Moho Animation Forum

Hi, hoping any anime gurus here can throw me a line!

I built a head in a full front view at frame zero and put a couple of bones in it.

I animated it turning to a 3qtr view inside an action by moving points (and the bone slightly to make it dip while it turned - otherwise it looked robotic)

then I created a blink action for the original front view

however, when I applied that blink action to the face in the 3qtr angle, the eye blink jumped to the front position it had at the start.

Q - is there any way I can make the blink action fit the 3qtr view, or do I have to make another blink for that view (and presumably any other views)?

TIA

AM

That's a interesting question. You can do actions to move points but if the reference system for the points don't change then the action don't change.

Do one simple thing and you will understand.
Bind all the points of the eye to a bone. Then apply the action eye blink several times in the timeline. Also in the timeline ROTATE the bone. The blink would rotate as well. The problem is that a head turn is not a normal rotation of a bone is it a transformation of the mesh...
What you can do is create actions for points ONLY (blink, mouth positions) and find what movements or transformations you need for bones ONLY to make a head rotation. Then the combination of both actions would work.
See this amazing thread to see how it works.
viewtopic.php?t=8540
Enjoy!
-G

Genete wrote: The problem is that a head turn is not a normal rotation of a bone is it a transformation of the mesh...

-and find what movements or transformations you need for bones ONLY to make a head rotation. Then the combination of both actions would work.

Yes, I see - I'm coming to terms with point animation but still have a lot to learn about bones!

Genete wrote: See this amazing thread to see how it works.
viewtopic.php?t=8540

I've been reading that thread for several days, but I only understand tiny bits of it - I'll keep re-reading though till I get it!

One other question for you - I'm using your great tip about copying keyframes from the main timeline into an action but I'm puzzled about one thing - the general rule that you and Darth give is that it's best to create only one keyframe in an an action (unless there's a cycle) - and to put that keyframe on frame 1 - why?


I'm doing that now, but I find I can't see & check the progress of the morph now since the animation now jumps from frame 0 to frame 1
Before, I created my action animation on frame 12 so I could have a second (at 12fps) to see the points slide into their new position.

I guess I could still use frame 12 and then slide everything to frame 1 before finalising the action but I'd need to be able to select all the keyframes on all the layers I've adjusted and slide them all at once. Is there a way to do that?

Sorry about all this - but this program is really interesting and it seems well worth the effort to get to grips with it properly!

Thanks for your time and patience!

Mac

macaye wrote:

Genete wrote: The problem is that a head turn is not a normal rotation of a bone is it a transformation of the mesh...

-and find what movements or transformations you need for bones ONLY to make a head rotation. Then the combination of both actions would work.

Yes, I see - I'm coming to terms with point animation but still have a lot to learn about bones!

Genete wrote: See this amazing thread to see how it works.
viewtopic.php?t=8540

I've been reading that thread for several days, but I only understand tiny bits of it - I'll keep re-reading though till I get it!

One other question for you - I'm using your great tip about copying keyframes from the main timeline into an action but I'm puzzled about one thing - the general rule that you and Darth give is that it's best to create only one keyframe in an an action (unless there's a cycle) - and to put that keyframe on frame 1 - why?


I'm doing that now, but I find I can't see & check the progress of the morph now since the animation now jumps from frame 0 to frame 1
Before, I created my action animation on frame 12 so I could have a second (at 12fps) to see the points slide into their new position.

I guess I could still use frame 12 and then slide everything to frame 1 before finalising the action but I'd need to be able to select all the keyframes on all the layers I've adjusted and slide them all at once. Is there a way to do that?

Sorry about all this - but this program is really interesting and it seems well worth the effort to get to grips with it properly!

Thanks for your time and patience!

Mac

Continue reading that loong post. It is worth.

Regarding on one frame action. It is like composite a pose. Then you can later select on what frame you want the pose and ow fast you want it. If you write the action AND include the final keyframe beyond frame 1 then when you insert that action you'll obtain a reset at the begining of the action to the pose at frame 0. In the 1 frame way, every pose action can be set after another 1 pose action and an transition would be made between pose and pose.

You should make poses that were not so extreme so the in between can be achieved by a linear translation of the points. Of course you can edit your action at frame 12 to see morph effect and then recover its position to frame 1. I also do following:
Create action A. Then create action B and insert (copy, not reference) action A inside action B at frame 1 when editing. Then at frame 12 (for example) I make my morph. When happy I clear the keyframes from action A and place the keyframes from B to frame 1.
-G

Genete wrote:Of course you can edit your action at frame 12 to see morph effect and then recover its position to frame 1. I also do following:
Create action A. Then create action B and insert (copy, not reference) action A inside action B at frame 1 when editing. Then at frame 12 (for example) I make my morph. When happy I clear the keyframes from action A and place the keyframes from B to frame 1.
-G

Ok, I think I get the idea of that! I'll try it and let you know if I get it to work. Got to rush out now.

THANKS!

M