Pipeline 1: Jetpack Jones - Adding Facial Controls

 Cleaning up the outliner first, all the components (apart from the eyes) are placed into the "Geo_Grp" in the Master Group. 

 For the jaw control, a "taco" nurb is removed form the control group an snapped to the end jaw joint. This is then resized and rotated slightly (using the side view) so it stands out in the outliner, removing any transformations once happy. 

  Snapping the pivot to the jaw_rotation_jnt, a parent constraint is used to allow rotation.

Jaw Control

  The "taco" nurb is then duplicated twice and placed in conjunction with the two neck joints, flattening out the curve (using the CV's) to give a better appearance. The nurbs needs a little rotation and moving around to make sure they don't cause the clavicle controls any issues. Once satisfied with the placement, both controls pivots placed onto the joints and a parent constraint was used.

Neck Controls

The neck_01 control is then parented under the neck_02 control.

 For the lower heads squash and stretch ability, another half circle nurb was placed around the mid-point of the ears and the pivot snapped to the lower_head_jnt. The jaw control was then placed under this new control, which in turn was parented under the second neck control. This allows the jaw to move with the rest of the head.

Lower Squash and Stretch

Added Jaw Control Rotation

  There also needs to be a control for the upper heads squash and stretch. Using a  circle that has be modified to curve with the skull (using the CV), the pivot was placed onto the upper_head_jnt and parented. 

This is then parented under the neck_02 control and new hierarchy placed under the Chest control.

Upper Head Squash and Stretch

Upper Head Control Rotation 

  Switching on the centres of the eyes using the display handles ( via display in the attributes), this will help with setting the aim constraint.

  Snapping a nurb circle to the centre of the left eye and then bringing it forward in Z, the circle need to be rotated and resized to fit around the eye in the view port. Once happy with the size, it is then duplicated and placed to fit around the right eye (grouped and scale - 1). 

  Another Nurb Circle is placed around these two eye controls to create a mask effect and a parent constraint is utilized (the two smaller circles under the mask nurb).

Eye Controls

  Grouping the corresponding eyeballs and corneas, a aim constraint is placed between the eye controls and groups.

The aim vectors attributes in the "aim constraint options" need to be 0, 0, 1. This changes the plane aim from X to Z.

  Following this, the eyes groups are placed together and renamed as the "eye_master grp". The controls are placed into their own group called "eye_follow_grp". The eye master group is then placed into the the "Geo_grp" and connected to the upper_head_jnt using a parent and scale constraint.   

  For the eye controls, these is placed under the world_control so they move with the character.

  The option of moving the eye controls via the head is created by parent constraining the eye_follow_group to the head_base_jnt. A channel was then added so to be able to switch between the head moving the controls and having the ability to move them manually.

  Adding a Enum to the control, a channel called eye_follow with a on/off option is placed. The channel is then connect to the constraint via the connection editor. 

Eye Controls

Eye Follow Enum Channel

  A "face camera" is then placed on to the eye control, the focal length is change to 70 (creating a flat view) and it is then parented under the master_eye_ctrl. Locking the camera, we make sure it is then hidden from the viewport.

  The eye controls are then moved backwards to be behind the camera (using the CV's) so as to not obscure any facial shots. 

Adding a Camera

Facial Camera Shot

For all the new controls, limit are placed and unneeded channels are locked/hidden.

  So to be able to turn off the eye rig, a new star nurb control was placed to the front of the World_Ctrl and parented under the Master_Ctrl. Another enum was placed into the channel box called "Facial_Ctrls" with a On/Off option and a set driven key was used to make it operational. The original star nurb control was renamed as "Body_Ctrls" so to stop any confusion.

The Progress so Far

  Finally, the rotate options for the jaw control was brought back. This will allow more extreme variations of animation in the face.