• Yes, I'll try to do something a bit similar.
    But unfortunately for me, I'll have to re-write everything from scratch so it fits Bones inner calculations...

    So, you'll have to be patient ;-)

    Cheers,
    François
    Ohh, Thank you so much for your efforts , I really appreciated 
  • Hi François, this in an IK question. 

    I'm following the rigging tutorial and have set up a similar character, so the foot bones are parented to the leg bones.
    If I move a foot bone, it only rotates the foot around the bone start point. If I move a leg bone the foot follows the leg as expected.

    Is it possible to move the foot bone around and have the leg follow the foot?

    cheers
    Greg
  • Hi Gregory,

    if I understand your rig correctly, you could set the leg bone with a null controller, and then parent this null to the foot layer. Then if you move the foot, the leg will follow (and the foot doesn't need a bone in this case).
    If I'm wrong about your rig, please open a support ticket and send me your rig, I'll have a look at it (it's difficult to say without seeing...)

    Cheers,
    François
  • Salut Francois,

    Where can I find a more comprehensive tutorial for BAO Bones? I figured out how to rig the character. But actually operating the puppeteering isn't working out. There seems to be a jump between the rigging tutorial and the puppeteering tutorial.

    I've got my figure rigged up. But when I go to puppeteer, the whole composition just vanishes. 
  • Hi Doug,

    if you apply Puppeteer directly on your layer, you need to select your layer as a source.
    You can watch the 'Puppeteer' and 'Puppeteer animation' tutorials for details.

    If you still have trouble, please open a support ticket and send me your project, I'll have a look at it, see what's going wrong.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi,

    in Puppeteer why there is no ability to have a keyframes

  • Hi!

    very good question! :-)
    If Puppeteer was keyframable, it would take full control over Bones (otherwise AE couldn't choose which one is the right key if Bones and Puppeteer don't have the same value...), and any change occuring at the Bones level would be overwritten by Puppeteer...

    You probably noticed that when you move a handle via Puppeteer, corresponding Bones is updated, nut if you do the opposite (from Bones to Puppeteer) only Puppeteer's color handle is updated, and the point cursor didn't move... This is because of AE's seperation between User Interface and actual render.

    In short, you couldn't work at a Bones level anymore...

    Plugins have to follow AE's computation order and priorities, and it leads to some limitations like this one.

    Cheers,
    François

  • Hi!

    Good idea! It might take some time, but I'll try to add it.

    Cheers,
    François
    Maybe if you make the BAO Bones plugin able to cooperate with Good Parents script , that will help to solve the problem 

    Is that possible ? 

    if it's not , could you please try to make something similar in order to help us do our animation as fast as possible :)

    thank you so much 
    Hi!

    Sorry, but I have bad news... This won't be possible (I've tried hard, though!).
    The communication between plugins on different layers is still limited in AE, and workarounds are not responsive enough...
    But if one day Adobe makes it possible, I'll try again, cos' it would be a great feature!

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi François,

    I have a rigged character in a comp working OK. I have two questions:

    1. Is it possible to scale the character smaller/larger and also scale the IK rig?
    2. Is it possible to copy the character layers from one comp to another and preserve the Bones rig?

    thanks

    Greg 
  • Hi Gregory,

    1. You can scale the layer where you made your rig, no worry.
    Also, you can animate independently the IK rig with the 'IK_cale' parameter (you'll find it in the IK 'folder')
    2. You can also copy the layers from one comp to another. But issues can happen if you use expressions and other layers in the new comp use the same names... Otherwise, it should work fine.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi François,

    I have been thinking about a feature that could be nice to have in a later version of Bones. I am enjoying the plugin very much, and i primarily work on a fast desktop PC with no problems at all. When I am away from my desk, though, I work on an older macbook pro, which isn't as fast as my desktop PC.

    This leads me to the issue: 

    On my macbook, when there is a lot of Bones effects on a full character rig, the animation process becomes almost impossible, because of the computing power needed to process the deforms slows down my computer. Would it be possible to make a "turn off deforms" feature, that enables you to see only the bones, without using any computing power to process the deforms? That way, you would be able to animate a "skeleton" with super fast responsiveness, and turn on the deforms and "skin" when it's time to render/preview.

    Hope my request makes sense.

    Best Regards
    Mikkel Borris
  • Hi François,

    I have been thinking about a feature that could be nice to have in a later version of Bones. I am enjoying the plugin very much, and i primarily work on a fast desktop PC with no problems at all. When I am away from my desk, though, I work on an older macbook pro, which isn't as fast as my desktop PC.

