New improved Head Turn Technique!

Have you come up with a good Moho trick? Need help solving an animation problem? Come on in.

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patricia3d
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Post by patricia3d »

Many Many thanks for sharing the technique. Great for shwoing the tounge. Great Help for all AS users. This file is a decision making to work in ASP or in other apps.
jessica951
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Post by jessica951 »

How do you make a complete turnaround using this technique? Like if the character has hair, what would you do?
cocoOS
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Re: New improved Head Turn Technique!

Post by cocoOS »

selguin I wish see a good tutorial about masking in AS...for me It's a aspect bad explain in the manual...do you know where can I found a good tutorial about this?...

thanks y saludos


selgin wrote:Hi, I have a new head turn technique and I think it will be big.

There are many solutions for head turns here on forum and many of them work well, but no one of them (including my own tests) solve this problem:

You can have a front view with all the mouth inside the face and make it talk, but when you want to pass to a completely side view of the character you are forced to create a new model and play with switches or whatever technique to simulate they are "the same head".
ImageImage

Now here is my idea. Using masks we can easily have a character which actually can turn on 360 degrees with no problems:
Image

How it works:
It's hard to me to explain it, but I'll try. I needed to have a head with a bite, just like the apple of Apple... and that bite must be able to move around the head to stay on the side or on the center of the head, this way it could be animated with the head turn.
That was easy to do using masking, but I needed to have the outline on the bite sector too, something that you can't make using a simple mask.

The better idea I had to obtain this is on this anme file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dhgjt0ozzj2

Here is a visual explanation of its masking (if someone has a better idea, just tell, please :D
Image
(Notice in the file that the shape on the layer "mouth" has only stroke, no fill)

The only disadvantage of this way of masking is that you are forced to use a layer script to control two layers at the same time (actually, you can do it without the script, but you would had to animate two identical layers separately all the time, which is just a waste of time). But don't be afraid, the use of the script is extremely easy. You just must have two identical layers with the same name, but one with ".dup". For example, you will have face and face.dup. Then you attach the script to both layers and animate both just moving the points of "face" (be sure that "face" is below "face.dup" on layer order).

Well, sorry for the long post. If someone has something to ask or to add, please feel welcome. I think this way to make head turns on AS can be a new reference and I'm pretty clear it can be improved and simplified.
Thanks.
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Víctor Paredes
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Re: New improved Head Turn Technique!

Post by Víctor Paredes »

cocoOS wrote:selguin I wish see a good tutorial about masking in AS...for me It's a aspect bad explain in the manual...do you know where can I found a good tutorial about this?...
thanks y saludos
Sure, check this two links

Masking (with a basic example made by me)
viewtopic.php?t=8359

Masking explained... I hope! (a good long explanation, by heyvern)
viewtopic.php?t=9669
Image Image Image Image
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mr6
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Post by mr6 »

one question...when i add the script in the file download to the anime studio "Scripts" folder it only gives me the option to make a star vector. am i doing something wrong?
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Víctor Paredes
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Post by Víctor Paredes »

Hi, I recorded a video showing a character with head turn technique. It's for a spot I will post soon.

I tried to explain many interesting aspects of this scene. I hope you like it.
http://vimeo.com/28938430
(password is my nickname)
Image Image Image Image
Moho Product Manager

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Rigged animation supervisor in My father's dragon - Lead Moho artist in Wolfwalkers - Cartoon Saloon - My personal Youtube Channel
SvenFoster
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Post by SvenFoster »

selgin wrote:Hi, I recorded a video showing a character with head turn technique. It's for a spot I will post soon.

I tried to explain many interesting aspects of this scene. I hope you like it.
http://vimeo.com/28938430
(password is my nickname)
wow selgin they looked great it was really useful. your voiceover was really clear. very helpful.

one thing I noticed was the speed you clicked and dragged points around... please tell me you have some magical script that helps you and its not just practice? 9 times out of 10 I end up clicking and dragging the whole shape :'(
--Sven
What *if* the Hokey cokey *is* what its all about?
Genete
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Post by Genete »

selgin wrote:Hi, I recorded a video showing a character with head turn technique. It's for a spot I will post soon.

