Week 5
This week, the final week working on this rig, we went about making controllers, as well as creating Set Driven Keys.
I started by creating a simple circle for use as a face controller, I also created two smaller squares for the eyes. However, due to the background being a dark blue, these were hard to see.
To fix this, I changed the colour of the controllers, this was done by going into the attribute editor tab, and then underneath Drawing Overrides.
For the eyes, I set up Aim constraints, bound to the eye controllers, this meant that the eye would point at the controller, I repeated this for both of the controllers and both eyes.
I then created an oval and parented the eye controllers to this, this is because eyes often point in the same direction. The separate eye controllers still allowed for the eyes to move separately if needed however.
After the controllers, I then selected the face controller, and went about creating Set Driven Keys, this would allow for a simple slider to be used for expressions such as smiles etc.
First the attribute was added, with a minimum of 0 and a max of 10, a set drive key was then added, with the slider at 0, all of the joints were keyed.
With the slider then set at 10, the joints were moved into position, and then all of the joints were keyed again. This allowed for the slider to be used to create these emotions, with the numbers between 0 and 10 serving as a way to get in between the extremes of the emotions.
I only created three Set Driven Keys because I quickly wanted to move on from this, because I was not enjoying this part at all. In hindsight, I should have spent more time on the weight painting, especially the lips, the joints were only influencing the outside of the lips, due to my completely forgetting of the inside.
For the emotions, I should have also included use of the rest of the face, rather than just the mouth and nose. This would have created more convincing emotions.
However, I am somewhat satisfied with what I have learned, rather than achieved, as I have learnt how better to weight paint a face, as well as create controllers. As well as these, I have also learnt how to use Set Driven Keys, a tool that has lots of potential, in all areas of rigging, from making muscles bulge to creating subtle movements.
