rig a bitmap character that is on separate layers

[peter wassink]

Hello animation friends.

My problem is the following
i have a bitmap drawing of a jellyfish character that i want to rig.
the layer binding for a single tentacle works fine, i get a nice bending of the bitmap using a couple of bones with the right strength setting. just what i need!
however when i rig all the tentacles, animating a single tentacle rig causes all other tentacles to distort as well.
I tried separating them, giving them each their own layer but this didn't help, in fact it made no difference, it looked as if all the separate elements were still on one layer.

then i tried to create multiple bone layers, one for each tentacle but i could not find a way to then link the bones from different layers together to make it a single rig.
i dont want to resort to cutting up the tentacle into separate segments because in this case i like the "jelly"like look the region binding gives


Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[Greenlaw]

Without seeing your character I can only guess what's going on but I have a few suggestions.

You really shouldn't have to create multiple bone layers--a single layer can affect multiple bitmap image layers as easily as one bitmap layer, and you can limit the region of affect for each bone.

Are you adjusting the bone strength to limit the range of the bones? That's the pill shaped control. Set the size of the 'pill' to fit around the tentacle sections. The strength of a bone is contained inside the 'pill' so this should prevent the 'arm ' bones from affecting the main body. If you have extra bones that are meant to be controls or non-deforming offsets, set the strength to 0 for these bones.

Make sure all the tentacle bone chains are children of the root (i.e., the head) bone. You can use Alt Click on your root to start a new chain from that bone. If you've already made your chains, you can relink the top of each chain to its proper parent.

Depending on how your character is drawn, breaking it apart may not be necessary. If the legs are drawn really close to each other, you may need to 'pull apart' the drawing before rigging it. If you're limbs are already in separate layers this is easy. You can tighten the range of each bone chain by moving each tentacle image layer away from the body and then rigging them. This lessens the affect of each bone chain on other parts of the drawing. You can then use the Bone offset tool to bring the character back together, ready for animation.

Hope this helps.

G.

[synthsin75]

If you're using AS10, you will want to select each layer, select the bones you want to effect that layer, and use the bone menu command "Use selected bones for flexi-binding". This saves having to pull the pieces apart to avoid bones influencing the wrong parts.

[Greenlaw]

Does that work with bitmaps too? I thought that feature required points to work.

G.

[synthsin75]

Does that work with bitmaps too? I thought that feature required points to work.

G.

Yeah, it works with image layers too. It's just the selected bones are made to be the only ones controlling the selected layer.

[Greenlaw]

Cool! Thanks for the info Synthsin.

@ Peter: yes, if you're using ASP 10, "Use selected bones for flexi-binding" should simplify what I described above. With this feature, it's not likely you'll need to 'push apart' the tentacles layers because it lets you isolate the affect of selected bones to specific layers. Just use a single master bones layer for the entire character and assign each tentacle layer to the proper selected bone chain and apply this command.

G.

[Lukas]

Welkom Peter

[...] "Use selected bones for flexi-binding" [...]

That's the one you need!

Here's a step by step guide:
1. Put all image layers in 1 bone layer.
2. Put all the bones you think you need in the bone layer.
3. Select an image layer.
4. Use 'Select Bone' tool <B> and select all the bones you want to use to control that layer.
5. Go to Menu > 'Bone' > 'Use Selected Bones For Flex-Binding' <cmd+shift+F>
6. Repeat step 3 to 5 until you're done.
7. Go to frame 0 and use the 'Manipulate Bones' tool <Z> to test. (No need to undo what you're doing here)

[peter wassink]

Thank you all for taking the time helping me out.

I managed to make it work exactly how i imagined it should, using the steps that Lukas gave.
excellent, dank je Lukas!