Hey all,
I'm building a rig of a character who has eyes that aren't round. The eyes are standard human shaped. They will need to be able to morph from "Neutral" to "Sad" to "Angry" with the same pupils so I can switch from one to the other without having to constantly reposition the pupils when switching eye emotions.
Anyone have any suggestions the best way to attack this so I can head in the right direction and start tinkering?
Wow what a coincidence, I'm experimenting with a similar rig!
With Wes's and Greenlaws help I'm using switch layers for male and female eye shapes, but for emotions I'm just using bones as I wasn't sure if morphing over time from one expression to another would work via a switching layer?
ggoblin wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:54 pm
... I wasn't sure if morphing over time from one expression to another would work via a switching layer?
If the sub-layers are created from duplicates (same number of points in same order) and you have interpolate sub-layers enabled for the switch, it will morph between them.
Thank you Wes for that precious nugget. There are so many ways to do something in Moho, no doubt a tribute to its versatility.
But sometimes for a beginner it can get a bit confusing as to which is best practice. I saw one tutorial which created an entire eye rig in a single vector layer using one shape to mask another all within the same layer using shape ordering and point binding. It worked really well, but being 6 years old, I'm assuming its no longer the recommended method?
Well, it depends on what you need. If you can get away with a simpler rig for your purposes, it's usually better to stick with that. But Moho has many ways to increase complexity. For some, it may be overkill, but others may need insanely complex rigs. And it's usually easier to learn starting from the shallow end. So those simpler techniques will always have a use for someone.
My recommendation is to just try a bunch of stuff and decided which one works best for your situation. Over time, you'll have a bunch of tricks in your pocket and you'll know exactly which ones to pull out when you need it.
When I have an idea for a technique but I'm unsure if it will actually work or be practical, I won't immediately use it in a production rig or project. That could waste time and may potentially ruin a project. Instead, I'll proof the my using separate minimal setup using simple objects...in other words, don't bother with 'pretty', just test the idea. If the idea works with the minimal setup, it's probably going to work in an actual production level project; if it doesn't work, then I haven't lost much time and I can move on to another idea.
Also, keep notes. I try to keep notes for every new trick or technique I learn because it's impossible to remember them all. Make sure you have a good system for searching your notes.
Tip: personally, I like Evernote because it has a great tagging system. Google Docs is what I used to use for notes and it's okay but you need to name your files clearly and have an organized folder structure. (I still use Google Docs for longer form writing like articles and documentation.) Whichever note taking system you use, just make sure you have a good way to find the information later when you need it.
I'm beginning to realise that old methods don't mean outdated, often they are still the best to use.
The Moho tutorial manual can be confusing in this regard. For example I'm finding an affinity to using point binding for limbs (with rounded elbow sections for upper arms to cover up rotation gaps) in preference to 'flexi binding on selected bones'. I can still use smart bone actions to bulge up muscles as needed. But the tutorial manual steers us away from it stating that "binding points to bones is a process that exists mostly for compatibility with older versions of Anime Studio.. Although this method does work for binding points to bones, we don’t really recommend it ..".
Agree with creating simple rigs to test things. I don't yet have the confidence in Moho to risk changing the main rig to experiment (in case I can't get it back to what it was) so I always create a new dummy rig to test an idea.
I strongly agree with keeping notes. I already have a half filled A4 pad full of Moho notes. Although I have no method of searching the notes other than lots of colour and scribal diagrams popping up at me from the pages, I find that the very act of taking notes helps me remember those nuggets of information.
ggoblin wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:42 pm
The Moho tutorial manual can be confusing in this regard. For example I'm finding an affinity to using point binding for limbs (with rounded elbow sections for upper arms to cover up rotation gaps) in preference to 'flexi binding on selected bones'. I can still use smart bone actions to bulge up muscles as needed. But the tutorial manual steers us away from it stating that "binding points to bones is a process that exists mostly for compatibility with older versions of Anime Studio.. Although this method does work for binding points to bones, we don’t really recommend it ..".
Yeah, that's misleading, as I use point binding the most on my own rigs. I think it's just Moho's oldest binding method, but by no means obsolete.
