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Eye rig- making lids invisible?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 4:34 am
by Gibble
Hey Gang!

I am setting up an eye rig and I want the starting frame [Fr.01] to be invisible.
See below for a better understanding.

It seems I cannot animate the Smart Bone to control visibility from 0% to 100%- or is this possible? I may be simply unaware of how to do this too.

Option 2: Switching the Layer Order to hide the starting point to be behind the eyeball- but this seems messy and I am sure there is a cleaner solution.
I am open to any suggestions on how to make this work in a different way too. Masks won't be an option though b/c I want the eyelid to also cover the black ring around the eyesocket too.
Image

Re: Eye rig- making lids invisible?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 5:07 am
by Greenlaw
There are many ways to do this. Here are a handful of suggestions...

- If the item is in its own layer, keyframe the layer's visibility. This is what I usually do.
- If the item is in the same layer as the rest of the eye, keyframe the alpha for the Style.
- Enable Animated Shape Order and hide the item behind other shapes in the layer.
- If the eye is a mask, animate the lid to outside the mask in a single frame.
- If the elements are in the same layer, use Liquid Shapes to mask out the element.
- Use a Switch layer to switch to a version without the item, or if it's in its own layer, switch to an empty layer.

I've used any of the above at one time or another. The best/easiest approach depends on how you've layered the items out, and how you're animating it.

Fun design, btw...what I can see of it, anyway. :)

Re: Eye rig- making lids invisible?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 6:10 am
by Gibble
Thanks so much for all the great solutions, DR! There are many good options to choose from. I appreciate that you listed out all the possibilities, that is a great help!
And thanks for the kind note on the character design. I completed all the turnaround, mouthcharts, expression, etc so now onto the rigging!
Thx DR!!!

Re: Eye rig- making lids invisible?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 9:50 am
by slowtiger
If the lid is not masked, I make it "invisible" via point animation: just make it so small and place it on another outline.

Re: Eye rig- making lids invisible?

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2024 7:05 pm
by Gibble
Thanks for that suggestion SlowTiger! Another great tip :)