    This leads me to the issue: 

    On my macbook, when there is a lot of Bones effects on a full character rig, the animation process becomes almost impossible, because of the computing power needed to process the deforms slows down my computer. Would it be possible to make a "turn off deforms" feature, that enables you to see only the bones, without using any computing power to process the deforms? That way, you would be able to animate a "skeleton" with super fast responsiveness, and turn on the deforms and "skin" when it's time to render/preview.

    Hope my request makes sense.

    Best Regards
    Mikkel Borris
    Hi Mikkel,

    this is a good idea. I'll try to include it.
    For the moment, if you want to move the Bones without rendering, you can work with the Puppeteer, with Caps lock on (so the preview is disabled). It will show you all your rig in real time (or almost). But you won't be able to preview your animation though...

    I'll let you know as soon as I've done the update.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi François,

    I have been thinking about a feature that could be nice to have in a later version of Bones. I am enjoying the plugin very much, and i primarily work on a fast desktop PC with no problems at all. When I am away from my desk, though, I work on an older macbook pro, which isn't as fast as my desktop PC.

    This leads me to the issue: 

    On my macbook, when there is a lot of Bones effects on a full character rig, the animation process becomes almost impossible, because of the computing power needed to process the deforms slows down my computer. Would it be possible to make a "turn off deforms" feature, that enables you to see only the bones, without using any computing power to process the deforms? That way, you would be able to animate a "skeleton" with super fast responsiveness, and turn on the deforms and "skin" when it's time to render/preview.

    Hope my request makes sense.

    Best Regards
    Mikkel Borris
    Hi Mikkel,

    this is a good idea. I'll try to include it.
    For the moment, if you want to move the Bones without rendering, you can work with the Puppeteer, with Caps lock on (so the preview is disabled). It will show you all your rig in real time (or almost). But you won't be able to preview your animation though...

    I'll let you know as soon as I've done the update.

    Cheers,
    François
    Hi François,

    Thanks for the always quick response, and thanks for the tip! I'm looking forward to the update with my fingers crossed :)

    Best Regards
    Mikkel Borris
  • Hi Mikkel,

    a new version is available, with a "Fast preview" parameter. If checked, it will only show the Bone with no image.

    Have fun!
    François
  • For all others wondering why in the hell there isn't a clear tutorial on how to rig an entire body..you can find that video here:



    Please add this to your videos list.  It's easily one of the most useful.  Very silly I had to dig around on Google to find it.  


  • Hi,
    I've been trying out the trial version of Bones. But whenever a overlaps manager is added, it seems to add a grey outline over the shape layers which i had bones on. Is this is due to the trial version?
    And looking at the video on the overlaps manager, it seems to follow the naming of the bones, but I'm getting the default name of bones 1, 2 ,3...etc. even
    tho I've rename them.

    thanks!!
  • Norm C. said:
    Hi,
    I've been trying out the trial version of Bones. But whenever a overlaps manager is added, it seems to add a grey outline over the shape layers which i had bones on. Is this is due to the trial version?
    And looking at the video on the overlaps manager, it seems to follow the naming of the bones, but I'm getting the default name of bones 1, 2 ,3...etc. even
    tho I've rename them.

    thanks!!
    Hi,

    the outline is not due to the trial version. But the good news is a new update is coming very soon, with this issue fixed (among others).
    And for the names, I'll check it before I release the update, thanks for reporting.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Norm C. said:
    ...
    And looking at the video on the overlaps manager, it seems to follow the naming of the bones, but I'm getting the default name of bones 1, 2 ,3...etc. even
    tho I've rename them.

    thanks!!
    Are you sure it's not the "Puppeteer"? 
    From my experience Overlaps Manager never showed "1, 2, 3..." in place of Bones names.
    But Puppeteer does. 

    But then it's not really a problem: simply deselect the Puppeteer effect from the Effect Controls panel (or use its "Update" control), then it will show the proper Bones names. This sometimes happens when you manipulate the original Bones instances, hence the "Update" control for Puppeteer.

    This "little quirk" is discussed in our upcoming complete BAO Bones User Guide, which, aside from discussing all BAO Bones features & controls in great detail (with easy to follow tutorial format embedded with videos), also discusses these little quirks so the user won't be lost if encountering them. The complete User Guide will be finished by the end of this month. For the bug you mentioned (outline), Francois has done a great job eliminating it, along with other important improvements for the upcoming update, and so far I think BAO Bones is quite perfect, with no big problems appearing. Feedback is always welcome though.

