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Turning head

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 7:45 am
by Lavinius
Hallo, cuould you please give me some tips, how to make a 2D head turning around. Thanks!!!!

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 2:06 pm
by VĂ­ctor Paredes
here is some places where they talk about head turn:

How do i turn a caracter
http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtop ... rning+head

personally, i preffer to work with 3d objects and get a 2d effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmHyLzMzNDs

Using Moho, how would you go about doing a head turn as you see in traditional 2D animation?
http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtop ... rning+head

Test of my new character!
http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2109

How to move a face in simulated 3D (with broken images links)
http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtop ... rning+head

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:12 pm
by alano
I read through many of the discussions about this matter and I have to say that you can turn a head or whole body from front to profile in Moho it just takes a lot of set up. Check out either of the clips at:

[url]htttp://www.decksawash.net/fairy.asp[/url]

I used the layers in 3D space technique mentioned but instead of switch layers, I used single frame actions to insert the pose into the timeline as this gives me more flexibility. I can't quite remember now why it gives me more flexibility, but that's what I do.

As a quick exercise, draw a skull shape on one layer and a nose on another facing the camera.

Set the z dimension of the nose layer to .0010 and leave the skull frame's z dimension at 0.
Keyframe this on frame 1.

At frame 25 reshape the skull layer points in a profile looking to the left.
Set the nose layer z dimension to 0.0002.
Drag the nose layer points over and reshape them to look like the nose in profile.

Scrub the animation and watch the nose move across the face and reshape itself.

Go to frame 13 and fix the skull and nose shapes to look right for this 3/4 view.
Keyframe the layers positions here and copy frame 13 to frame 31.

Change the nose layer z dimension here to -0.008 and scrub the animation.
Go back to frame 26 and set the nose layer z-dimension to -0.0002 so the nose flips behind the skull on frame 26.

You probably want to adjust the nose shape on frame 25 to match the skull outline better so it doesn't "jump".

If I haven't forgotten anything, the nose should move across the face to profile and then back behind the skull for that "over the shoulder" shot you've been wanting to do. Add eyes, ears and a mouth, each on their own layer and you've got the start of something.

Alan

Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 2:47 pm
by cribble
*Create 3 to 4 drawings, "keyframe" drawings, in which you want the character to turn to. So layer 1 would be "front", layer 2 "half front, half side" and layer 3 would be "full side." Also make sure they're position so, "front" is at the top, "half front, half side" is middle and "Full side" is at the bottom. Also grouping them might help.

*This is where alot of brain power and patience comes into hand. You're now going to move the points to create the "in-betweening" from keyframe to keyframe (or layer to layer).

*The layer you want to tween to (Half front, half side layer) keep visible, as you'll need this for reference.

*Now edit the points in the "front" layer so they exactly match that layer (Half Front, Half side) and there's your turn.

*From there you might want to fiddle around with visiblity, and camera movements (this can sometime help).

Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 3:12 pm
by heyvern
Cribble has the right idea...

Lately I have started making it even simpler... for me anyway.

I draw the turn steps... either on paper and scan... or in Photoshop with my wacom...

I draw the "main face" in Moho then I just use those images from photoshop as tracing templates in the turn steps in moho. I just duplicate the "first face" and then move the points around to match the drawings. This gurantees that I don't add any "extra" points if I want to use interpolation in the switch...

I use that a lot which makes it harder for me to do the head turns.

I also will use the head turn to "create" brand new versions of the head. You can copy the "inbetweens" from a switch layer (with interpolation) and paste the new point locations to create a new inbetween.

Sometimes I only do one step for a head turn... straight on and full turn. Then I use this technique if needed to add more steps to smooth out the motion. I can grab those points at any point during the interpolated switch change and use them to create a new layer in the head turn switch.

-Vern

Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 3:30 pm
by ulrik
Thanks cribble for the headturn tip :)

Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 3:33 pm
by cribble
Here's an animation example I made a while back. I don't use switch layers and the interpolate system because it doesn't work the way i want it to. And i find this way is alot quicker and hassle free.

Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 4:40 pm
by heyvern
I agree with you cribble on the switch layer head turns...

Switch layers don't have any interpolation options like ease in/out etc... only smooth or step.

Lately I have used switch layers as I stated above... After creating the turns... I "copy" the vector point motion into a single vector layer animation using point keyframes.

This gives me the ability to use ease in/out etc. I keep the switch layer for future use.

For instance a switch layer head turn can't be "stopped" between layer steps.

I copy the keyframes from that point and paste them into the vector layer animation... so I can grab and hold any position in a switch layer interpolation motion.

When I am in a hurry or it is a fast turn... I just use the switch layer turn thingy.

-Vern