How to make shadow layer move with character

[tiatridis]

So I saw some videos about how to clone the main bone layer of a rig to make a dupe them make it into a shadow. All good, worked that out. But in each case these vids then show during the animation the shadow layer rig moving with the original layer of the rig in unison. However they don't mention a step on how to achieve that. When I animate the main rig the shadow rig stays where it is. They don't seem to be using a reference layer for the shadow rig layer. They both just seem to move together. There must be a step to have the shadow follow the main rig like its a parent. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[synthsin75]

Make the shadow a reference layer, not just a duplicate.

[tiatridis]

Doesn't make a difference in this case. Isn't a reference layer just a layer that will reflect changes made to the original rig after it's imported from the original file wherever that is if it's updated?

If I click on the rig's layer and duplicate it as a reference layer it has no effect whatsoever. I'm missing something. The tutorials show the layers in the palette without a reference layer icon and the shadow layer follows the main rig layer.

[tiatridis]

I suppose I can copy all the points in the timeline into the cloned rig's timeline, but the tutorials I saw show the shadow just moving with the main rig. Confusing lol.

[synthsin75]

Not knowing what tutorials you're talking about, I can only say how I'd do it. References can exist in the same file, and as long as you only skew/rotate the layer, the bones will continue to match the original.

[obtusity]

If the character was already animated before adding the shadow, a shadow layer created by duplicating that character will also be animated.

Example: http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/manual/t ... index.html

[tiatridis]

Thanks guys, I'll try that next time. IN other words doing the animation first. The tutorial didn't do that and somehow worked without other steps. What I did in the end was I made the shadow layer and cut and pasted the increments on the timeline into the same place and that worked. Workaround for sure, I'll try your tips on the next one. Thanks a million.