williamgaylord

The wide mouth design is creating challenges. For most mouth movement it has worked out OK, but an extreme combination of pursing and puckering the lips looks a bit ugly in my opinion. Let me know what you think. I'm seriously considering redoing the mouth mesh. Here are some pictures to illustrate. The first is the neutral mouth. The second and third show the purse/pucker. Note the ridges that form in the extremes. Here is an early thumbnail sketch of the marshmallows. This design has very small mouths. Any opinions on whether I should make it small as in the original sketches or extra wide as in the current design or something in between? Smaller would behave better, but give me your votes! Or mesh design suggestions that might make the wide mouth work better in the extremes. Bill Gaylord

Fixed the link. You should be able to download a "zipped" copy of the project file. Enjoy! Bill Gaylord

I can't download the project, so I'm wondering if the link is working for you? Bill Gaylord

Tried some experiments and came up with this: GerryEye Project You can check out the project to see the details. I wound up assigning a bone to each semicircular spline, instead of using Smartskin. The in-between bones have orient like constraints such that rotating the main eyelid control bone also rotates the intermediate bones by a proportionate fractional amount. This gave the smoothest results. There is a bit of distortion, but it looks very like the normal bunching of a real eyelid. For some reason I am unable to adjust bias in a percentage pose--have experienced this before and have reported it to Hash support. Hope you find this useful. Bill Gaylord

Yep, that's how it works: Since the lids are fixed bowl shapes I assign a bone to each lid and center the bones origin at the very center of the eye. That is the way I get the lids to follow the curve of the eye. I then use a set of additional bones, constraints and percentage poses to build a set of controls for actual use in animation. I would highly recommend Raf Anzovin's "Rigging a Face" tutorial CD. He presents a way to rig the eyelid controls that is easier to use in animation. It takes a bit of time to learn but is worth the effort. What I would recommend for your model is to use one bone each for controlling the top and bottom lids in your model that pivot at the center of the eye. Then use a Smartskin relationship for each of the upper and lower lids. Use the bone rotation to control the rotation of each of the semicircular splines in the moving part of your eyelid. Make sure you go a bit farther than you expect to give yourself enough range of lid motion. Once the Smartskins are keyed, you will have four main control bones that control the four lids. Then you can add constraints and percentage poses that in turn control these bones to give you a nice set of animation controls. Bill Gaylord

Since the lids are fixed bowl shapes I assign a bone to each lid and center the bones origin at the very center of the eye. That is the way I get the lids to follow the curve of the eye. I then use a set of additional bones, constraints, and percentage poses to build a set of controls for actual use in animation. I would highly recommend Raf Anzovin's "Rigging a Face" tutorial CD. He presents a way to rig the eyelid controls that is easier to use in animation. It takes a bit of time to learn but is worth the effort. What I would recommend for your model is to use one bone each for controlling the top and bottom lids in your model that pivot at the center of the eye. Then use a Smartskin relationship for each of the upper and lower lids. Use the bone rotation to control the rotation of each of the semicircular splines in the moving part of your eyelid. Make sure you go a bit farther than you expect to give yourself enough range of lid motion. Once the Smartskins are keyed, you will have four main control bones that control the four lids. Then you can add constraints and percentage poses that in turn control these bones to give you a nice set of animation controls. Bill Gaylord

I like the eyebrow action and left eye squint along with the hand gestures as the "green" guy pauses to reconsider...like he's working out some calculations. Works quite well. Bill Gaylord

I posted the wireframe of the Marshmallow guy's eyes, plus some notes. The main concern I would have using that approach is that in your model you can see much of the back half of the eye. The approach I've used is the same as David Rogers' Washer model (in his book "Animation:Master 2002 A Complete Guide"). John Henderson's Kapsules probably use the same kind of eyelids. They are basically two hemispherical bowl shapes that pivot about the center of the eye. In your case the back half is visible, so the flaw in this design will be visible. I hide this by positioning the corners of the eyelid intersection near the surface of the face. You might have the start of a better solution for your model that would avoid this flaw. Not as simple to set up, but not all that difficult to set up in a set of percentage poses. I use a slightly modified version of Raf Anzovin's method of rigging eyes (in his "Rigging A Face" tutorial--available on CD at Anzovin Studio). His approach would work well for your design, too. Really like your character design! Bill Gaylord

Thanks, Gerry! Here is a picture with the wireframe that should at least give you some hints on how the eyes are constructed. For a detailed tutorial on how I build the cartoon eyes with a resizeable pupil check out: Cartoon Eye Tutorial To make the lids, lathe a sphere a bit larger than the eyeball, then delete one pole plus all but two of the spline rings south (or north--depending on which pole) of the "equator". Then you sort of tuck these two spline rings up inside the lid so the surface curves inward at the equator. By adjusting the diameter and postition of the tucked-in rings, you can get very close to a perfect outer hemisphere shape without having to tweak any bias. These lids are basically simple bowl shapes...nothing complicated. Hope this helps! Bill Gaylord

