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Fabian5C88
Participant
November 29, 2020
Question

Only one pupil moves

  • November 29, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 808 views

For some reason, only my left pupil is able to move. For the most part, I copied virtually everything from my left eye to my right but it seems as if it doesnt want to move. I was comparing the seperate layers and it seems the Right Eye layer has this person symbol on it while the Left Eye doesn't. Is that the source of the issue? What exactly do these symbols mean?

 

 

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1 reply

alank99101739
alank99101739
Legend
November 29, 2020

Hi. A blog I wrote a few years ago summarizes the most common problems with eyes: https://extra-ordinary.tv/2018/04/21/debugging-character-animator-eyess/

 

Looking at the screenshots, a couple of comments of things that look unusual:

  • You have a "Left Eye" layer inside "Left Eye" (and the same for the other eye). I would recommend against that. There should be a layer tagged "Left Eye" with all the eye parts under it (pupil, eye whites, etc).
  • I am not sure the Left Pupil Range on the root eye layer will work or not. I normally put it on the eye whites layer.
  • See the "1" and "2" in the rigging hierarchy next to some layer names? This is an indication you have "handles" on layers. I would generally delete these unless you know exactly why you put them there. Handles with tags on them is not the same as layers with tags on them. For eyes I think you want tags on layers.
  • A useful debugging approach is to also look at the Face and Eye Gaze behaviors. Expand them out, then look inside them (in rigging mode). E.g. expand any "Handles" and "Views" sections. This should show the tag names the behaviors look for - if you see a "0" then the behavior did not find that tag, which may indicate a problem. E.g. if it did not find a pupil range layer for one eye but it did the other, that is an example of something to then look into.
  • Remember that it is the tags on layers (and handles) that matter. "Well known" layer names put auto-tags on layers. E.g. a layer called "Left Eye" is not actually special... but the name is a tag name, so it puts the tag on that layer automatically. If you remove the tag, the layer loses any special meaning. It is the tags that matter to behaviors, not the layer names.
  • I was not sure what you meant by the person icon sorry, so cannot comment on that.
F
Fabian5C88Author
Participant
November 29, 2020

I've tried some of those methods but it only ended up getting both of my pupils unable to move. I did, however, look at that blog post and was intrigued by the Tip: If the eyes are not moving, make sure Left Pupil Range and Left Pupil Size are not on the same layer." The description said that the Left Pupil Size had to be smaller than Left Pupil Range otherwise the pupil wouldn't move. The pupil size tag was definitely smaller than the range tag, yet I realized there was some overlap between the tags (the object tagged with size was a bit over the object tagged as range). I moved the pupil / pupil size closer to the center of the range / eyeball and I got the left eye to work again. Trying this method again let my right eye move as well. Is there a reason why this worked? Does overlap play a role in its issue or was it something else interal?

alank99101739
alank99101739
Legend
November 29, 2020

I am not sure what happens if the pupil falls outside the pupil range to start with - you can get weird things like pupils moving backwards when the pupil is bigger than the range. It could be the reason it got stuck... 

 

Could you share a screen shot of the Eye Gaze properties panel expanded out? Here is an example showing the "Handles" are each bound to a layer. If some are zero that might help identify where problems exist.

 

The last resort is to "Export Puppet" from the menu, uploade to Google drive or similar, and share a link here (or DM me) and can have a direct look at the puppet.

 

Or if it is working to your satisfaction, yay! Be happy and get the project done! Lol! Sometimes it is not clear to me why things work and don't work. E.g. I was not sure why your pupile had that funny shape. I assume some hidden artwork inside the pupil. Be aware that hidden layers are treated as part of the puppet. If you use a trigger to swap the artwork then it might be intended. If that is the case, there are tricks like creating a small pupil then putting the bigger artwork nested under it and marked as independent. If attached to the small pupil it will follow it, but the independent nested layer will not be considered a part of the pupil with respect to pupil size.  It was hard to see what you were doing there because you had not expanded the Left Eye/Left Eye group.

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