What's the purpose of Point Binding ?

[Animator101]

I am learning RIGGING now and I see it's the hardest thing to learn and what's confusing is all these methods like Layer Binding, Points Binding, Combination etc.
So my question is, since I realized that Layer Binding would be the way to go as it gives most precise results and since character is made up out of layers, WHAT is the point binding for ? Is it just for special effect and stuff ? Cuz it gives jelly like results and deforms the mesh so I am guessing it's useless for character rigging.
As you can tell from my example below. Even the simplest for of an arm is deformed horribly when Points Binding is used. And I did this 3 times to make sure its not me. So, what is this Point Binding for ?
Thank you

[Greenlaw]

Hi,

I typed this as a response to an earlier version of your question so it might sound like I'm answering a different question, but the info should still be relevant:

Flexi-bind Points is used when you need to re-bind specific points after they've been unbound (typically after releasing them from Point Binding.) Flexi-Bind Layer is more global--it affects all the points in the layer.

TBH, you can probably ignore those two commands for now. They're useful but when you're starting out, I'd focus on these options:

Use Selected Bones For Flexi-Binding. This will flexi-bind selected layers to specific bones. This is useful when you need to exclude the influence of other bones from a certain body part or limb but still wish to use Flexi-binding. It's probably the one you'll use the most. (For example, to prevent arm bones from pulling at the torso art and/or the arm bones from pulling at the torso.)

Note: by default, everything is affected by Flexi-binding. The Use Selected command lets you be more specific about which bones affect which layers.

Layer Binding. Unlike the above, this is a tool and not a menu command. It rigidly binds layers to a selected bone. By 'rigid', I mean it essentially 'parents' the art to the bone and the art will be unaffected by other bones. The points can still be animated though, and the layer can be transformed, just no bones deformations. It's useful for attaching art that you generally don't want to deform.

Note: You can bind a group layer this way but be aware that you will then be unable to bind the contents of the group. If you need to bind the contents of the group (with any binding method,) don't bind the group itself.

I mainly relied on only the above methods for a couple of years just fine. After you're comfortable with these methods, you'll probably want to explore Point Binding (another binding tool.) Point Binding is like Layer Binding except it's for locking specific points to a bone. This leaves other points in the vector layer availalble for Flex-binding or for Point Binding to other bones. This opens a whole new area of binding possibilities. It can also get very complicated, so you should probably learn this method for later.

As mentioned earlier, the other menu commands are good for re-setting binding methods. Which command to use can get confusing for a beginner, especially when you've somehow broken the binding method and you're not sure how to fix it. In that case, it's usually easiest to select the layers in question and choose "Reset All Bone Rigging". The name of this command sounds scary but what it actually does is it resets only the selected layers to use Flexi-Binding (the default,) and it does not affect un-selected layers or their current binding state.

Hope this helps.

[Animator101]

WOW...I am VERY grateful for your extensive and elaborate reply. I AM a beginner so nothing I ask make sense to you guys probably but I am trying to understand how stuff work around this software.
So...Flexi Binding is a default rigging option in Moho right ? It's the same as Layer binding if I understand correctly the lingo.

Here is my character. I named him Conan. It's a folder with sub folders and he is broken down into body parts. Now if I wanna rig this character what would you recommend, just binding bones to layers as by default Flexi binding ?

Thank you

[Greenlaw]

So...Flexi Binding is a default rigging option in Moho right ? It's the same as Layer binding if I understand correctly the lingo.

No, Flexi-binding isn't Layer binding. Flexi-binding, by default, makes all the layers affected by all the bones. You can adjust how strongly the bones affect different parts of the body but the result can still look kinda 'squishy'.

This is where Use Selected Bones For Flexi-binding comes in. This method lets you exclude the influence of unselected bones from selected layers, eliminating that squishiness described above.

Layer Binding (using the Bind Layers tool,) binds the selected layer(s) to a specific bone. It rigidly 'parents' the selected artwork to the bone you click on, and no other bone will affect that art. For example, if your character carries a sword or a club, you might use Layer Binding to bind that item to the hand bone so it doesn't get deformed by the rest of the rig. Note that you can still animate the points in the bound layer with point animation, just not with other bones.

If you wish, you can use Layer binding to bind fully segmented character art. This would result in a true 'cut out' style puppet, kind of Monty Python style. But if you want the layers to deform and bend smoothly, and maybe suggest a more 'FBF'-ish look, then you're better off using Flexi-binding.

Either approach is a valid technique and can look good when it's done well. They're just different animation styles.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, and cool character by the way! Looking forward to seeing him move.

[orsongalore]

Very cool character. This looks promising.

[Animator101]

Thanks guys but It's really hard to make him move without totally distorting I am so bad at rigging that I am not sure if I draw everything wrong or I can't rig it. If you want I can send you the character so you guys can see if it acts weird in your program too. I can send it the way it is, in layers, I just don't know how do you export characters out of Moho.

[dueyftw]

Nice Character. You change to over lapping lines to zero with the with tool "W". Try the using the hide edge tool "H" This way you don't see the artifact of the lines. Also you can apply a patch layer to the joints.

Dale

[gjordan]

Hi not sure if you are who I think and if you are with us in our facebook group, anyway this is what I say to others about your question:

Layer binding its useful to join a complete layer to a bone (Maybe you are using a cut out char this is the easier)

Point binding its useful to join like the name say specific points you whant to move with a specific bone so you could make some part of the layer art with one bone and other with another by example if you are using vector art and you want the uper part of the chest move with the uper bone of the body and you want in this same layer that the bottom part move with the pelvic bone. (Point binding give you the most control of the three binding methods)

And the default flexibinding in general when you could let the software to control the movement or whant to look like yellow or some kind of organinc movement, this one one part of the layer join to a bone affect other parts join to another different bones by the influence of each bone like in reality like if they are pulling or pushing, so it has to be control by the bone strengh configurations.

In generall for vector art you could stick with the default flexibind kind until you get to some points you need to move with a specific bone. And for cut out art like bmp, jpg or png layers you use layer binding or if you had some vector that could be moved as a whole or dont need some kind of organic movement