Is it possible to limit head movement to one axis? Lockable axis (feature request)

Question

As the title states, I am wondering if it is possible to limit head movement to one particular axis? As an example, if I wanted to only move my head left and right, on the X axis, without moving up and down, even slightly, is there a way to set this up. I have spent many hours trying to find a way around it, as well as searching the Ch community for an answer, but no luck. I've tried sticks, pins, and I even tried to set up as a walk cycle, and control the movement with the arrow keys, but again that didn't work. If there is a work around, or legitimate way to do this, then I would much appreciate it. I almost have a perfected recreation of a character from an already animated character. It is quite exciting, just fan art related purposes, as well as technical breakthroughs with multi parted character design, which I will share on YouTube soon, once we figure this out. Thanks you.

Also, if there isn't a way for this to happen, then consider this a feature request. Lockable axis for head movement.

alank99101739 · Accepted Answer

x axis locking - YouTube Here is the video. I hope this helps explain what I'm trying to achieve.

What is triggering the movement? Eye gaze? Face parallax? I could not see how you were making the face move in a way that the whole head was not moving.

I don't know of a way to make face parallax limit movement. I would be using a dragger or adjusting Position X with a Transform behavior, or using a swapset with several fixed positions and moving between them.

E.g. eye gaze you can stop eyes going up and down using Pupil Range restrictions, so you could probably have a separate eye gaze behavior.

Are you trying to do live streaming? If not, then it is common to record a take then record over the top a second take. E.g. put a Position Transform on the sublayer and do a second recording to move the robe consistent with the face movement. There are several tools available - you have to work out the best way to achieve it with what is available.

The only ways I can think off the top of my head is using a Transform to do movements (you control X and Y separately), or use swapsets (e.g. hook keyboard buttons 1-9 up to 9 different views, so you don't get smooth animations).

The are other possible hacky tricks like trying to use Y scale transforms to see if you can scale down on the Y axis to see if that affects the movements - draw that part of the puppet scaled say 10x higher (stretched) then use a Scale Y transform and see if that makes that part of the body move slower in the Y direction as a result. (Grasping at straws here!)

But my gut feeling is don't attach the robe to the face - use a Transform and record a Position X take where you adjust Position X as close as you can in sync to the face. Or a swap set with a few profiles, so the robe jumps between profiles, not a smooth transition.

Good luck with it!

alank99101739 · Answer

Forum lost my longer reply on my phone. The survey did not fit on screen so could not cancel it.

Shorter reply - could you have Head as a separate puppet to the body, then use the Transform behavior to move the head? You can then control X and Y movement via blends (turn off face behavior ability to move head).

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