3d Advanced Character Rigging...Part II

[tymmyt48]

I had to start a new posting...apparently I was filling up the last posting. I was having extremem difficulty in posting more pictures. so, here's another posting to continue with this advanced character rigging tutorial.

I am having some problems here...the site will not let me because of some errors. That is why I started this new 'Part II' posting. I am still working on it.

Tim


So, let's continue with the eyes...

[tymmyt48]

Ok, now we're not done with the arms yet. I am still doing some research on an issue I have with the arms and I will try and get to it soon.

Until then, I will wire up some controls to our eyes.

Please, don't laugh at my eyes (chuckle). These are only simple models for demonstration purposes.

Rigging the Eyes:

At this point, the character's body rig is nearly done. Next you'll add some controls to handle the eyes.

Continue...

[tymmyt48]

Using an Orientation Constraint on both eyes so that they are controlled by a helper object.

Create your helper object. Which kind to create is a completely personal preference.

You can use geometry, splines, or Max's ready made helpers. I prefer the Point helper myself.

Make sure you place it in front of the eyes, a foot or two away from the face. The exact distance doesn't matter, but it makes it easier to animate if it's out in front of the head somewhat. Which kind of helper to create is a personal preference.

Continue...

[tymmyt48]

Select, 'Eye Left'...

Go to the Motion panel...

expand the Assign Controller menu, and select Rotation. Click on the Assign Controller button (the question mark).

Select 'LookAt Constraint' from the list.

Scroll down the panel and select the Add Orientation Target button...

...and then select the helper object which is probably labeled (Point01) as the target.

The eye might rotate after you select the target, but this is normal. Go to the next step to fix this.

Scroll down further and 'check' the Keep Initial Offset box.

There are many other options available with this controller, but you shouldn't need to change any of them to make this work. If you like a clean viewport, however, you might want to change the Viewline that is created when you use this controller. You can either 'uncheck' the Viewline Length Absolute box, or change the Viewline Length to 0 to get rid of it completely.

Continue...

[tymmyt48]

Once they're both set up you can move the helper object around the scene and the eyes will follow it wherever it goes. You'll probably want to link the helper object to the head so that the eyes don't move until you want them to.

This technique is pretty straight forward to set up and is easy to animate with.

Continue

[tymmyt48]

Here's some other things you can do with this setup:

You can also achieve the same effect by selecting the ball, or whatever, as another LookAt Target. You can have many LookAt Targets for your eyes. Then you would animate the Weight for each target to have the eyes look at different objects.

A weighting of 0 means the eyes don't follow that object at all, and a weighting of 100 means the eyes follow that object exclusively. The drawback to this approach is that you have to animated the weighting for both eyes individually. It's much easier to just link the helper object to whichever item you want the eyes to follow.
But, this is in another tutorial...

Using the Rotation List controller.

If you want to be able to rotate the eyes manually, or independently from each other, after you set up the LookAt or Orientation Constraint controllers, you'll have to use a List controller.

This is one of the more handy controllers, and you can use it on Position and Scale, as well as Rotation. What it does is allow you to combine multiple controllers on one object.

In this case we need it to assign both the automatic animation type controller we've already went over, and the Euler XYZ controller so we can take back control of the eyeball when we want.

First thing you want to do is...
select the left eyeball once again.

Go to the Motion Panel and under the Assign Controller menu, click on Rotation.

Then click the Assign Controller button (the question mark), and select Rotation List.

Now if you expand the Rotation Controllers tree you'll see a new controller slot labeled Available.

Highlight Available, click on the Assign Controller button,

and select Euler XYZ from the list.

Now you'll see the Euler XYZ controller in your Rotation drop down list, along with whatever controller you applied previously. Plus, the Available slot is still there so you could add more controllers if you wanted.

The List Controller...

Do the exact same for the right eye...

In order to accomplish this task, you need to select the 'left_eye', and in the modify panel, in the Rotation List menu...
Highlite the 'Euler XYZ' that we just made. Make it active.

When you want to switch back to the 'Lookat Constraint', then make it active.

This is a necessary component to many character rig setups. You'll usually apply it before applying any custom controllers so that you can always go back and manually move a bone or other part of the body. Now would be a good time to investigate the other controllers available and see what they do.

I'll go over one in particular next that can come in handy in certain, specific situations.

Continued...

[tymmyt48]

Picture #2

I'm still having problems getting my pictures uploaded...working on it.

[tymmyt48]

Using the Noise controller.

This is one of those things you'll probably rarely use, if ever. But if you come across a need for it you'll be glad you know about the Noise controller. What it does is add random motion to an object, and does it a hundred times better and faster than you could do it by hand.

First of all, I'm assuming you've added a Rotation List controller like I went over in the last technique. If so, select the, 'eye left'...
then go to the Motion Panel

and under the Assign Controller menu, expand the Rotation menu, and highlight the Available slot.

Click on the Assign Controller button (the question mark), and select Noise Rotation.

A window pops up that allows you to change the parameters of the noise.

These are the settings that worked for me, but play around. You can hit the play button and have the animation play in the background while you change the parameters. This way you get instant feedback from your changes. The Strength spinners can be animated so that you can apply the noise only when you want it.

If you ever need to go back and change the parameters, just right-click on the controller and select Properties.

Now, do the same for the right eye

[tymmyt48]

Using Wire Parameters and Custom Attributes to move the eyes;

Here's a nice trick if you want to add that extra bit of realism to your animations.

The thinking behind it is that the eyes tend to rotate away from each other slightly when a person is looking at something very far away or just "zoning out", and rotate slightly towards each other when the person is looking at something very close, like reading a book.

First thing to do is select the helper object you're using to animate the eyes...

Select, 'Point01'...

then select Add Custom Attribute from the Animation drop down list. You don't want to add the CA (Custom Attribute) to the eyes themselves because that would defeat the whole objective of making animation as easy and efficient as possible.

Now you'll see a window where you can set the parameters of the CA.

Make sure you set it up the way you want it because the bad thing about CA's is that you can't easily go back and change them once you've hit Add.

Keep the Parameter Type at Float,

and change the UI Type to whatever you like working with. Personally, I prefer the Slider because it's easier to get back to the default setting by just right-click on it.

Change the name to something that makes sense. 'EyesIn&Out'.

Width doesn't really matter... I use 160.

You can see a preview of the CA at the bottom of the window so you will be able to tell if you need to change this. The Range is very important.

For this technique we'll be setting it at -1 to 1 with the default at 0. You can change it to whatever you want depending on your needs, but if you leave it at -1 to 1 it's easier to change the wiring if you need to.

This will make sense in a minute.
I also like to add ticks as to tell me the slider is centered properly. I add '3' that way I always know when the slider (eyes) is centered.

Make sure the CA is set up the way you want by looking at the Testing Attribute section.
If it's okay then click Add.

[tymmyt48]

Hi all,

I want to continue with this tutorial, but I am not able to upload anymore pictures. Everytime I try, I get errors.

It is not my style to keep typing out the tutorial without pictures. I have tried many times...and I tried today to upload some more picts. I keep getting errors.

So, what I feel I need to do is to call it quits now. I've included most of my personal tutorial into this big one for everyone see see. I still have a few small things to add, but unfortunately I am not able to do that.

I hope you all enjoy it and I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.

Over -n- out
Thanks,
Tim