Technical Paper: Albert’s Eyes

Figure 1
Albert’s Head

For my Technical paper I will talk about the process of making Albert’s Eyes from the eyes
creation to special controls for the pupils.
To begin the Technical Paper I will use a Cube from the Create Menu (Figure 2) and scale it
to an acceptable size, however I scaled the cube by the Y-Axis to make the Cube look more
rectangular. Then I Rotated it along the Y-axis roughly by -45 then the X-Axis roughly –35
(Figure 3 ). The Cube is meant to represent the head so I would know where to place the
eyes. Make sure Interactive Creation is not ticked in the Create Menu for Polygon
Primitives, so the Object can be created in it’s default appearance (Figure 2), also rename
the Cube Fake_Head at the Channel Window (Figure 4).

Figure 2 Figure 3
Create Menu Perspective View Figure 4
Cube
Channel Box

When I was happy where I placed the Fake_Head I then Freeze Transformations the object
by going to the Modify Menu this is to turn it’s new position and shape as it’s default shape,
and I also deleted it’s History in the Edit Menu so there will not be any unnecessary inputs in
it’s Channel Box (Figure 5),.
 Figure 5
Edit Menu

Next I made one Nurb Sphere from the Create Menu, make sure Interactive Creation is not
ticked (Figure 6), then I Scaled it to an appropriate size and Rotated it by 90° along the X-
Axis and renamed it L_Eye, both are done in the Channel Box. Then I moved the L_Eye to
the left side of the Fake_Head (Figure 7).

Figure 6
Create Menu Figure 7
Eye Location

Then I Duplicated it and Group the new Nurb Sphere by going to the Edit Menu and
selecting Group (Figure 8), an alternative is by pressing CTRL G. At the Group Channel I
then added a minus to the X-Axis Scale so it will be on the exact position just on the opposite
side (Figure 9). After all that I then deleted the Group by going to the Edit Menu and
selecting Ungroup (Figure 8). I then renamed the new Nurb Sphere R_Eye and then I
Freeze Transform and deleted the History Type of both Eyes.

Figure 9
Group Channel

Figure 8
Edit Menu
In the Animation Menu I then applied a Lattice Deformer to L_Eye from the Create
Deformer Menu (Figure 10). I then went to the Window Menu and selected Outliner (Figure
11), in the Outliner Window I then picked Base and Scaled it slightly bigger then the Lattice
(Figure 11). This will prevent the L_Eye from touching the Lattice and making a mess.

Figure 10 Figure 11
Create Deformer Outliner
Menu

I then Scaled the Lattice along the Y-Axis so it can deform the L_Eye into an Oval. I did
Scale the X and Z-Axis but only a little bit and Rotated the Lattice along the Z-Axis and the
X-Axis sharing between the two until it sits just right on the Fake_Head.
I then did the whole process again for the R_Eye because duplicating an object with a Lattice
won’t work the same way. However I had to add a minus to Translate X-Axis, Rotate Y and
Z-Axis so it can be a perfect copy (Figure 12 &13)

Figure 12 Figure 13
Lattice Channel Head Development
Box

Next on to the Eye Texture, I opened Hypershade from the Window Menu (Figure 14) and
created a Blinn Material (Figure 15), I have also renamed it Eye_Blinn in the Attribute
Window (Figure 16). To access the Attribute Window you can go to Window then Attribute
Editor or press CTRL A.
 Figure 14
Window Figure 15 Figure 16
Menu Hypershade Blinn Attribute
Window Window

Next I selected the small Checkered Box near Colour (Figure 16) and picked Ramp from the
Create Render Node (Figure 17). At the Ramp Attribute I then chose two Black colours and
one White colour by picking their points and click the Selected Colour box. I placed one
Black half way near the top and one Black at the very bottom, and then I place the White
near the bottom Black (Figure 18). This is meant to create a convincing eye. Finally I then
selected both Eyes and with the Hypershade Window still open, I right clicked the
Eye_Blinn Material and chose Assign Material to Selection (Figure 19).

Figure 17 Figure 18
Create Render Ramp Attribute
Node

Figure 19
Hypershade
Window
I then started on making the Eye Control, first I activated the L_Eye Display Handle which
can be found at the L_Eye Attribute Menu (Figure 20), this is so I can fined the very centre
of the L_Eye.

