Rig/Actions Question

[Gibble]

Hey Gang!

I am rigging a character and I have an issue with rig and/or actions that I could use some input on.

Image 1: See below:
As you'll see below, on #1 there was an issue where a hole would show up when I rotated the "spine" of the character.


Image 2: See below:
So I fixed this with an Action.
Everything works fine when I am inside the Action's timeline. [See below]



The issue is when I am on the main timeline though and the Action isn't triggered.
Am I missing something??
Shouldn't that Action be triggered when I rotate the spine bone on the main timeline??
Or do I need to attach that action onto a secondary Smartbone that triggers the Action that fixes this?
Ideally, I want that action to be triggered when that Spine bone is rotated, so the fix is applied automatically.
Similar to when you make an action that makes a bicep on an arm when the forearm bone is rotated. Does that make sense??

[Hoptoad]

You are correct, what you did should work.

I've had this happen a few times after I somehow made a tiny error in the process. Maybe my solution will be your solution.

Locate the BAD point or points -- the ones that not following orders in the main timeline.

Go into the Action and select those points and those points only.

On frame 1, make sure they have keyframes. If they don't, give them keyframes. This solidifies their pre-movement positions.

Once again, make sure the bad points are selected.

Look at the channel for SELECTED POINT MOTION. Copy the keyframes from frame 1, then paste onto frame 0.

Return to main timeline. Manipulate your character.

Did it fix it?

If not, this is where you should consider deleting the Action and trying again.

Good luck!

EDIT: you might also check Bone Strength, or make sure the point is Point-Binded properly -- things like that.

[Gibble]

Thank you for your suggestions, @HopToad! I appreciate the steps you provided to try out and I'll go through them one-by-one now and hopefully solve this issue. I am sure one of your suggestions will provide a solution. I think the Frame 1 keyframe suggestion could be the issue. Thanks so much for your help!

[Daxel]

Could be that the name of the action doesn't match the name of the bone?

For an action to become a smartaction (to be activated by the rotation of a specific bone) you need to name it as a specific bone, that from now on will become a smartbone. Otherwise the action will be a regular action that you can only activate manually inserting a reference or a copy using the actions panel.

[Gibble]

Bone Naming Issues: that was it! Thanks for that tip @Daxel! I didn't realize this was the difference between a Smartbone vs SmartAction.
Thanks so much for this tip!

[Daxel]

Bone Naming Issues: that was it! Thanks for that tip @Daxel! I didn't realize this was the difference between a Smartbone vs SmartAction.
Thanks so much for this tip!

I'm glad that helped!

To be clear, that is the difference between a regular action/bone and a smart action/bone. Smartbone and smartaction are parts of the same thing: when an action has the same name as a bone, the action will be activated by the rotation of the bone so now we call that bone smartbone and we call that action smartaction. Otherwise, they are just a regular action and a regular bone so the bone rotation won't activate the action.

[Gibble]

Ah! That makes total sense now! Thanks for clarifying this @Daxel! It gives me a new level of understanding by knowing that. Much appreciated.

[SuperSGL]

We've all made this mistake if your not on the bone layer when you create your smart bone Action it wont work correctly or at all. The timeline will also turn blue when you've done it correctly. It will also give you the name of the bone your working on. If it just says 'action' your not.

[Gibble]

Thanks for the added clarification, SuperSGL. I am slowly learning the quirks and learning the "unwritten" workflow of Moho. Overall, I love the app but there certainly is a specific way to do things that aren't necessarily covered in the training videos. Thankfully there is a very generous and helpful group here that gets those 'workarounds' shared to Rookies like myself.