For the past few months I've been overwhelmed with my "paying" job working for BellSouth as a technical consultant. The tree animation project has also been neglected for quite some time. The marshmallow is a bit of a diversion that is helping me learn a lot about rigging a face for animation (albeit a simplefied one). Once I get this little guy rigged and cloned, I should be able to crank out a series of shorts sort of like "Petey and Jaydee", but with marshmallows. Bill Gaylord

Beginnings of another project? Space Kapsules? Bill Gaylord

Sounds like the project is picking up steam. "...I wonder what went through his mind?...It looks like a pine tree!..." LOL! Really looking forward to seeing the outcome of this project! Bill Gaylord

Yes! I love your Mac & Mallow film! Hope you and many others will get a kick out of the Marshmallow Safety Films, if I ever get around to finishing any of them. Once I get the basic marshmallow model and rigging worked out I look forward to doing some "screen tests" and then starting work on an actual episode. Most will range from relatively simple sight gags lasting a few seconds, to more elaborate "accidents" that will likely run for a couple of minutes. Once I get some of those under my belt, I may tackle a "feature length" film that might last a whopping 10 minutes or so (a takeoff on the movie "The Blob"). I'm hoping Colin Freeman and I can get the Atlanta AM user's group going again soon. This might be a good collaborative project for such a group. Thanks for the jokes and the encouragement! Bill Gaylord

Amazing what becomes obvious after you take a break from a project. Although the bias adjustment problem mentioned earlier is still a problem, I found a simple solution to getting a nice pucker. It is so obvious! The mouth has a spline ring with CPs I can pull back a bit to round out the pucker, as can be seen in profile below: Still would like the bias adjustments issue fixed, but this will work just fine for now. Have submitted a bug report to Hash. Man, I am eager to get this little guy movin' around and talkin'! Have a lip sync test scene planned that will be a parody of a parody that Justin Barrett did. Hope y'all will enjoy it when I get it put together. Bill Gaylord

Here's a suggestion that should be relatively easy to add, but might give his emergence from the book cover a lot more kick without any need to alter the initial pose: add a bright flash just as he springs from the cover, as though a flash of energy propelled him out of the book. This would be somewhat consistant with the way he "disolves" at the end. This is clearly a test run, but a pause at the very beginning that gives your eye a chance to take in the layout would help a bit, too. I like the overall concept! Bill Gaylord

Quite a lot of progress since my first glimpse of Clay at one of the early Atlanta AM User Group meetings (it may have been the first one!). Love the fly-through. Looks to be a very imaginative world. Very like some of the microscopic worlds I've explored over the years with my microscope (one of a myriad of hobbies). Glad to see what you've got cooking. Bill Gaylord

John, you always amaze me with your experiments! Such inventive uses! Bill Gaylord

Thanks, Jeff. I really look forward to bringing this little guy to life. Animation is my favorite part of the process. RE bias adjustments in a percentage pose: I tried a simple experiment in both 11.1a and 10.5. Both have very similar results. The bias handles don't work like they do in a model window. Also any CP with bias altered in the pose no longer responds properly in the model window. Have reported this to Hash support. Not sure whether these are bugs or I am just trying to do something that isn't supported yet. Bill Gaylord

I can see it now...Shaggy instructing superheros how to pose dramatically! LOL!! That would make one very funny short film! A fuzzy Yoda.... Looking quite fine, Colin! Actually the binary sprites are a pretty cool idea..."Digitize him!" Sort of a double layer pun. Bill Gaylord

Oooh! I like it! The foliage looks a lot like patches of moss. I like the overall effect. Like something you would expect to see in a Dr. Seuss book. Bill Gaylord

I said to myself, "Yah, Vern! That's got to be it!", so I tried it. No such luck. I'm beginning to think this might be a bug or at least a needed feature. All I can do is lengthen the handle. I think it might be time to contact the Hash support crew. Thanks anyway man! Love your Happy Bear and friends! Bill Gaylord

Need some help here. I'm trying to adjust the bias when moving the lips in or out in a percentage pose. I want to adjust the curve of the lip in profile using the bias to pucker the lips when they stick out. I can't get the bias handles to work! Nor does it seem to work when I adjust the bias numerically in the properties window. Is bias not a property you can animate? Or is this perhaps a bug I should report? Here is a view of the pose window: Any idea what I might be doing wrong, or might be missing? I'd have had the whole Marshmallow rigged by now if it weren't for this hurdle I can't seem to clear. Bill Gaylord

I would add a little more time just before the green guy comes falling into the scene. Add enough time for your eye to take in and register the surroundings before the he falls into the scene. That would help emphasize the impact when he does fall into the scene. Nice bounce! For better continuity I would also show the big guy turn and start to walk toward the door (perhaps viewed from the location of the door), before cutting to the view of him walking to the door with the door in view. Nice work overall. Very interesting character designs. Lot's of potential here! Look forward seeing the work unfold! Bill Gaylord

Looking mighty fine! You need an "Arnie" (now Govenator) model to fly it (remember True Lies?)...or maybe not, now that I remember that scene... . Great looking model. It will be cool to see it come to life! Bill Gaylord

Still not much visible progress, but now he has teeth! They are patterned after "jimmies", those little cylindrical candy sprinkles. May actually finish rigging this guy today. Let me know what you think about the design. Any comments, critiques, suggestions quite welcome! Bill Gaylord