycle behaviour to the timeline, simply to make it easier to see where this cycle occurs, along with all the bone animations.

I realise this might not be possible. Just wondering if there is a good strategy for this.

Alternatively I could always tick on the Show in Timeline column for the Mouth Switch layer.

I suppose this would be the best way to do it, just wondering if people have other methods.

Thanks.

[slowtiger]

In one project I had a smart bone controlling the switch layer for the mouth shapes, easy to see where this bone had keys.

[kakubei]

In one project I had a smart bone controlling the switch layer for the mouth shapes, easy to see where this bone had keys.

Could you let me know how you did that? In my case I have a cycle that is inside an Action so I simply Insert the Action where I want it but I don't think that can be controlled with a smart bone.

[slowtiger]

I created the switch keys inside an action - no cycle. Now the smart bone position determines which switch key is shown.

Additional hint: a sequence I found helpful for lipsync starts with the most open position - A - and goes over E, I to M (closed) in the middle of the action, then to O, U. Finally F/W. This way you can cover many words with just 2 keys instead of syncing every phoneme.