You know I have done this before many times so I must be doing something wrong this time.
I drew my canary, creating a group layer for the eye so the little critter could blink. I then added all the layers to a bone layer, separated the parts by using the translate points tool and built his skeleton.
The problem came when I tried to offset the bones and put him back together - the eye, while being influenced by the movement of the head bone, won't stick to the head. I even tried adding a bone for the eye alone but that bone had no influence whatsoever.
What the fudge am I doing wrong. Please somebody slap me with a kipper if you must just tell me how to give my poor canary his sight back
Last edited by Honacloi on Thu Aug 19, 2010 9:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
what you could do is with the eye bone you created, make sure they are parented to the head bone, and manually rig the eyes to that bone - this way they will not be influenced by flexi-binding.
press I (bind points), control click the eye bone, select the eye, hit space bar - and you should be good to go.
funksmaname wrote:
press I (bind points), control click the eye bone, select the eye, hit space bar - and you should be good to go.
Thanks for the response.
Is this in AS Pro? I press 'I' and nothing happens. I control clicked the eye bone, selected the eye, hit space bar... and the canary blinked at me (it played the animation). Still I try to offset the bone - nothing.
Pressing "I" or "i" should select the bind points tool. Or you can select it in the tool palette (rollover the buttons to find the "bind points" or "Point binding" tool).
To use this tool you need the following minimum requirements:
A vector layer inside a bone layer.
At least one bone in that bone layer.
Some points on the vector layer.
You select a vector layer, then select a bone in the parent bone layer. You can select a bone with the point binding tool by holding down the CTRL key (I think. Or it might be ALT).
With the point binding tool (I) select some points then press "space" or click the button at the top "bind points". Now the points selected are bound to the bone. The key for this tool to work is you must have a vector layer as the current layer with a bone and some points selected at the same time. That is the "combo" that binds points to a bone.
Sorry guys, I appreciate your suggestions and all but none of them are working.
If I select a layer within the bone layer, the 'Bind Points' tool is available to me. But if I select a layer within a group layer within a bone layer it is greyed out. It is the group layer I am trying to bind to the skeleton.
Why is this so difficult, I have never had to use this bind points tool malarkey in the past. Any ideas what I have done different this time?
funksmaname wrote:open an old file where you didnt have to do this and compare!
You can only attach things to bones one level above them i think...?
Good idea, will give that a try.
Edit: In other files I have layers within group layers within group layers and switch layers that have behaved themselves and stuck with the bone for which they were intended.
Can't see any difference, maybe I am blind. Still scratching my head.
The "eye" layer is the problem yes? You want the eye group layer to move with the head bone yes?
Go to frame 0.
Select the "eye" group layer (not sub layers that won't work).
Select the Bind Layer tool. Click on the head bone.
This will bind the eye group layer to the head bone.
The Bind Layer tool only works on frame 0. It only works if the layer selected is inside a bone layer and that bone layer has bones. You can't bind a layer inside a group layer to a bone layer above the group.
Here's a tip:
If you want to make "blinking" easier use a switch layer instead of a group layer for the eyes. A switch layer can be bound to the head bone the same way and then you can draw different eye layers inside the switch layer to create blinking or expressions.
Other than that I don't see any reason this shouldn't be working. I even offset the bones to put it back together and the eye layer "sticks" to the head bone.
Another problem you definately will have is the legs and feet. You need to either bind the points to bones or change the bone binding to "Region Binding" instead of "Flexible Binding".
Right now there are so many bones effecting the leg/feet area that you can't "offset" the legs properly. When you use flexible bone binding ALL bones effect ALL the points regardless of how far away they are. Small bones have less influence but can still control points. What is happening that I see is that the legs/feet can't be offset or put back together.
I would suggest using Region Binding. With region binding the closest bone always controls the points nearest to it without effecting points in another area.
Overlapping bones with region binding will "share" influence based on size and the strength of the bone.
The "eye" layer is the problem yes? You want the eye group layer to move with the head bone yes?
Go to frame 0.
Select the "eye" group layer (not sub layers that won't work).
Select the Bind Layer tool. Click on the head bone.
This will bind the eye group layer to the head bone.
The Bind Layer tool only works on frame 0. It only works if the layer selected is inside a bone layer and that bone layer has bones. You can't bind a layer inside a group layer to a bone layer above the group.
Here's a tip:
If you want to make "blinking" easier use a switch layer instead of a group layer for the eyes. A switch layer can be bound to the head bone the same way and then you can draw different eye layers inside the switch layer to create blinking or expressions.
Other than that I don't see any reason this shouldn't be working. I even offset the bones to put it back together and the eye layer "sticks" to the head bone.
Thank you Vern and everybody else who put up with me through this hair-pulling session.
It's a miracle, my canary was blind but now he can see.
I still don't recall ever using the 'bind layer' tool in the past but that is neither here nor there now. I am elated
Thanks for the tip, I do usually use switch layers for the eyes for the reasons you gave. I didn't think it necessary with my canary since wasn't planning on having its expression change - but thanks it is reassuring to know that I share methods with an enlightened one such as you.
heyvern wrote:Another problem you definately will have is the legs and feet. You need to either bind the points to bones or change the bone binding to "Region Binding" instead of "Flexible Binding".
Right now there are so many bones effecting the leg/feet area that you can't "offset" the legs properly. When you use flexible bone binding ALL bones effect ALL the points regardless of how far away they are. Small bones have less influence but can still control points. What is happening that I see is that the legs/feet can't be offset or put back together.
I would suggest using Region Binding. With region binding the closest bone always controls the points nearest to it without effecting points in another area.
Overlapping bones with region binding will "share" influence based on size and the strength of the bone.
-vern
Cheers I was getting round to that, I just do things in a silly order sometimes.
I think what may have happened is that you used the menu "Flexi-bind layer". In the original file the eye group layer is definitely moving slightly when the bones are moved. All the bones were sharing control on that one group layer, the same as bones would influence points.
The "Flexi-bind Layer" command does just that, it makes an entire layer be effected by many bones the same as points would. Normally if a layer is created it is not bound to a bone.
When you use Flexi-bind layer it may take more than one "try" to get that effect removed. Sometimes I find I have to use the "Release Layer" command FIRST before using the bind layer tool, or use the bind layer tool TWICE. I realize now I did have to use the bind layer tool twice to over ride the flexi-bind layer.
If you ever run into a situation like this, with layers or even points not binding correctly, just use the "Release layer" or "Release Points" to "reset" everything. That usually works for me.
