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D
Dannerino
Inspiring
August 19, 2020
Question

Triggers, Swap Sets, Head Turner Conflicts

  • August 19, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 507 views

I'm struggling with the concept of a head that turns and a body that turns separately (as in the body facing left while the head looks right).  There seem to be slight differences in the way it works depending on my file structure.  Do I put the profile groups first, with the head/body groups inside?  Or the other way around?

 

I thought the file structure would be:

Puppet

     Left Quarter

          Head

          Body

     Right Quarter...

But a head turner behavior causes the body to turn with the head.  I thought if I don't use head turner, and just do a swap set for all three head groups, and a separate swap set for all three body groups, but that didn't work.  Do swap sets only work if they include layers from the same group?  If I put the Head group from Left Quarter, Head group from Right Quarter, etc., the swap set fails right?  Also, if I put a group in a swap set and it contains subgroups, will that also fail?

 

Perhaps this structure is the answer:

Puppet

     Head

          Left Quarter

          Right Quarter

     Body...

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

J
joshuag86337383
Inspiring
August 26, 2020

Hello I don't know if this will help you, but if you let the head funtion normally with head turns and all that, but don't give the body any profile tags, you can move the body independently with swap set triggers.

For example:

Head (normal profile tags)

Body (no profile tags, make a swap set)

     Front

     Left

     Right

I've never tried this myself, but it should allow you to move the head one way with camera input, then you can trigger the body to move wherever you want. You can even have the body do a complete 180 if you wanted to.

Hope that helps.

    alank99101739
    alank99101739
    Legend
    August 19, 2020

    There is not a single right answer. 

     

    There are two uses of profiles. Walk behavior that has standing/walk left/walk right and head turner that uses the web cam to turn the head.

     

    Some people start with walk profile and duplicate the full body structure. They might only put head turner on the standing profile (the left walk profile only has the left head profile). So the head only turns left to right when not walking.

     

    Others put the head turner on all walk profiles. A they may use a shared puppet for the head to avoid repeats give rigging. That is, they have a head puppet with head turner, then drop it into all profiles.

     

    Or, i *think* some use walk profiles inside "body" and head profiles inside "head'. I am not sure how well this works. I mainly see the above two.

     

    The problem you are seeing i think relates to the position you are adding the head turner behavior. With walk profiles you need to put the head turner say on the head layer so it does not accidentally pick up the body profiles as head profiles. I think ch made a mistake reusing the same profile tags for head any body profiles as it causes this confusion.

     

    So your first structure is what i would go with, but add the head turner behavior inside the body profiles, not on the root of the puppet. That will ensure it finds head profiles and not body profiles by mistake.

     

    You can look at the head turner behavior view and handles (expand the sections) to see the layers it bound to. I think it will show the body profiles when it's wrong.

    D
    DannerinoAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 25, 2020

    Changing the head turner designations to the head and body group, instead of applying to the higher groups (left, right) worked perfectly.  CH is a great program, but for every advanced technique I pick up, there is an advanced issue to solve.  Having the structure with head turner profiles at a higher level, and head/body folders inside of each causes a strange situation.  If I want to use all 9 combinations of head turns and body turns, it works except for one problem.  Sometimes the head will be in front of the body, sometimes not.  That makes for a tricky situation to have it look right.

     

    Left Profile

         Left Head

         Left Body

    Right Profile

         Right Head

         Right Body

     

    When my character's body is facing right with head facing left, the head is in front.  When I go with body facing left and head facing right, the head is in back and it looks wrong.  And I am also using Frontal, so there will be times when one head group is in front and other times when it is in back.  I guess a giraffe length neck could solve this.

    J
    Jacob T Fresh
    Inspiring
    August 26, 2020

    So far the only way I have been able to get the Head to move seperately from the Body is by rigging the puppet like this:

     

    +Character

           Head

               -Left Quarter

               -Right Quarter

               -Frontal

            Body

                 -Left Quarter

                 -Right Quarter

                 -Frontal

     

    Then just have the Head turner Behavior on both the Body and the Head folder.

    While recording just turn off the body head turner, then just the head should move.

     

    Sadly I just re-rigged all my puppets the other way so the head turner is not working and I am in the same boat haha

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