Figure 20
L_Eye Attribute
Window

Then I created a Locator from the Create Menu and by pressing CTRL V while holding the
Middle Mouse button, I moved it to the centre of the L_Eye. Then I move the Locator along
the Z-Axis and once I was done I turned off the Display Handle on the L_Eye.
I did the Duplicate and Group technique on Locator again. I then switch to Top View by
pressing Spacebar once, moving the Mouse to the bottom left window and press Spacebar
again. After that I duplicated one of the Locators and with it still selected I then moved the
third Locator in between the first and second Locators by holding the Middle Mouse button
and X button (Figure 21), an alternative is to press Zero in the Channel Editor. I then
returned to Perspective View by pressing Spacebar once, moving the Mouse to the top right
window and press Spacebar again

Figure 21
Top View
I then created one Nurb Circle from the Create Menu and moved it to the first Locator by
holding down the Middle Mouse button and V button. Then I duplicated it and moved the
second Circle to the second Locator and finally duplicated a third Circle and moved it to the
third Locater. After that I then deleted the Locators. Next I Scaled the third Circle until the
first and second Circle are just barely inside the third Circle then I Scaled it down the Z-Axis
until it looks like an oval (Figure 22). Next I renamed the Circles, the first Circle is named
L_Eye_CTRL and second Circle is named R_Eye_CTRL and the third Circle is named
Main_Eye_CTRL and then I Freeze Transform and delete the History of all the Circles.

Figure 22
Head Development

The next step is to give the L and R Eye_CTRLs full control over the L and R_Eyes objects. I
began by selecting the L_Eye_CTRL then the L_Eye object. I then went to the Constrain
Menu, which is located in the Animation Main Menu, and selected the Aim Options (Figure
23, *Note*the small box near Aim). In the Aim Constrain Options tick Maintain Offset
(Figure 24), this will keep the L_Eye in it’s position without moving the object. I did the same
thing to the R_Eye_CTRL and the R_Eye object.

Figure 23
Constrain Menu

Figure 24
Aim Option
The next and final step is to add an Attribute that controls the size of the pupils. I first
selected the Main_Eye_CTRL and opened up the Add Attribute Window, which is located
in the Modify Main Menu. Here I added some information in the Add Attribute Window, for
the Long Name I wrote Pupils, and then I added a set amount of numbers in the Numeric
Attribute Properties Field. Minimum is 0, Maximum is 30 and Default is 15. This is done
so I can have more control over the size of the Pupils (Figure 25).

Figure 25
Expression
Window

Next I created a Locator and named it Pupil_CTRL, I then opened Add Attribute for the
Pupil_CTRL and in the Long Name I named the new Attribute Enlarge Pupil. Next I
highlighted Enlarge Pupil and in the Channel Window I opened Expressions in the Edit
Menu (Figure 26).
In the Expressions Editor Window I selected Enlarge_Pupils and highlighted the
information, which is known as a Script, in Selected Objects and Attribute and copied the
Script by CTRL C (Figure 27).

Figure 26
Pupil_CTRL Channel Figure 27
Expression Window

Next I opened the Eye_Blinn Attribute Window and selected the box next to Colour (Figure
28). Here I selected the top Black Colour and right clicked Selected Position and opened
Create New Expression (Figure 29). In the Expressions Editor Window I selected
colourEntryList[2].position and highlighted the Script in Selected Objects and Attribute
and Middle Mouse dragged it in the Expression Field. I then added one space and added
an equal symbol and added another space. Then I pasted the Script from the Pupil_CTRL in
the Expression Field (Figure 30). The information should be like this:

ramp1.colorEntryList[2].position = Pupil_CTRL.Enlarge_Pupil
 Figure 30
Figure 28 Figure 29 Expression Window
Eye_Blinn Attribute Ramp Attribute

Then I hit Create to give the Pupil_CTRL full control over the size of the Eye_Blinn Material.
In the Pupil_CTRL Channel I set the Enlarge Pupil to 0.7 which is the default pupil size.
Next I opened Set Driven Key, which is located in Animate under the Animation Main
Menu (Figure 31), I then selected Enlarge Pupil under the Driven Field. Next I selected the
Main_Eye_CTRL and in Set Driven Key Window selected Load Driver and then selected
Pupils under the Driver Field.

Figure 31
Animate Menu

With the Main_Eye_CTRL Channel Pupils still set to 15 and the Pupils_CTRL Channel
Enlarge Pupils still set to 0.7, I then hit Key in the Set Driven Key Window. Next in the
Main_Eye_CTRL Channel I set the Pupils to 0 and in the Pupils_CTRL Channel I set
Enlarge Pupils to 0.6, back at the Set Driven Key Window I then hit Key. Then finally back
at the Main_Eye_CTRL Channel I set the Pupils to 30 and in the Pupils_CTRL Channel I
set Enlarge Pupils to 0.9, then back at the Set Driven Key Window I hit Key (Figure 32).
What should happen is that the Main_Eye_CTRL Pupils Attribute should have full control
over the Pupil CTRL Enlarge Pupils Attribute, havings 15 the default size 0 the largest size
and 30 the smallest size (Figure 33).

Figure 33
Figure 32 Pupil Sizes: Default, Big and Small
Set Driven Key
Window