kawaii character control vol. 1 (story of the eyes) (Patreon)

The importance of the eyes

The eyes contain a tremendous amount of information. The way you move your eyes can express emotions and convey psychological information.

One of the reasons why some people say that 3D model animations look like dolls is that the expression around the eyes is not good. Conversely, by focusing on the area around the eyes, you can make it come alive.

So, in this article, I'd like to focus on the eye area.

The relationship between the eyes and the eyelids

This is a common mistake when moving a 3D model, but only the eyes are moving. When a real person moves their eyes, the eyes and the muscles around them move together.

When the eyes and eyelids are linked together, for example, when the eyes are raised, the eyelids are raised, and when the eyes are lowered, the eyelids are lowered, the naturalness is expressed.

This area can be controlled by programmed control or by bone weights.

Left : the eyes are only moving

Right : the eyes and the muscles around them are moving together

Just by adopting this movement, your eyes will feel more vibrant and natural.

Other techniques include↓

Adding fine movement to the eyeball. (Sometimes called eye dart)

Expression of moisture in the eyes. It is mainly effective when used in upscene scenes around the eyes, such as when crying.

The relationship between the blink and the eye

Blinking is meaningful, and it has to do with eye movements (such as moistening the eyes, summarizing information, etc.), but we'll get to that next time. (For example, to moisten the eyes or to compile information.

This time I'm going to simply describe the behavior and appearance of blinking.

This is just a blinking motion.

When the eyelids are half-full, the eye is half-hidden, which looks funny in a picture. (In reality, the movement is correct, but not as a picture.

Let's add a little control to the eyeball so that the center of the eye is not hidden when the eyelid is lowered, and the eyeball also lowers slightly with the blinking motion.

Left : with only the eyelids moved

Right : eyeballs moving with the movement of the eyelids

I think just by adding these controls, you can make kawaii movements much better.