Node for Auto-Patched Lines?

Harmony Harmony Support and Troubleshooting
1

Hello people,

I’m trying to make a character rig for a non-human character and it’s been proving quite difficult for me to do.

The main point is that all the limbs need to be connected with the body with a single line. Auto Patch does quite some work for me when it comes to that, but I’m having problems when it comes to overlapping elements.

In screenshot 1, I have my character’s arm 0ver his body. The lower part of the arm is supposed to appear on top of the body, but auto patch means all the lines will disappear.

In screenshot 2 I attempt to use a Line Art node to bring the line art on top of the body layer, but that disables the auto patch and makes all the overlapping lines appear. This is not what I want.

I’ve tried putting a line art node on the auto patch node but it (obviously) doesn’t work out.

Screenshot 3 is how I want the end result to look like(besides it being a crappy Windows Paint I drew in a rush).

Please disregard that I don’t have the upper end of the arm cut off in Harmony. It’s an easy fix.

If there is a node, or any other trick I can use please let me know! I’m dying trying to figure this out.

Thanks!

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2

Copy your line-art to the overlay layer and then delete the part that doesn’t interest you, leaving a part for overlap, that is, the line you would see over the other element. Connect an overlay module over the autopatch. That way the autopatch will delete/cover the line-art but you’ll have a bit of the line on top not being covered and only appearing when the arm moves after a certain angle.

3

Hello Electural,

Very good question and cute rig!

Adding an overlay to your arm in order to get a limb to show on top of your body, hair strands on auto-patched hair or a nice fold in your bend area (of the elbow) is a good way to spice up your rig. We have a useful tutorial on the subject our Learn Portal, let me link it below. :slight_smile:

You can jump to the second video.
https://learn.toonboom.com/modules/setting-up-the-core-rig/topic/activity-4-creating-an-advanced-autopatch-system?c=16

Hope this helps, have a nice day!