Blinking eyes:: Morphs or bones

[fabmedia]

Simple. for round cartoonish type eyes. Would it be easier to use morphs or bones to control the blinking?

Arlen

[toby]

Morphs - I've never heard of anyone using bones for that

[fabmedia]

So the question remains, should the eyes be half open, fully open, OR half closed?

A

[toby]

uhhh... I don't get it

[fabmedia]

It is for this character WIP. Is there anything I should be careful about? Should I start with the eyes half open/closed or what?

Pupil dialation?

A

[toby]

You would model the base with eyes open in a normal expression - note that one "straight" morph will not work because the points in the lid will travel thru the eyeball in a straight line. Assuming you're using Endomorphs, you will need a "bulge" morph, something to move the leading edge of the lids outward during transition.

Standard animation for eyelids is 2 frames to close, 5 frames to re-open, adjust to taste

[fabmedia]

Okay, so eyes are halve open/closed and work from that. Sounds good. I'm just working on the mesh and rigging right now in the midst of celebrating Canada Day. Got a beer, good tunes, and the pixel box.

Thanks again!!
A

[fabmedia]

One additional question though. Would you use Forward or Inverse Kinematics for the arms?

A

[toby]

Forward, unless he'll be swinging from branches or something

[fabmedia]

Not too sure about that one. He'll be driving a vehicle though. The "SpaceJet", and he'll have to use a steering wheel. But would IK be a factor in that? Even with interacting with other characters?

A

[toby]

use different rigs for different activities when you can - doing a steering wheel in FK wouldnt be too hard, but tedious if he did nothing else for long periods. Watch the movies - camera shots change often enough that you can usually switch rigs when you need to, or use the rig you have for a short time if you need to.

[fabmedia]

Hey that sounds good to me. I'm using ACS 4 and it's really made my life a lot easier for rigging. There's a FK and a IK version so I can easily set it up for both. I like that.

Cheers mate!
Arlen

[toby]

oh yea - "pupil dialation" that would be a style thing - completely up to you - I think it would be very cool, kind of original too

[fabmedia]

Yeah. I already have that one covered. Keep your eye on this post http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?postid=45928#post45928

It's going to be a bit before something else is up (a day or two). I thought you might be interested.

A

[Rory_L]

Some people texture the model in the eyes closed pose, to get more texture space.

R

[rapscallion]

Hey...Hi...so I may be too late to really have any sway here, but I just thought I'd mention that I've been using Bones to move my eyelids for awhile, and it actually looks much better than the morphs...to get a nice morph blink you'll have to set up three positions for the lid, plus you'll be fighting against the fact that morphs are linear and eyelids move in an arc, causing the need to create addiitional "bulge" morphs...so try weight mapping the top and bottom of each eye lid with different map, then add a few skelegons with the pivot point at the exact center of the eye - this way you can "rotate" the skin around the eyelids and be certain that they will track perfectly over the surface of the eye....also, concerning the debate over whether or not to model the eyes initially open or closed, I would have to say closed....if you model the eyelids in an initial open stage, then you'll be stretching those polys unnaturally to make the closed morph...if you model the lids closed, then the skin will have nice natural folds and wrinkles when you open the eye - much more expressive and much easier to deal with from start to finish......so I guess thats my two pennies...hope it helps...wishing the best...from the void...j.p.rapscallion...

[fabmedia]

Hmmmm... quite interesting. I like that point. My character is a more cartoonesk type, and have to make all of his expressions with his eyes and antenea. What I would just love is the ability to create a deformation cage around the eyes for those expressions. Take a look and give me your humble opinion....

A

[stoehr]

Take a look here for a tutorial on creating a deformation cage for your characters face. www.stoehrsartstudio.com

I'm using an internal and external bone system to make facial animation right now, so if you have questions feel free to ask.

Oh yeah, and as stated earlier, your better off using bones for the blinking. You can get a perfect cicular motion with bones way faster and more accurately than with morphs. I'm actually setting my facial rig with NO morphs. I find the movement is far more natural with bones, as motions move in arcs.

[stoehr]

Here's another tut on deformation cages. Cages are based on bones in LW, so refer to my earlier tutorial on working with internal and exoskeletons simultaneously. http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/animation/deform-cage/index.html

[fabmedia]

Well I managed to take the time out and create morphs for every facial expression. Well the basics and I'll mix between them. But take a gander and let me know if this passes....

Arlen