    Cheers!
  • Please post a walk cycle tutorial! 
  • Hi why on the screen inside AE or after rendering there are "X" intersecting bars (with color noise)?
  • bob bob said:

    Hi why on the screen inside AE or after rendering there are "X" intersecting bars (with color noise)?

    https://aescripts.com/knowledgebase/index/view/faq/how-to-register-plugins/
  • Thanks Lloyd. I assumed but I didn't read. Just another question: until my test it works in 3D cool. But 8 bits. AE explains to me: some problems with color if I work with 16 bits, what kind of problems?
  • bob bob said:
    Thanks Lloyd. I assumed but I didn't read. Just another question: until my test it works in 3D cool. But 8 bits. AE explains to me: some problems with color if I work with 16 bits, what kind of problems?
    This article explains the difference: https://www.diyphotography.net/8-bit-vs-16-bit-color-depth-use-matters/
  • Como é a instalação dele no after ?
  • Como é a instalação dele no after ?
    Installation instructions are included with the download, if you need assistance please open a support ticket.
  • I'm following along with the rigging tutorial below, but every time i choose a source layer, for example the head, that source pops up and is offset by position and scale compared to where that layer is in the comp. Any idea what could be causing this discrepancy? (Hope that makes sense). Thanks!
  • I'm following along with the rigging tutorial below, but every time i choose a source layer, for example the head, that source pops up and is offset by position and scale compared to where that layer is in the comp. Any idea what could be causing this discrepancy? (Hope that makes sense). Thanks!
    Hi,

    the layer you apply Bones to is probably collapsed (*), that can cause an offset.
    If it doesn't fix the issue, please open a support ticket and send me your file, I'll have a look at it.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi, 
    I'm testing out bones on a new project, and on my 2017 macbook pro I get these weird artifacts on random frames. I don't get them on my imac. It basically randomly takes a layer, moves it, and then gives jaggedey edges around the alpha. It kinda looks like a graphic card error. 
    Do you have any idea's why this would be happening?
    I've attached a still, and circled the area in red. 


    It also happens at random, so if I change the layer order, or refresh it disappears, but will reappear on another frame instead.

    Thanks
  • Hi, 
    I'm testing out bones on a new project, and on my 2017 macbook pro I get these weird artifacts on random frames. I don't get them on my imac. It basically randomly take a layer, moves it, and then gives jaggedey edges around the alpha. It kinda looks like a graphic card error. 
    Do you have any idea's why this would be happening?
    I've attached a still, and circled the area in red. 
    Thanks


    please open a support ticket.
  • Hi There, I'm following the rigging tutorial, but everytime I try and source to an arm or leg, the arm or leg doesn't actually connect.
    Please help.

  • Andre Ash said:
    Hi There, I'm following the rigging tutorial, but everytime I try and source to an arm or leg, the arm or leg doesn't actually connect.
    Please help.

    OK. Worked it out. It doe not work with shape layers. Shape layers need to be pre comped

  • Hello there, I'm playing around with and arm IK rig. It works really well, however, I would like to be able to rotate the hand independently. With the default settings this doesn't seem possible. Also the "Rigging smooth leg" tutorial isn't quite what I'm after.
    I'm basically looking for this DUIK behavior: There is a checkbox on the IK Goal controller named "Goal [...]". If you leave it off, the hand will be oriented like the lower arm. If you switch it on, the hand will always be oriented horizontally. Still, either way, I can still animate the rotation property of the wrist. Is there a way to do this with Bones?

  • Hello there, I'm playing around with and arm IK rig. It works really well, however, I would like to be able to rotate the hand independently. With the default settings this doesn't seem possible. Also the "Rigging smooth leg" tutorial isn't quite what I'm after.
    I'm basically looking for this DUIK behavior: There is a checkbox on the IK Goal controller named "Goal [...]". If you leave it off, the hand will be oriented like the lower arm. If you switch it on, the hand will always be oriented horizontally. Still, either way, I can still animate the rotation property of the wrist. Is there a way to do this with Bones?

    Hi,
    there is something very similar in the 'Child parameters' topic. It's called 'Child inherit rotation'. It's animatable, so it lets you follow the arm rotation or not.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hello there, I'm playing around with and arm IK rig. It works really well, however, I would like to be able to rotate the hand independently. With the default settings this doesn't seem possible. Also the "Rigging smooth leg" tutorial isn't quite what I'm after.
    I'm basically looking for this DUIK behavior: There is a checkbox on the IK Goal controller named "Goal [...]". If you leave it off, the hand will be oriented like the lower arm. If you switch it on, the hand will always be oriented horizontally. Still, either way, I can still animate the rotation property of the wrist. Is there a way to do this with Bones?

    Hi,
    there is something very similar in the 'Child parameters' topic. It's called 'Child inherit rotation'. It's animatable, so it lets you follow the arm rotation or not.

