Lip Sync via Smart bones..

[cartoonmonkey]

Hey all. Just upgraded to 9.5, and what a fantastic release it is. Thanks to the developers at Smith Micro.

I have a few questions about AS that have always eluded me, maybe one of you can help.

With the new smart bones system, I believe that it's possible to control the switch layers, yes? Are there any examples of this?

I've tried to do it myself multiple times, just by setting up a rotating smart bone to control switch layers, swapping out different mouth shapes, but I just can't seem
to get it right.

Thanks in advance.

[Danimal]

There's an example of it in the 9.5 webinar, but it doesn't explain how it's done, which, like you, I couldn't get to work either. I set it up like in the webinar, but again, it just shows that it works, not how. I hope there is an answer out there. Although - with the new ability to click directly on the mouth layer and select the mouth shape, that may actually work quicker than setting up a Smart Bone to do it.

[heyvern]

What exactly doesn't work?

I just tried a quick test.

Created a bone layer
Added a switch with multiple layers
Created a bone with smart bone action to change the switch

Pretty simple. Would need to know how you are setting it up or what exactly is going on in the specific file to say why it's not working for you.

[Danimal]

When I tried it, the switch happened immediately, not where I had it set in the range, and never switched back when I returned the bone.

[heyvern]

Not seeing that problem here in my test file. It works exactly as expected.
Would need to see the file and how you set this up

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Keep in mind switch layers are "boolean" values, and bone rotations can be "interpolated". The actual switch change is not going to happen when you expect. It will switch based on the interpolation of the bone (smooth, linear, ease in/out, step, etc) and not exactly on where the key is for the smart bone action.

In my test file I set the smart bone up in different ways, frame 1 only, later key frame with interpolation, multiple switch keys on one bone, etc. It works as expected.

[Danimal]

I didn't actually save my file, it was just a test. I had just chalked it up to my doing something wrong, but as someone else reported the same issue, maybe we're both making the same mistake? I'll have to check when I'm back on my machine at home.

[cartoonmonkey]

@heyvern, could you post your test file?

The interpolation thing is kind of a bummer for controling a switch layer with a control bone. Although, I didn't fully understand your explanation. Sounds like you have a workaround?

Thanks!

[heyvern]

Switch layers controlled by smart bones can not have interpolated (smooth) switching. I don't know if that is part of the issue.

About the bone interpolation and switching timing...

If you have a smart bone action with a switch key on frame 1, then rotating the smart bone on any later key will still activate the switch before that smart bone key on the main timeline. Remember that smart bone will slowly rotate from any previous key until it reaches another key with a rotation value. Since the smart bone action has a switch key on frame 1 with whatever key is set for the bone rotation for that action this means it will activate the switch as soon as the bone has rotated even a small amount. This would be BEFORE the key you set for the smart bone in the main time line.

Also if you don't set the rotation of the smart bone to LESS than the value of the smart bone action rotation the switch will stay activated.

To control exactly where you want the switch to happen in a smart bone action, make the action active, and move the smart bone rotation further down the time line. Then move the switch key to a frame in the action where you want the switch to happen.

This may sound confusing but in reality it's what you deal with in any type of keyed animation not just smart bones. You have to take into account changes between keys as well as the actual key value. If something moves on frame 20, it will slowly move to that position from the previous key to frame 20 unless you set it to a "step" key interpolation.

That is another option as well, set key interpolation of your lip sync switch smart bones to "step". Then the switch will only happen at the exact key set in the main time line. However, you still need to set the bone rotation to LESS than the action rotation value to deactivate the switch or allow other bones to control it.

Hope this makes sense.

[cartoonmonkey]

Hrm.. I.. I think so. I need to spend much more time with AS.. especially since I flipped for this fantastic new upgrade.
Thanks again for the detailed reply. I'll let you know how it goes.
!