Tuesday 15 January 2013
Eye dart reference
Here is a fine example of eye movement and eye darts. It was orginally posted by fellow animator Kyle Kenworthy. Enjoy and happy learning!
Eye darts tips and tricks
I have only been at Topix for four months but I've learned quite a lot in that time. Working under Marcus Alqueres (Plant of the Apes, 300 etc) provides ample opporutnity for one to expand their knowledge of animation. For example I have a greatly improved my understanding of the graph editor and how best to use it. During my time at iAnimate I was still afraid of the GE and very rarely touched it. In fact my first assignment (which I condsider my best) was done without using the GE at all. I still struggle with floaty animation when I rely too heavily on it, but I am getting better. I will blog more about the GE in the near future, hopefully when I am more qualified to do so!
Now, on to those eye darts!
They may seem insignificant and many animators can overlook them during the polish stage, or simply not know how to execute them properly. Up until quite recently I myself have been guilty of this. However, it was one of the first things that I learned from Marcus and his method has carried over to all of my other animation. Here's the trick I learned: WORLD SPACE. Most rigs, if not all, have the option to keep the eyes in head space, or switch them to world space. I had always kept them in head space because it never occured to me to animate them any other way. It seemed logical to keep the eyes moving with the head. This, however, is not how your eyes actually function. Try looking in the mirror and turning your head from side to side while still looking ahead. It appears as if your head pivots around your eyes as your eyes stay focused ahead. If you animated a head turning from side to side the eyes would follow. While this behaviour may work for some situations, it is not ideal for animation and will not give you the most believable movement.
The key to the eyes is to constantly animate eye darts...constantly. The human eyes are always scanning and shifting their focus. They don't do this by drifting over many frames, they do it in a very short amount of time. Typically two frames. Even if you make a big head turn, say 180 degrees as you scan a room, your eyes don't simply move from position to the other. Instead they would dart 30 degrees over two frames, pause. Dart 25 degrees in two frames, pause. Dart 50 degrees etc etc. The best way to learn is to simply observe. If you ever find yourself watching a scene in a movie with an intense close up on a characters face, watch their eyes and try to catch every time they dart.
There are many tutorials and blogs out there that go into much more detail than I did here and I encourage you to look them up. Animating believable eyes adds that final touch of polish to your shot. You will be amazed by the difference it makes.
They may seem insignificant and many animators can overlook them during the polish stage, or simply not know how to execute them properly. Up until quite recently I myself have been guilty of this. However, it was one of the first things that I learned from Marcus and his method has carried over to all of my other animation. Here's the trick I learned: WORLD SPACE. Most rigs, if not all, have the option to keep the eyes in head space, or switch them to world space. I had always kept them in head space because it never occured to me to animate them any other way. It seemed logical to keep the eyes moving with the head. This, however, is not how your eyes actually function. Try looking in the mirror and turning your head from side to side while still looking ahead. It appears as if your head pivots around your eyes as your eyes stay focused ahead. If you animated a head turning from side to side the eyes would follow. While this behaviour may work for some situations, it is not ideal for animation and will not give you the most believable movement.
The key to the eyes is to constantly animate eye darts...constantly. The human eyes are always scanning and shifting their focus. They don't do this by drifting over many frames, they do it in a very short amount of time. Typically two frames. Even if you make a big head turn, say 180 degrees as you scan a room, your eyes don't simply move from position to the other. Instead they would dart 30 degrees over two frames, pause. Dart 25 degrees in two frames, pause. Dart 50 degrees etc etc. The best way to learn is to simply observe. If you ever find yourself watching a scene in a movie with an intense close up on a characters face, watch their eyes and try to catch every time they dart.
There are many tutorials and blogs out there that go into much more detail than I did here and I encourage you to look them up. Animating believable eyes adds that final touch of polish to your shot. You will be amazed by the difference it makes.
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