When building a character, is it best practice to have a neutral mouth pose at rest (frame 0), and create all your expression poses from that? In the past I make my characters already with a bit of a face expression so that's always my starting pose, but it might be counter productive. What's the best way?
The T pose blank puppet face is such an uninspiring starting point for me but is it still the best way to begin a character?
General Mouth Pose question.
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
-
djwaterman
- Posts: 292
- Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:36 am
- Location: Sydney
Re: General Mouth Pose question.
In ASP, I generally like to have a neutral mouth pose as the 'base' and, if possible, plot the points so that the shapes can be easily edited into a new mouth shapes. This is particularly important if you intend to morph the mouth shapes using the Interpolate Sublayers option for Switch Layers. If you're not concerned about preserving point order, then you can ignore that part.
Side note: TBH, I don't bother with preserving PO for mouths anymore. I started out doing that but decided I liked 'snappy' mouth transitions better. For special cases, like if I had a scene with a character that talked sloooowly, I might pay more attention to preserving morphing for the layers...or, I might just go with FBF, now that it's a bit easier to do in 11. Just something to keep in mind.
Unless you really want to preserve morphing capability, I wouldn't sweat it too much--in many situations, maintaining and editing shapes for switch layer morphing might turn out to be more trouble than it's worth.
If none of the above matters to you, I would probably just use the character's most common mouthshape/expression for frame zero. When animating, it may be easier to have that as your 'default' shape.
G.
Side note: TBH, I don't bother with preserving PO for mouths anymore. I started out doing that but decided I liked 'snappy' mouth transitions better. For special cases, like if I had a scene with a character that talked sloooowly, I might pay more attention to preserving morphing for the layers...or, I might just go with FBF, now that it's a bit easier to do in 11. Just something to keep in mind.
Unless you really want to preserve morphing capability, I wouldn't sweat it too much--in many situations, maintaining and editing shapes for switch layer morphing might turn out to be more trouble than it's worth.
If none of the above matters to you, I would probably just use the character's most common mouthshape/expression for frame zero. When animating, it may be easier to have that as your 'default' shape.
G.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Tue Jun 09, 2015 12:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
NEW! Visit our Little Green Dog Channel on YouTube!
D.R. Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog
Little Green Dog Channel | Greenlaw's Demo Reel Channel
D.R. Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog
Little Green Dog Channel | Greenlaw's Demo Reel Channel
Re: General Mouth Pose question.
One way I do this now is to use blend morphs for your mouth poses (with the combination of papagayo if your chararacter is talking). Usually when I do this, I Use the absoulute option, but sometimes I need to use the relative option for the jaw when there is a head turn without using the smartbones.
If you use this method, its best to only use points that you are actually using, or else you may bet some odd results. Here is the best example I can show you.
If you use this method, its best to only use points that you are actually using, or else you may bet some odd results. Here is the best example I can show you.