Blinking eyes :: Morphs or Bones

[Quizboy]

someone please help me out with good advice or good links on this one as well. Maya-specific would be nice but not necessary

[Atwooki]

If you're 'squashing' the basic structure of the eyeball, ( i.e. cartoon-like; in the Z plane when the model faces the front,) put a lattice in group mode on each eyeball and it's surrounding lids first to deform the orbit and eyeball area into shape first. Centre each of the group nodes, and scale up very slightly. This helps to accomodate the lids rotations better...

Method 1:
Next select the upper eyelid area's components (of the left or right eye) and apply a cluster, putting the pivot point somewhere near the centre of the corresponding eyeball...check the rotation looks OK...repeat this for the opposite lid, and then each of the lower lids also.
Then drive the clusters' rotations with another attribute (like a locator, by adding a custom attribute, like 'Blink') with set-driven key.
You will, BTW, need to weight the clusters' points appropriately also in the Component Ed.

or:

Method 2:
Use the 'in-between' steps of the blendShape node to generate at least a few blend shapes - i.e. 'open, mid-closed, shut etc. of each set of lidseyeballs and/or heads...

Generally, the second method is OK for 'quick' blinks, but the first is more accurate, as the lids' motion will follow the form of the eyeballs better..

Atwooki

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