Moho Forum

A simple character I created a while back. It has a simplified version of my 2.5d head rig. I didn't go for the whole thing since he doesn't have to talk for what I'm using him for right now.

http://www.lowrestv.com/misc_movies/sunny3.mov

-vern

great sun!

i am curious how you went about
animating the sun's rays?

There are 2 oscillating vector "flame" layers created with the star tool and then using the split curve script to add the two extra points past the tip. Those two extra points allow for the flames to "bend" in the middle.

The Sun's rays are animated using a freaking lot of bones all radiating out from the center. 2 bones for each flame. I had to use a bone for each flames so I could scale them proportionally.

The tip of each flame is bound to one bone. The middle points are bound to another shorter bone in the exact same position as the "tip" bone. The tip bones are constrained at 100% scale to the main scale/rotation bone. The "middle" points bone is scale constrained at 65% to that same bone.

Then all I had to do was rotate and scale the two control bones. These two bones controls the other bones which control all the points on the flames. I then tweaked the rotation and scale to get what I liked and offset the keys to get a pleasing effect.

I will be expanding this rig so I can use the flames to create "emotion" and use for "acting" for the character. Don't need that yet.

-vern

Very well achieved Vern! It has volume in its face!

-G

Beautiful!

Slightly off topic, but I had to refresh the page to play it again.

When and why did embedded Quicktime stop providing transport controls for media?

All I've been getting for several months on any QT file on the web is a funereal black band where the controls ought to be.

Very nice animation. Laughing Sun.
How you done that Shadow under Lips and under Nose? please guide.

This one is pretty tricky. It may need a video tutorial.

The shading is mostly done with soft edge effect. The "shadow" under the protruding lower lip is a brighter yellow shape over a darker orange shape both with soft edge. Then there is is a mask that does not have a soft edge that gives a clean hard edge to the lip shape as it protrudes past the head "circle". Under the nose is a simple soft edge shape.

The light and dark "highlight" and "shadow" on the lip's edges are done with two "shading" effects on one shape. One shading effect for a dark shadow on the upper lip and then the second is a light color for a highlight on the lower lip. The only "problem" with that particular part is that when the mouth is closed the top darker lip shading is "lost" because the mouth shape becomes very small and the shading loses it's strength. I may change that to a soft edge stroke instead of shading fill effects.

I am really really pleased with the shading and masking used to create this "soft" shading technique and plan to do an in depth video tutorial on it.

-vern