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[Tanzim]

In sequence mode, you can only animate one figure at a time, this makes it hard if you have multiple characters interacting with each other in scene mode, or if the scene is variated throughout, because you have to keep track of timing, so what I'm suggesting is that if we could animate bones in scene mode.
I'm no programmer so I don't know how hard this might be to implement, but what does everyone think of this idea?

[thecolclough]

you already can.  if you open up the timeline tree, and expand a figure's properties, you get a timeline for every movable axis on every movable bone in the figure, and you can double-click frames in those lines to access keyframe editors, same as for any other property.  i've found a little bug where, if you add keys and then delete them all, the line for that axis will disappear, and i can't find a way of getting it back, except by using ctrl-z to the point before i added the keys in, but otherwise it works pretty well.  on my current big anim8or project, a lot of the characters' facial expression was done that way, by adjusting bone keyframes one by one in scene mode, sometimes without any sequences in the scene at all.  it's not possible, as far as i'm aware (although i could be wrong, somebody correct me if i am) to do it visually with a 'rotate bone' function, but it is possible to do it with keyframes.

hope that helps

- colclough

[Kubajzz]

(...) i've found a little bug where, if you add keys and then delete them all, the line for that axis will disappear, and i can't find a way of getting it back (...)

If some of the bone controllers is missing on the timeline, you can add it like this:
- click this button:
- make sure the 'animation' button is on (green)
- click the bone you want and rotate it normally as you do in sequence mode. A new line will appear on the timeline with a new key point.

[thecolclough]

thanks, kubajzz, i'll try and remember that advice if the problem happens again

- colclough

[Tanzim]

Yeah, that's true, but you have to add them individually, by clicking on the frame and adding the value, what I want is to have a Sequence editor in scene editor, so you can click on bones, and move them about

[Kubajzz]

Yeah, that's true, but you have to add them individually, by clicking on the frame and adding the value, what I want is to have a Sequence editor in scene editor, so you can click on bones, and move them about

I don't understand... Scene Editor has the same ability to move bones as the Sequence Editor:

- In sequence editor, you click this button , turn on the animation button (green key) and move the bones using your mouse; new keypoints will appear on the time track. It works exactly the same way in the scene editor - where's the problem?

[thecolclough]

It works exactly the same way in the scene editor - where's the problem?

probably the fact that you usually can't see bones in scene mode.  how do you make the bones visible so that you can select and animate them?

- colclough

[Kubajzz]

Come on! Your question proves that you didn't even bother to try what I suggested.

Please, read my previous post again, try doing what it says and then read the rest of this reply...

Ok, I know you are reading this anyway... Never mind, I'll tell you what's the point:

If you clicked that button (see my previous post) in scene mode, it would make the bones visible.
You can also make the bones visible by clicking this button:

That's all...

[thecolclough]

okay, my bad.  *opens anim8or and tries it*  it all makes sense now!  it's just that i don't usually use that tool (i just enter the keyframes manually into the timeline), so i wasn't aware that it automatically changed the bone visibility when you use it in scene mode (to be fair, it doesn't change the visibility for you in sequence mode), so i was looking for a separate bone visibility button that looked like the sequence-mode one, and of course, not finding one...

well, thanks for tolerating me

Ok, I know you are reading this anyway...

oh dang, so cydoniaknight isn't the only one who can read the insides of my head... this is getting disturbing, the way all the other forumites know what i'm thinking... 

- colclough

[Kubajzz]

In fact, now I realised it was also my fault... I said "it behaves exactly the same" - well, it doesn't as you pointed out (the visibility doesn't change automatically in sequence mode...)

OK, never mind that...

btw. I know what you are thinking about right now... "why the hell did he use green color?"

Good night...

[Tanzim]

No, that doesn't happen for me, all I can do is select bones
I have the rotate button on, and the key green

[Kubajzz]

No, that doesn't happen for me, all I can do is select bones
I have the rotate button on, and the key green

Few hints:

- click on the tip of the bone in order to rotate it
- use different mouse buttons in different views

hope it helps...

[Tanzim]

It has, I finally figured out what was going wrong, I wasn't clicking on the tip
Thanks a lot thecolclough and Kubajzz