hi all,
right basicaly I'm doing research eye animation, to be precise animating pupils in a way that expresses a character's emotions, thoughts, physical effort etc, im looking to make a guide for anyone who wants to make more expressive pupils.
what i need though is feedback on this from anyone who makes characters, i need to find a way of making my results useful for 3d animation.
i need to consider the software limitations also.
would be cool if people can reply with a few different techniques that they use for animating eyes, and facial expressions, even post some guides which you have used your selves.
ok, any help with this will be greatly appreciated, and i will post my finished research paper on here.
cheers, sam.
my portfolio at http://www.samwatterson.co.uk
Cant really give you much advice on eye animation but this is what i did.
Watched many well animated films and watched how they did it like with real human characters. After i watched how cartoon characters expressed animation and there is alot of difference. Theres alot more drama in the eyes alone in cartoon characters rather then cartoon human characters that are trying to look real. You just have to study them for a while. Draw your characters out hundreds and hundreds of times each expressing a different mood. Like have happiness and draw out the many ways in which this can be expressed.
The best eye animation is in Wallace and Gromit. Watch Gromit.
Also watch nearly every Disney film.
Watch Spongebob.
Never watch Cartoon Network cartoons.
Another thing to remember is the eyes are never stationary, they stay in the same place for about 2 seconds and have either very dramatic movements or very minor movements. They also have to fit the mood and body movement and such.
thats great feedback, i will check those animations out, ive just read some of the disney book on mimiking life, your spot on with exagerating expressions, cheers
my portfolio at http://www.samwatterson.co.uk