Can bezier bone be realized in the future？

[mohgirl]

Can bezier bone be realized in the future？

[SimplSam]

How would that work?

[Greenlaw]

I think mohgirl means a spline deformer. If so, we can sort of do that now using the Follow Curve tool set to Bend, and then animating the points in the curve. This works well as an alternative to Sketch Bones.

To do this with Bezier handles, I think you should be able to activate Bezier for the curve and animate that. (I haven't tried this variation myself but I don't see why it wouldn't work.)

Update: Just tried it with bezier handles and it works fine.



I sometimes like to use Follow Curve for special cases, but I normally prefer Sketch Bones for this sort of thing. Drawing the 'curves' with Sketch Bones just feels more natural to me, plus it's is easier to set up as part of a character's skeleton.

[mohgirl]

like this ：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dauys5jJA6w

[Greenlaw]

Yes, Moho's Follow Path is very similar to Harmony's Curve Deformer. Just animate the curve handles and you get the same result in Moho. Like so...



Here's the Moho project if you want to see how this is set up: Moho Curve Deformer Setup.

Note that the deformation occurs on an animation frame (frame 1+), and not in the setup frame (frame 0).

I used Harmony's Curve Deformer in some of our The Croods rigs. Rigging for The Croods was an evolutionary process. For example, in the first season we rigged and animated the characters using After Effects with DuIK, the next season we used Harmony, and then we used Moho in the last season. In a couple of episodes, I was animating some of the characters in each program for the same shots! That was kinda nuts, but I didn't see any reason to re-engineer all of the characters in Moho for those episodes.

Anyway, yes, you can use Follow Path for this specific technique. (Curiously, I don't think Follow Path was meant to be used this way.)

The one problem I can imagine with using Follow Path as a Curve Deformer is that I'm not sure this can be easily attached to a skeleton like a 'bone'. It might be possible, I just haven't tried it because I can use Sketch Bones instead.

Sketch Bones is what I use to rig/animate tails, tentacles, hair, etc. Personally, I think it's easier to animate this sort of thing using Sketch Bones.

[Greenlaw]

The one problem I can imagine with using Follow Path as a Curve Deformer is that I'm not sure this can be easily attached to a skeleton like a 'bone'.

Update: I just tried it and it's actually pretty easy: Group the 'Curve Deformer' layer and the layer being deformed, and Layer Bind the group to a bone in the rig. Since we're using Layer Bind, the bone strengths in the skeleton will have not have unwanted influence on the contained group items, only the motion from parent bone. The 'curve deformer' will continue to operate inside of the group layer.

Hope this helps.

[heyvern]

good grief. How long has Moho had this cool feature? I've been out of the loop far too long. This is WICKED COOL! I've used the follow path many times but not the bend feature. It might be due to how it's "activated". When playing with it I realized there were no settings after assigning the path. I am thinking it could be a check box on the tool itself at least so new users know it's there.

[Greenlaw]

Rigging for The Croods was an evolutionary process...

Ha ha...I just got my own joke.

[synthsin75]

Rigging for The Croods was an evolutionary process...

Ha ha...I just got my own joke.

I thought it was intentional, it was so apropos.

[Greenlaw]

good grief. How long has Moho had this cool feature?...It might be due to how it's "activated"...

I agree. I think the Follow Path tool is misunderstood by many users because some of its really cool features are 'hidden', like using ALT to activate bend mode, and enabling Rotate to Follow Path from the Layer Settings window. Oh, and the ability to animate across the start point in a closed path by right-button mouse scrubbing in the Percentage box. That one isn't obvious at all.

I would like to see LM improve and streamline this tool in the future. The current version of Follow Path is great and I use it all the time, with and without 'bend' enabled, but I occasionally run into a little bit of weirdness and I'm never sure if it's me or the tool.

BTW, in Moho 13.5.1, I'm finding that Follow Path with bend and bezier handles enabled can sometimes get stuck when initially activated.* To get it unstuck, I need to save the file, and then quit and relaunch Moho. After that, using Follow Path and bezier handles works fine. I've only tried Follow Path with bezier handles since this morning so I haven't reported this yet...guess I'll do it now. (I'm not sure this happens in Moho 12.5...will check that next.)

*See my post three posts below for a more accurate description of the problem. Also, even though this 'stuck Follow Path and Bezier handles' problem happened to me multiple times in a row this morning, I am not able to reproduce the error at this time. I suspect this is not a Moho bug, but a problem unique to my personal computer.

[Ronbo]

Greenlaw, this is awesome. I would love to know how to get this "curve deformer" effect in Moho, but I can't figure out how to get the Follow Path tool to do exactly what you're doing. I click on Alt/Option (I'm on a Mac) while dragging on the path to activate bending and I've been able to get the shape to shear, but I can't get a curve deformer effect.

Would it be possible for you to do a quick tutorial or at least a bit more precise step-by-step description of how to achieve this? I'm working in Moho Pro 13.5.1.

[Greenlaw]

Sure, I'll see what I can do.

That said, be sure to read my previous post. There's seems to be a small bug in 13.5.1 when activating this feature. Follow Path with bend does work but it might be stuck when first activated, and you'll need to save, close and re-open the file to get it unstuck.

I reported this today; hopefully it will get fixed soon. I'm not sure yet if this is a new bug; will check this in Moho 12.5 a little later.

[Greenlaw]

Ok, I see where the problem is, and it's not in Follow Path but in Bezier handles.

For some reason, after I draw a two point line and activate bezier handles, I cannot use the handles (i.e., they're stuck). But when I save, quit and re-launch Moho, I can then start using the handles. Note that simply closing and opening the project isn’t enough; I have to completely close and relaunch Moho for this to start working. This occurs in both Moho 13.5.1 and Moho 12.5.

I probably never noticed this before because I normally keep bezier handles inactive and hidden.

I'm not sure if this happens to everybody or if it's unique to Moho on my computer, so could somebody can verify this error for me? I'm running Moho on Windows 10 but I'm curious to hear if this occurs on Mac too. Thanks!

[Greenlaw]

Weird...now I can get a new two-point bezier curve to work correctly every time. This is exactly the kind of weird behavior I'm talking about. I'll follow up if I figure out a reason or pattern to seeing the incorrect behavior. If anybody else is seeing this issue, please let me know because I'm still not sure if this happens only on my computer.

Update: The bezier problem has disappeared from Moho 12.5 on this computer too. My feeling now is that this is not a Moho bug, but something unique to my computer, probably having to do with my mouse or its drivers. Anyway, hopefully nobody else is seeing this apparently random issue.

[chucky]

I was using the follow curve ( with bend) recently for a project, I found it really annoying to use, both for the UI issue and the inability to change anything without going through all the cryptic steps again.
Also wiggling the mouse left and right did not always get the shape where I wanted, it sometimes got 'stuck' and sometimes the shape would deform strangely.
I wasted a lot of time trying to unsuccessfully geta desirable result ( admittedly I was using it inside a particle system - worked at first but then I lost control of it when tweaking - so that added another layer of confusion) we're doing puns here right?
I try not to use the feature.