@odf,

Quote - I'm wondering whether in addition to the existing empty morph channels I should also add a certain number of unused 'valueParm' channels in each actor (or maybe just a somewhat larger number of then in the body) that could be used to hold intermediary values for advanced ERC stuff.

I thought of suggesting that myself, many months ago, but was afraid you would phone the men in white cotes and have them take me away!  :scared:

I don't feel there is much point in putting extra valueParm channels in the BODY. Anything that used a valueParm would be injected via a pz2, and in P6+ a pose has the ability to add valueParm channels to the BODY (only). However P4 and P5 would be left out of the party. There is more point in adding valueParm channels to other actors, where a pz2 can't place them. However I think that adding them to every actor might be overkill.

It's hard to predict in advance where they may be needed, but as a rule of thumb it is those actors where you are likely to spend a lot of time tweaking the actor or its children, places that can serve as a hub of activity, and where you don't want to be constantly changing back and forwards from that actor to another. The head is a prime candidate, as are the hands. Other candidates in diminishing priority might be the hip, feet, and chest.

If it were me, I would only add them to those actors mentioned above.

Some final points. Anything can be controlled from the BODY, so the main reason for having a valueParm in some other actor is to avoid the need for switching the selected actor. Also this can prevent the BODY becoming over crowded with dials. Often some of the targetGeom PBMCC channels could be used as control channels. The main reasons against that are the potential for conflicts with other injections wanting to use the same channel, the fact that the channels value may be recorded in a pose, which is not always desirable, and the fact that the channel can only use a trackingScale of 0.02.

It's a reasonable idea, but as you said yourself in another context "sounds reasonable, but I'm afraid that if I start along that path, I'll never get a version 1.0 release out.".

I think getting the morphs and associated ERC working well should be a high priority, as should getting the tongue bending well. Extra valueParm channels may be a good idea, but are not a high priority.