Cat In The Hat

Cat In The Hat, a photo by greyother on Flickr.

Another tribute to Gris Grimly (and Dr. Suess) done with Zbrush and Photoshop.

Monster With A Heart

Here is a Valentine's Day Card project I completed for LA Film School.  Apologies to Gris Grimly and Donnie Darko for the design.  Done with Zbrush and Photoshop.

Animating Eyes and Blinks

The following are notes taken at CG Con in L.A.

Much of this information was inspired by "In the Blink of an Eye" by Walter Murch

Eye Animation:

Eye animation is 90% (!?!?) of acting.

4 Types of eye movement:

1. Convergence (focus can indicate subtle cross eyed effect)
2. Saccades (eye darting = 2-3 frames)
3. Fixations (moments of focus)
4. Smooth pursuit / tracking of object

All of these things should indicate character intent.
NO movement indicates shock / intensity / character is lost in thought

Holding out thumb at arm's length will represent size of "focal window".

Pupil dilation occurs because of change in local lighting.
Enlarged pupils indicate arousal / influence of drugs / attraction

Blinks:

Eyes close faster than they open.
Blinks create emotion.
Blinks show change in thought process.
Always cut on a blink in terms of editing.
"We blink to cut the film that is out daily life" / Blink = natural edit
Rapid blinking may indicate switching emotions / discomfort or relief


We blink ever 2 seconds or so.
One eye's blink should be offset slightly from the other.
One eye usually blinks before the other.  Offset is 1-2 frames.

NO blinks = intense / angry / scared
Babies don't blink very much
Elderly blinks much slower

I hope this is useful to you animators out there!!

This video was recommended to me and I have to say it is VERY useful for this stuff:

Anim School Advice On Eye Animation

Zbrush Fish

Zbrush Fish

Zbrush Fibremesh To Create Hair

zbrush_hair, a photo by greyother on Flickr.

This is a tutorial which should help create variation in the hair when grooming.

The trick is to "group visible" with the new features of "regroup coverage" and
"regroup clusters". This will randomize the polygrouping and with "mask by polygroup" will allow for less perfect grooming / subtle variations.

Caerbannog

Caerbannog, a photo by greyother on Flickr.

Teaching zbrush is easily the most fun I have teaching. Here is a deadly little bunny I modeled from a Gris Grimly design in Zbrush 4R5.

Mr. Grimley makes very interesting children's books.

http://grisgrimly.blogspot.com/

Back to work bird

It is a new term, and time to go back to work on 3d.