Well eversince I started working on the Cartoon Eye tutorial, I kind of got hooked. It’s kind-of fun creating tutorials.
I hope someone out there finds use for it.
Part 1: Quick Introduction to IPO Cruves and Drivers Part 2: Applying IPO Drivers to Armature Bones and Shape Keys Part 3: Half a Smile (Using Vertex Groups)
Note: I’ve been working on part 2 for the last 5+ hours. I’m going to take a break now, I’m pretty sure their might be some errors. I’ll get back to it tomorrow. (Proofreading etc.)
Part 2 rocks, haven’t played with 3 yet… but wanted to leave a note about 1…
It feels incomplete. Sorry, it just does. I know you named it Quick Introduction, but if you’re going to explain basics, explain them. If not, point them back to the Wiki or the manual. As it stands, if you just follow it as instructed assuming you know nothing, there’s not much to explain the relationship between drivers and just animating things. Like, when you say moving blah 1 makes blahblah move 1, it’s like, O.K. great, what exactly did we do that for?
Part 2 on the other hand, you are enjoying yourself explaining it, and you can tell. We feel you yourself are amazed by what can be done, so it’s more interesting to work though. The whole time it’s like “wait, it gets better!”
Linking the bottom lip/jaw to the bone, selecting the faces and assigning the vert group, etc… it feels like you can see where it’s going, which is good when you’re teaching.
Anyway, just some constructive (I hope) feedback. Thanks for doing this.
In part two you suggest making a basis key then going into edit mode to make the sad key then say “add new shape key”. You warn us not to go back to object mode too soon because we’ll mess up the basis key. Instead of this, just click “add new shape key” (Key1) BEFORE going into edit mode. This is a good habit to get into and removes the risk of messing up existing keys. If you want to make a new key that’s similar to an axisting key then choose that key first then press “add new shape key” then enter edit mode.
In part 3 you say:
“2) Select the Right side of Mr. Ant’s Face. (Note: It is adviced to select only the right side of Mr. Ant’s mouth.)”
Andy D: hmmm… I usually create new shape keys while still in edit mode. But as you say “good habit” is good to get into. I’ll go ahead and apply those changes.
In part 3 you say:
“2) Select the Right side of Mr. Ant’s Face. (Note: It is advised to select only the right side of Mr. Ant’s mouth.)”
Some people work in symmetry. I personally select both sides of the face and try to apply the same exact effect. But when you create a shapekey, that shapekey represents the “whole face.” AND when you try to apply the shapekey that whole face deforms.
So now lets say we want to create two IPO drivers, one deforming the RIGHT side and one Deforming the LEFT.
So you would go into the edit mode, select the “RIGHT SIDE” of the vertices that get deformed during the applied ShapeKey, and create a new VertexGroup (or VGroup) and call it “right.”
But since blender is “SMART” you can just go ahead and select the entire “RIGHT” side of the character. (SMART as in blender ignores the points that have not been tempered with during the creation of your NEW shape key.)
But as I mentioned it is advised to select only the vertices that actually get deformed when the shapekey is applied. Because while deforming your shape you might have accidentally deformed some other vertices, that you don’t actually want to be applied.
Heavily Tessellated:
but wanted to leave a note about 1…
It feels incomplete. Sorry, it just does.
…And I have just realized that their was already a tutorial on IPO drivers in BlenderWiki, dang it, I guess this tutorial was just a waste of time. Driven_Shape_Keys
But as I mentioned it is advised to select only the vertices that actually get deformed when the shapekey is applied. Because while deforming your shape you might have accidentally deformed some other vertices, that you don’t actually want to be applied.
Yep. The reason I asked is that it says select the right side of the head but then says select only the right side of the mouth and the picture shows all the right side of the head selected. So do we just select the right-side vertices affecting the mouth or all the vertices on the right side of the head (I know it technically doesn’t matter since we’re supposedly only changing the mouth in this case but the words and picture might be confusing for some). Since you’re calling the group “Right” this probably should include all the verts on the right of the head and this group will be useful for later keys targeting only one side (like eyebrows, cheeks etc…).
Part 1 has a portion out of sequence it would seem, where you say “move the bone … see the result”, and after that a few paragraphs down you mention pressing “i” to create the driver.
calvin thank you very much your tutorial is simple and efficient cause i couldnt accompanny the wiki in this subject, one strange thing though sometimes when you make the driver to the shapes it dont update and other times yes, maybe ive made something wrong maybe not but i could make mr ant smile drive by a bone and that is what matters , thank your efforts.
in the first part you talk about going to the IPO curve editor again and to "grab the curve and move it to fram 0, go into edit mode and click on the right point (whats that) and move it to 10.
Could you go into deeper detail on this, as I am not sure what you are talking about at all.
in the first part you talk about going to the IPO curve editor again and to "grab the curve and move it to fram 0, go into edit mode and click on the right point (whats that) and move it to 10.
Once you go into the IPO curve editor, you can “edit” the curve. When you were on frame 1, you created a keyframe, and when you were on frame 10, you created a keyframe. When you go into the IPO curve editor you’ll see the IPO curve going from 1 to 10.
But for IPO driver processes, you need the curve to run from frame “0” and in this example to 10…
So you would grab the whole curve and move it… now the curve runs from 0 to 9… but we want it to run from 0 to “10.”
So you would click on the curve, go into edit mode (click Tab) and select the “right” point that is currently on 9 and move it till it’s standing on 10. (you can use the Ctrl key so it snaps)
Sorry for taking so long to reply, I’ve been busy with other stuff and was not paying attention to my posts.
But for IPO driver processes, you need the curve to run from frame “0” and in this example to 10…
So you would grab the whole curve and move it… now the curve runs from 0 to 9… but we want it to run from 0 to “10.”
Hmmm. Why not go straight into edit mode at the start and only move the first point to begin with and leave frame 10 where it is?
Also, something I only just discovered, if you press “K” in the IPO window, it shows keyframes as vertcial lines which can be selected and moved. This is easier than trying to move a single IPO vertex and if you have multiple keys on that frame, it will move all visible keys together.
Also, something I only just discovered, if you press “K” in the IPO window, it shows keyframes as vertcial lines which can be selected and moved. This is easier than trying to move a single IPO vertex and if you have multiple keys on that frame, it will move all visible keys together.
Insane! :eek: Learning new things everyday… THANKS!
Why not go straight into edit mode at the start and only move the first point to begin with and leave frame 10 where it is?
i havnt fully gone through this tutorial yet but ive been looking for something like this for a while now, and from what i saw on a quick read through this looks mint, thanks dude
Part 1 is an introduction to IPO curve editor and what IPO drivers are… and how to set them up. The Basics… if you think you know them you can skip to step 2.
