- [Instructor] This is a lesson
from our Moho animation course.
To get the full course,
go to bloopanimation.com/mohoanimation.
So far in the course, we've been using vector layers
for all of our rigging,
but you can use image layers as well.
Here's a character that was drawn in Photoshop.
We'll look at the workflow
for importing Photoshop files later,
but what you end up with is all of the layers
from your Photoshop file
as separate image layers here in Moho.
Now, for the most part,
you can rig a character made up of image layers
with bones just like we've done with vector layers.
You can either use layer binding to bind artwork to a bone
like I did with the head here.
Or you can flex the bind like I did with the arms.
Now in its natural state, you can't point bind
because an image layer doesn't have points.
It's made up of pixels.
That also means if something looks wonky
with your flexi-binding,
you can't really use smart bone actions to fix it.
Unless you set up a smart warp mesh.
That's a way to give your image layers
more of the functionality of vector layers.
Let's look at how to set that up now.
So let's say we want to fix the bending
of this foot here with a smart bone.
To do that, we'll set up our own transformation mesh
so we can control
exactly how the image gets distorted by the bone.
Let's find this layer in the layers palette.
And I put it in a group for just this reason,
because we need to add a vector layer.
And we're going to use this layer
as the basis for the distortion mesh.
Now on this vector layer,
we can use the add points tool
to draw a shape around our image.
Make sure it's set to sharp corners,
and I'm gonna need to turn off autofill too.
Let's just hide everything else.
We want to put a point in every place
that we want to control.
That means any spot you might want to move,
but also any spots that you want to make sure don't move
when something else is distorted.
For the outline, it's good to leave some space
around the image itself.
I'm being pretty generous with the amount of control points.
So that's the outline,
but we can also add other interior points
for anything within the shape we might want to move
or keep in place.
So I'm going to outline these spots
and the shadow line here.
Then with the mesh layer selected,
go up to draw, triangulate 2D mesh.
Then this is the result.
But we can clean this up a little bit.
If there are triangular sections
with no artwork underneath them,
then they won't affect anything.
So you can delete points or use the delete edge tool
to get rid of them.
Then that looks good.
So now the next thing to do is test it out.
To make the mesh actually affect our image layer,
we need to go to the layer settings for the image layer
and on the image tab at the bottom,
we can set the smart warp layer
to the mesh layer we just made.
And now if you're past frame zero
and you're out on the timeline,
whenever you move the points in the mesh layer,
it will distort the image.
So you can test it out
and see if you can get the kind of distortion you need.
If you find you need more control points,
you can go back to frame zero
and use the add points tool to add them in.
You might need more points around parts
that need to bend or stretch out.
Then whenever you add points,
make sure to go back to draw, triangulate 2D mesh.
Then your new points will actually get incorporated
into the new mesh and you can use them.
It might take some trial and error to get a mesh
with points in the right places.
So test as you go
to make sure you have the control you need.
It's best to get this right
before you start setting up your smart bone actions.
I'm gonna add some additional points along these toe lines
so I can control the length of those as the foot stretches.
So once you have a mesh you think will work,
you can use that either for point binding to bones
or in this case, we're gonna set up smart bones.
So let's turn this bottom part of the foot
into a smart bone by going to the actions panel
and adding an action.
Then I'll set the end position to down
and then switch to the mesh layer
and reshape the way it flexes around the ankle and the heel.
I'm mostly concerned about keeping the size and shape
of the foot consistent as the ankle bends.
This technique, obviously,
doesn't give you all the control you get with vector art,
and you can only push this so far,
but it's pretty impressive how good a result you can get.
Then I'd better add another action
for the foot bone going the other way too.
This one doesn't need as much work.
We just wanna make sure the leg doesn't get narrower
when the foot pushes up on it.
And we wanna make sure the foot doesn't flatten out.
Now you'll notice that even if you turn off
the control points checkbox on the stage,
you can still see the mesh layer.
Since we're done working with that, we can hide it.
If we open the layer settings for the mesh,
you can see it's already set
to not be visible when rendered,
but we can also check hide in the editing view too.
But if you have vector lines enabled,
you can still adjust control points of the mesh.
Now I'm gonna set up an action for the shin too
and adjust how the thigh flexes.
This is where it's nice to have control points
around distinctive elements like the spots.
I really wanna get it
to look like there's a thigh muscle in there
that's flexing to pull the leg straight.
So I want that whole region
where the dots are to get shifted up.
Okay, then I'm gonna do one for the thigh itself
to fix this bad cramping up issue
and how the leg stretches along the bottom.
I'm basically just gonna rotate this whole top
of the thigh by hand,
and then reshape this outer edge up top
and make sure that the leg sort of flattens out
along the bottom.
Cool, now we can come out on the timeline
and check how the leg flexes now.
So in this case,
we have multiple smart bones
affecting a lot of the same control points.
The effects of the actions are gonna get combined
which can sometimes be unpredictable.
But in this case, it looks like it worked out fine.
This leg looks a lot better in its extended position now.
If you download the finished version of this rig,
you'll find that in addition
to fixing the bends on the other limbs,
I've done some other fun stuff with smart warps.
Like make his cheek smush when his head leans
and make it so he can open and close his mouth.
If you select a bone,
it will highlight the actions associated with it
in the actions panel.
And you can go inside each action
to just see what that particular action does.
And you can look through the layers panel
and find the relevant mesh layers
to see exactly how the points are set up and what's warping.
Check that out for some fun ideas.