Pan and tilt head on same Character?

[starstriker32]

Hello, I was just wondering what the trick is to creating a smart bone for a head turn and another smart bone for a head tilt on the same character? I have done head turns on charcters before and have been reasonably happy with the results but, when I try to add another smart bone controlling the tilt, I run into issues and things get distorted.
I assumed it would be the same process but thinking about it now I can understand why having both of these in the same rig might conflict with eachother.

Is it as simple as doing the same process for each smart bone or do you have to do a few additional things to have both movements in the same rig?

Thankyou

[slowtiger]

It worked for me. I followed this workflow:
- first I created the head turn from about 3/4 to 3/4, only with point animation, and making sure I moved the points only horizontally.
- then I created the tilt, not a big one, abou 20°, again with point motion, this time only vertically.

[Greenlaw]

Hello, I was just wondering what the trick is to creating a smart bone for a head turn and another smart bone for a head tilt on the same character? I have done head turns on charcters before and have been reasonably happy with the results but, when I try to add another smart bone controlling the tilt, I run into issues and things get distorted.

Sure, I do this all the time. The trick is to separate the items that move along X and Y to different Smart Bones. For example, you might use two bones, one parented to another, and have one bone move the binded art up and down, and the other bone move it side to side. Separating the directions to different bones prevents conflicts from occurring between the Smart Bones.

The same idea can be applied to layers, groups, points, whatever. For example, if you're only applying this to points, make sure one Smart Bone only moves points up and down, and the second Smart bone only moves the same points side to side. (This is tricky, but doable.)

More realistically, I use a hybrid setup, where one control may be moving a layer, and another is moving the art inside the layer. It's not hard to do, but does take some thought and careful planning. I suggest experimenting with controlling a few simple shapes until you get the hang of how it works.

There is another very useful method for preventing distortions developed by Mult Rush (Kuzkuz here in the forums), and it's called Mixed Smart Bones. There is even a script you can install for automating the setup, but I HIGHLY recommend learning how to set this up manually first. The script works, but you need to understand what it's doing to correct any errors or make changes to the result. Here are some links:

Mix Smart Bones Technique

Mix Smart Bones Script

This method is advanced, but it's not that hard to learn and apply.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.