    Cheers,
    François
    Oh, thank you for the quick response! Do you have a guide or example? How would I go about adding the hand as a child, if I want to have the arm and hand merged together in one layer/comp? I can't figure out how to mask the different areas (hand/arm), like I would for the "Rigging Smooth Leg" case.
  • Oh, thank you for the quick response! Do you have a guide or example? How would I go about adding the hand as a child, if I want to have the arm and hand merged together in one layer/comp? I can't figure out how to mask the different areas (hand/arm), like I would for the "Rigging Smooth Leg" case.
    You'll find a User's guide in the zipped folder you downloaded. And we're working on new tutorials, but they're not ready yet...
    If you're not going the 'smooth leg' way, then you need to use a separate layer for the hand and select it as a child.
  • Is there any way to scale a bone rig with continuous rasterization on? Thanks.
  • Kevin Snyder said:
    Is there any way to scale a bone rig with continuous rasterization on? Thanks.
    Hi,

    unfortunately, as with any 'distortion' effect in AE, rasterization will give unexpected results (like with Puppet tool, for example).
    The best is to precomp rasterized layers first.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi,

    Plug in looks amazing at first glance, perfect for a current project that needs lots of characters rigged, but each with minimal animation.

    I've been following this tut on rigging -



    however, every time I get to the right arm (after success with body, head, left arm), the right arm copy (the one created by the plug-in) jumps far from the position it should be at. It seems to be rigged correctly, but is unusable as I don't see a way to move it back into position.

    EDIT - it breaks when I set the "Child source" under the Child parameters, it worked for the other previous layers.

    Is this a known issue? I can send files or whatever you might need to troubleshoot.

    I am using the trial version, if that makes any difference.

    Thanks

    Sam

  • Hi,

    Plug in looks amazing at first glance, perfect for a current project that needs lots of characters rigged, but each with minimal animation.

    I've been following this tut on rigging -



    however, every time I get to the right arm (after success with body, head, left arm), the right arm copy (the one created by the plug-in) jumps far from the position it should be at. It seems to be rigged correctly, but is unusable as I don't see a way to move it back into position.

    EDIT - it breaks when I set the "Child source" under the Child parameters, it worked for the other previous layers.

    Is this a known issue? I can send files or whatever you might need to troubleshoot.

    I am using the trial version, if that makes any difference.

    Thanks

    Sam

    Hi!

    Trial version works just like registered version, except for the watermark, so the issue doesn't come from there. Can you open a support ticket and send me your project? I'll have a look at it, it'll be easier to find the issue.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi!

    Trial version works just like registered version, except for the watermark, so the issue doesn't come from there. Can you open a support ticket and send me your project? I'll have a look at it, it'll be easier to find the issue.

    Cheers,
    François
    Done!  Thanks for taking a look, really appreciate it.
  • Hi, can I create a rig where the hip is the master controller? In the example tutorial the skeleton is set so the neck is the controller.
  • Hi, can I create a rig where the hip is the master controller? In the example tutorial the skeleton is set so the neck is the controller.
    Hi,

    sure, you can build your rig as you wish. If you want to control from the hip instead of the neck, just set the selection points in the inverse order.
    In the example, first point is on the neck, third point on the hips; in your case set first point on the hips and third point on the neck, and you're ready to go.
    In fact, you can even rig Bones horizontally instead of vertically (I used it a lot to rig a realistic dog in one of my movies).

    Cheers,
    François
  • Hi,

    Plug in looks amazing at first glance, perfect for a current project that needs lots of characters rigged, but each with minimal animation.

    I've been following this tut on rigging -



    however, every time I get to the right arm (after success with body, head, left arm), the right arm copy (the one created by the plug-in) jumps far from the position it should be at. It seems to be rigged correctly, but is unusable as I don't see a way to move it back into position.

    EDIT - it breaks when I set the "Child source" under the Child parameters, it worked for the other previous layers.

    Is this a known issue? I can send files or whatever you might need to troubleshoot.

    I am using the trial version, if that makes any difference.

    Thanks

    Sam

    Hi!

    Trial version works just like registered version, except for the watermark, so the issue doesn't come from there. Can you open a support ticket and send me your project? I'll have a look at it, it'll be easier to find the issue.

    Cheers,
    François
    Hey, I've been working with the trial version as well and seem to be having a similar issue.
    Did you manage to fix it? And if so, how?

    Cheers,
    Emma
  • Hi,

    Plug in looks amazing at first glance, perfect for a current project that needs lots of characters rigged, but each with minimal animation.

