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alank99101739
alank99101739
Legend
November 4, 2018
Answered

Parallax With Clipping Masks?

  • November 4, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 708 views

Has anyone got a parallax clipping mask working? That is, the clipping mask moves with parallax settings.

I tried with Chloe, making the nose into a bigger blob, then setting the parallax strength high (600%), then making the background of the face clipped by the nose. I can get the shape of the nose to appear, I can get the nose to move from side to side, the rest of the background is not present, but I cannot get the nose shape to be the color of the background image. That is, it does not seem like its clipping.

The effect I was trying for was to get a head shape to adjust with parallax. The eyes and nose move fine today. The documentation says the mouth is mean to move as well (but does not) - but if you move the Mouth to be a child of Nose then you can make it move as well. But the head shape should adjust as well (at least a bit). I was trying to work out if this could be done smoothly rather than with profiles.

Consider the following diagram. The eyes and mouth need to move (and nose), but the cheek bone wants to extend out the side of the face as well.

I was wondering if I could have a gradient background image, then use a clipping mask made up of a static part (a ball for the top of the head) and a moving part (jawline and cheek). By using clipping you can still do nice graduated skin colors for cheeks etc. I have failed to get this to work so far.

Hmmm. In writing this up, I wonder if I can use a different approach somehow. I want the head to be able to move around, but can I perhaps use pins on the top half of the head so it distorts the face shape when parallax kicks in. That would make it easiest to keep a smooth outline to the face. eg Make the nose dependent on the face background around it, add lots of sticks so when the nose moves the bottom half of the face moves (warps) with it. I might try that tomorrow.

Any other ideas people have? I realize it might only give you say 30 degrees of head turn max, but it would be smooth instead of jumping between distinct profiles.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer alank99101739

    A ray of hope. I added a second Face behavior with stronger parallax so facial features move faster than rest of head (cheeks and chin to be precise).

    I put all the eyes in a new layer with parallax strength 800.

    I tried to lock down the top half of the head...

    The put a hidden nose on the bottom half of the head, dependent so it moved it the face as well. A few sticks to try and maintain face structure. (The whole face area is independent so its not attached to the neck)

    Not all the sticks etc may be required, but it gives me some hope. It is tricky to get all the parallax values right.

    1 reply

    alank99101739
    alank99101739AuthorCorrect answer
    Legend
    November 5, 2018

    A ray of hope. I added a second Face behavior with stronger parallax so facial features move faster than rest of head (cheeks and chin to be precise).

    I put all the eyes in a new layer with parallax strength 800.

    I tried to lock down the top half of the head...

    The put a hidden nose on the bottom half of the head, dependent so it moved it the face as well. A few sticks to try and maintain face structure. (The whole face area is independent so its not attached to the neck)

    Not all the sticks etc may be required, but it gives me some hope. It is tricky to get all the parallax values right.

      H
      HouHouHou
      Inspiring
      November 20, 2021

      It's almost exactly 3 years since your post, and I'm new to Ch and wonder how you've progressed in this.

       

      I just discovered you can create a clipping mask from the entire face background, applied to whole folders, within Ch but apparently not in Ps. So I have eyes, eyebrows and mouth (not nose) moving "around" the corner of the face--as opposed to flying off it. This is bitmap artwork. I mention that because there are different rules for clipping masks in Ps and Ai--the excellent parallax example character Footy on the Home Page is vector. A "Face Range" tag (similar to "Pupil Range") would be an excellent simplification/clarification/unification of this effect--and an exciting effect for new users to see right away.

       

      My suggestion for your former self in the past who posted this (or anyone reading this late like moi) would be to create hidden cheeks like the hidden nose. Parallax added to these cheeks would have them slide out into view as the head turns.

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