I tried to explain many interesting aspects of this scene. I hope you like it.
http://vimeo.com/28938430
(password is my nickname)
Password doesn't work here.
-G
SvenFoster
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Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:50 am
Location: stephen.foster.uk(skype)

Post by SvenFoster »

Genete wrote:
selgin wrote:Hi, I recorded a video showing a character with head turn technique. It's for a spot I will post soon.

I tried to explain many interesting aspects of this scene. I hope you like it.
http://vimeo.com/28938430
(password is my nickname)
Password doesn't work here.
-G
What 'selgin' didn't work? It Did for me. Don't tell me you typed 'nickname' genete? "press anykey." I don't have an anykey ;)
--Sven
What *if* the Hokey cokey *is* what its all about?
Genete
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Location: España / Spain

Post by Genete »

SvenFoster wrote:
Genete wrote:
selgin wrote:Hi, I recorded a video showing a character with head turn technique. It's for a spot I will post soon.

I tried to explain many interesting aspects of this scene. I hope you like it.
http://vimeo.com/28938430
(password is my nickname)
Password doesn't work here.
-G
What 'selgin' didn't work? It Did for me. Don't tell me you typed 'nickname' genete? "press anykey." I don't have an anykey ;)
Doh! I did read "password is nickname" :oops: :oops: :lol:
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GCharb
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Post by GCharb »

LOL :)
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Víctor Paredes
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Post by Víctor Paredes »

SvenFoster wrote:wow selgin they looked great it was really useful. your voiceover was really clear. very helpful.

one thing I noticed was the speed you clicked and dragged points around... please tell me you have some magical script that helps you and its not just practice? 9 times out of 10 I end up clicking and dragging the whole shape :'(
Hi, thanks SvenFoster, I'm glad you like the video, it's very hard to me to talk in english, my brain was boiling :wink:
About the points, I don't use any special script in that aspect. I'm not sure what I could do so different. I use tab for select connected points and enter to deselect all, i use those a lot. I use G and T shortcuts too.
Maybe an important aspect is I always click close around the point to move it, not exactly over it.
Ah, I always have unchecked "shape select" on all the tools.
Genete wrote:Doh! I did read "password is nickname" :oops: :oops: :lol:
Hehehe, sorry for the misunderstanding, Genete.
Image Image Image Image
Moho Product Manager

www.mohoanimation.com
Rigged animation supervisor in My father's dragon - Lead Moho artist in Wolfwalkers - Cartoon Saloon - My personal Youtube Channel
SvenFoster
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Post by SvenFoster »

Your English is excellent. As is most of the videos I've seen from here and different people. English is supposed to be my 1st but it's more like my 2nd language my first is Geordie. (it's a local accent that no one ever understands when I talk quickly...imagine scottish but with up and down not just mumbling ;) )


I didn't realise there was a select shape option!!!! That's it. I'm sick of shapes selecting because I don't hit exactly on a point. That nugget is worth it's weight in gold. Thanks.

Oh in case I forget. Please continue to marvel me with your animations. My life is pretty dull without ;)
--Sven
What *if* the Hokey cokey *is* what its all about?
Genete
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Location: España / Spain

Post by Genete »

I just want to say that watching selgin's tutorial videos makes me believe that animation is that easy!
I think that selgin has a wired mind connection to the AS tools and shorcuts :mrgreen:
-G
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NeedyN00b
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Post by NeedyN00b »

Selgin, your workflow tips and shortcuts are very helpful. Even things like the little "throw-away" tips about how you do things like use ctrl-] to "hide" the style window are a huge help. I love your screencasts - I learn so much! I study them!
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