    I've been following this tut on rigging -



    however, every time I get to the right arm (after success with body, head, left arm), the right arm copy (the one created by the plug-in) jumps far from the position it should be at. It seems to be rigged correctly, but is unusable as I don't see a way to move it back into position.

    EDIT - it breaks when I set the "Child source" under the Child parameters, it worked for the other previous layers.

    Is this a known issue? I can send files or whatever you might need to troubleshoot.

    I am using the trial version, if that makes any difference.

    Thanks

    Sam

    Hi!

    Trial version works just like registered version, except for the watermark, so the issue doesn't come from there. Can you open a support ticket and send me your project? I'll have a look at it, it'll be easier to find the issue.

    Cheers,
    François
    Hey, I've been working with the trial version as well and seem to be having a similar issue.
    Did you manage to fix it? And if so, how?

    Cheers,
    Emma
    Hi,

    please open a support ticket and send me your file, I'll have a look at it.

    Cheers,
    François
  • Quick and urgent question.

    I'm going through all your tutorials and will very likely buy this plugin ASAP.  My question is this:  What are best practices for preserving high resolution in final comp.  I will be using all vector images and I will be avoiding continual rasterization because it's a nightmare.  My normal process is to make the child comp VERY large so that when I scale up/down in my master comp I don't get image degradation.  I just had DUIK completely bug out and crash on me which is why I'm here.  Already I am preferring not having my hands tied by tons of behind the scenes scripting.

    Thank you.  
  • Quick and urgent question.

    I'm going through all your tutorials and will very likely buy this plugin ASAP.  My question is this:  What are best practices for preserving high resolution in final comp.  I will be using all vector images and I will be avoiding continual rasterization because it's a nightmare.  My normal process is to make the child comp VERY large so that when I scale up/down in my master comp I don't get image degradation.  I just had DUIK completely bug out and crash on me which is why I'm here.  Already I am preferring not having my hands tied by tons of behind the scenes scripting.

    Thank you.  
    Hi,

    the best method is the one you describe: precompose your vector images and scale them at the maximum size you'll use them. But when you write "VERY large comp", be careful though, cos' if the "large comp" size is bigger than what your graphic card allows OpenGL to use, it'll crop your footage...

    Cheers,
    François

  • Hi,

    the best method is the one you describe: precompose your vector images and scale them at the maximum size you'll use them. But when you write "VERY large comp", be careful though, cos' if the "large comp" size is bigger than what your graphic card allows OpenGL to use, it'll crop your footage...

    Cheers,
    François
    Ah, thank you.

    I went ahead and purchased and I'm about half way through your detailed tutorials.  I wanted to thank you for making such a well thought out guide.  It's been very helpful.

    Also, you wrote: 

    "precompose your vector images and scale them at the maximum size you'll use them" .

    From what I understand according to your guide is that I should Scale the vectors FIRST and then precomp them, yes?  In other words I can have problems if I precomp them and then scale/rotate them.  I assume this is the case but figured I would ask.

    Thank you!  Enjoying this tool so far!

  • From what I understand according to your guide is that I should Scale the vectors FIRST and then precomp them, yes?  In other words I can have problems if I precomp them and then scale/rotate them.  I assume this is the case but figured I would ask.

    You're right. Once you've scaled / rotated your source inside the precomps, it's better not to touch them anymore (except for special cases...).

    Glad you like the plugin! :-)

    Cheers,
    François
  • You're right. Once you've scaled / rotated your source inside the precomps, it's better not to touch them anymore (except for special cases...).

    Glad you like the plugin! :-)

    Cheers,
    François

    Yeah, it's pretty good/intuitive once you wrap your head around its way of working.  But with my particular puppet the whole Foot roll bit is suuuuper awkward.  I tried multiple times trying to use the 2 legs instances each with a foot as part of the precomp as shown here:

    https://aescripts.com/data/BAO/Bones/Documentation/html/2RiggingtheRight-Leg.html

    And man, it's just not working.  I get it with the samurai...and I see how you keep the vertexes at the same spots for the mesh controls...but on my puppet the layers get really warped once you start moving the parent leg around.  I'm giving up and either making it just a single limb with a foot as part of the imagery or just making the foot a parent.  The foot roll thing is unintuitive as far as I can tell.


  • Oh hey, it's me again...Sooo...

    What is your recommendation for once I have this puppet fully rigged and I want to drop it into another comp?  Is the only way to precomp ALL the rig layers together and then drop that precomp in?  For obvious reasons that isn't ideal.  I know DUIK has "extract controllers" which is great WHEN IT ISN'T breaking.  From what I can tell thus far I can't just copy all comps and drop into new comp.  the rig no longer works.

    Thoughts?