Daily DUMBO Maya questions thread_____
 

OK new thread. Basically I will ask a new question everyday. You good folks will answer the questions. This is my thread and only I am allowed to ask questions:-)
I am the KING_DUMBO on this thread.
So this thread will be helpfull to all the dumbos of this world.

Then one day we shall rise and creat a DUMBO_LAND.

Question of the day-

I see people have like a window with lot of boxes inside it. If they move there mouse on top of one of these boxes then the eye of there charecter opens/closes, move the mouse on top of the next box the charecter smiles.....you get the picture. It's like a switch box. How do they set all these expressions on there charecters face?

Is it done by using deformers/Lattice????

a window in Maya or some program?

I believe the animation is done by morphing and setting keyframes. once did a tutorial on it, but can't fully remember.
I'm sure Mike can explain this to you perfectly.

Well I have ne^ver seen this window in Maya. Then again I haven't seen all the windows :-)

Yes it could have been keyframed etc but they had like a place where they had control of all these movements setup.

where have you seen this?

Could it be something they programmed themselves, but not a part of Maya?

OK i will mail a link when i get home of someones demo reel and I think I saw something similar in it.

Sounds like something you see on behind the scenes clips of animation. They have a face setup, and a bunch of pull bars. They move the pull bars and it displays preset facial expressions.

Vampus that sounds about right. How do they set it up? Is it part of Maya or do they programme it?

Check the docs for "BLEND SHAPES" :)
VERY good, and helpfull read!

What Maya does is takes your blends and original target object, and creates a "slider bar" menu automaticly with object names as lables so you can adjust and key blend shapes for facial expressions, lip syching, etc. via a simple slider interface.

...or am I not allowed to answer? hehe...

If mods aren't allowed to answer, lemme know, cause I'll stay away:) No biggie.

Cool thread!

[EDIT] Also, there is NO programming required for Maya to automaticly create this slider gui for you!

You can, I'm sure do some mel connections after the fact, but that's over my head, as I don't specialize in Char. setup:(

Good question to ask in the animation thread tho!

PS, there are a bunch of scripts and plugins out there that allow you to use a pic of your character as well insted of sliders if that bit of visual help makes it easier for you to animate... just fyi:)

You might want to try aniMan. This is allows you to setup your models easier. Not sure about the window thing though.

Just don't make this a tip page:D

I dug around and it's called MORPH CONTROLS.

rage will check thanks.

After creating blend shapes, you can animate them using the Blend Shape Controls found in Window > Animation Editors > Blend Shape.

http://forums.simplymaya.com/attachm...=&postid=27539

Interesting....mtmckinley
to the rescue:-)

*****Todays Question*****

Part1- What is CPS modelling and why do you need to use this method?

Part2- What other medthod can achieve the same result?

P.S- I might or I might not know the answer to all the questions I ask. As the KING DUMBO it is my responsibility to represent my DUMB public. These questions are purely for dumb publics mental Maya health....whatever that means brbb!!