MAXON Computer Cinema 4D Tutorials: Eyeballs

- Character

Character:
Eyeballs
Download:
PDF / Project Works with:
CE Requires:
Version 6

This tutorial will take you through the steps of modeling, texturing, and animating a pair of blinking eyes. The project is included so you are welcome to add them to any character you've created.

Click to view quicktime movie

Modeling

Step 1: Create a Sphere. Go to Objects=>Primitive=>Sphere. Double Click on the Sphere text in the object manager and rename it 'Eyeball'.

Step 2: In order to create eyelids for the eye, you will create a profile spline and then use a Lathe NURBS to flesh out the eyelid.

Switch to the side view (F3) and then create a B-spline object. Go to Objects=>Create Spline=>B-Spline. You will automatically be switched to the points tool, ready to create the spline.

Step 3: Click in the scene window to create points. Draw out the spline so that it hugs a quarter of the sphere as shown here.

Step 4: Double click on the spline icon in the object manager and check the box next to Close Spline.

Step 5: Now you'll use a Lathe NURBS to wrap the spline profile around the eyeball, creating the eyelid. Go to Objects=>NURBS=>Lathe NURBS to bring in a Lathe NURBS object. Double click on the text Lathe NURBS in the object manager to rename it 'Eyelid'.

Step 6: Drag and drop the spline object on the Eyelid object and you'll immediately see the results of the Lathe. Switch back to perspective view (F1) to see the results more clearly.

Step 7: Next you will need to create the bottom eyelid. For this you can use a Symmetry object. This will save on time and space and will make it easier when it comes to animating the eye blinking. Go to Objects=>Modeling=>Symmetry to bring in a Symmetry object.

Step 8: Double click on the Symmetry icon in the Object Manager and change the Mirror Plane to XZ so the eyelid will be mirrored on the bottom.

Step 9: Drag and drop the Eyelid onto the Symmetry Object. You'll now see your two eyelids in the scene window. Double click the text Symmetry in the object manager and rename it 'Eyelids'. You can test the blinking action by having the Eyelid selected and rotating around the X-Axis.

Step 10: Before texturing your eye, there is one more modeling task which will add a bit more realism and detail. You will create a lens for the middle part of the eye so that the light specular will show up differently than on the white part of the eye.

To do this simply make a copy of the Eyeball sphere in the object manager and resize and reshape it so that it barely sticks out of the eyeball where the pupil and iris are. The settings used here for size are X=185m Y=185m Z=206m.

Position the new sphere at X=0m Y=0m Z=-1.75m. Rename the object Lens and group all the objects together and name the group Eye.

Materials

Step 1: First create a basic material for the flesh of the eyelids. The material used here has color settings R=80 G=70 B=50 S=100. The bump channel is also active using the Turbulance procedural texture via the triangle drop down menu - - strength set to 20%. A specular was also used, with the default 20% setting for Height and Width.

Step 2: Name this material 'Eyelids' and apply it to the Eyelids object using the default projection settings.

Step 3: A texture image for the eye is included with the project file (He_05bl.tif). If you have your own image, create a new material and in the color channel use image.

Check the box next to Reflection to turn on the reflection channel and set it to Br=20%. Activate the Specular channel and set the Width=1% and the Height=100%.

Step 4: Name this material 'Eyeball' and drag it to the Eyeball object in the object manager. Use a Flat Projection and input 125 for the size for XY and Z. click OK.

Step 5: The last material will be a transparent one for the lens. Create a new material and click the check boxes for Transparency and Specular. Be sure to uncheck to Color box. For Transparency input n=1.2 in the Refraction settings. Leave everyting else at default. For Specular set the Width=0 and the Height=200. This gives an extremely thin and strong highlight.

Step 6: Name the material 'Lens' and apply it to the Lens object in the object manager using the default projection settings.

Step 7: Add a light to the scene. Place it above and in front of the eye. This will give you more interesting illumination and specular results than the default lighting.

The light for this scene is positioned at X=100m Y=500m Z=-1000m.

Animating The Eye

Step 1: The first thing to do is create a single blinking animation for the eye. You'll then copy the single blink sequence a few times to make the eye blink several times. Open up the timeline window (Window=>Timeline) and with the Eyelid object selected in the Timeline go to File=>New Track=>Geometry=>Rotation to create a Rotation track.

Step 2: Double click on the rotation sequence and change to length so that the sequence goes from 0 to 10.

Step 3: Control click on the sequence to add a key frame at frame 0. In the dialog enter -30 for 'P' and leave everything else as default

Step 4: Add another key frame at frame 5 and set the P rotation to 0.

Step 5: Add the final key frame at frame 10 and set the P rotation back to -30. You can preview the animation by dragging the time slider and seeing the eye blink.

Step 6: Select the sequence in the timeline window and hit cntrl+C (PC) or cmd+C (MAC) to copy the sequence. Now hit cntrl or cmd + V to paste and your curser will change to the sequence, allowing you to place it wherever you wish. Paste several blink sequences to your Eyelid's Rotation track to have to eye blink however many times you wish. In this tutorial there are blink sequences from 0 to 10, 15 to 25, 35 to 45, 55 to 65, and 70 to 80.

Step 7: Unless you're making a cyclops, you'll want two eyes in the finished product. You can do this easily by copying the eye in the Object Manager. Place the new eye apart from the other (X=400m shown).

By copying the eye you also copied the animation for the eyelids so there's no need to reanimate. The blinking of both eyes will be in sync.

Step 8: Now you'll add target expressions to the eyes so they will both look directly at an object or moving object. In this tutorial you will simply use a Null Object as the target, but the target can be anything you want. Go to Objects=>Null Object to bring in a Null Object.

Step 9: Before adding the expressions to the eyes, you need to realign the Eyeball axis. Objects with target expressions will always direct the Z axis toward the specified object. Select an Eyeball in the Object Manager. You need to rotate the axis so that the Z axis point out where the eye would see. Switch to the Object Axis Tool and in the coordinates manager input -180 for 'H' under Rotation. Repeat the procedure with the other Eyeball.

Step 10: With one of the Eyeballs selected in the Object Manager go to File=>New Expression=>Target Expression. In the dialog that comes up, type 'Null Object'. Repeat the procedure for the other Eyeball or cntrl+drag and drop the expression tag to copy it to the other Eyeball.

Step 11: Now when you move the Null Object around in the scene window the eyes follow it.

You can create a position track for the Null Object and create keyframes at different positions to make your blinking eyes looking about.

Have fun and don't forget to send us finished animations!