Setting Eyelid Bones for Blinks (New for 5.4)

In iClone, non-standard characters you can control character eye blinking in the facial puppet tool directly, or set auto-blink on. By mapping the eyelid bones of the eyes, the auto-blinking feature in iClone will trigger the eyelids to blink in a specific pattern.

Mapping Eyelid Bones

If the character contains only the upper eyelid bones, then you may do the basic mapping for the eyelid bones.

Make sure that you are in the characterization procedure and the Active box is enabled.
Switch to the Face / Extend Mapping page by clicking the button with a head icon above the dummy pane.

The modify panel will switch to the Face / Extended Bone mapping mode.

Please note that the child bones under the head bone will be automatically put under the Face node and marked in light green.

Select the eyelid bones from the Scene Tree, 3D Viewer or the Bone List under the Assign Bone Tags.


Select from the 3D viewer.	Select from the scene tree or the bone list.

Note:

Switch to the Move or Rotate tool to transform the bone to check if the selected bone is the correct one.

Click the Set Upper Eyelid for Auto-Blink button in order to set the selected bones as the upper eyelid bones.


Click the Set Upper Eyelid for Auto-Blink button.	The names of the selected bone nodes will be suffixed with strings, "(Auto-Blink)".

Note:

If you find the mapping is incorrect, then click the Set Upper Eyelid for Auto-Blink button again to reset the bone.

Click the Convert button to leave the Convert to Non-standard mode. The settings will be recorded into the character.

Pairing up the Upper and Lower Eyelid Bones

If your character contains one or more pairs of upper and lower eyelid bones, then you may pair them up via the Auto-blink Settings panel.

Make sure that you are in the characterization procedure and the Active box is enabled.
Switch to the Face / Extend Mapping page by clicking the button with a head icon above the dummy pane.

The modify panel will switch to the Face / Extended Bone mapping mode.

Select the upper eyelid bones from the Scene Tree, 3D Viewer or the Bone List under the Assign Bone Tags.


Select from the 3D viewer.	Select from the scene tree or the bone list.

Note:

Switch to the Move or Rotate tool to transform the bone to check if the selected bone is the correct one.

Click the Set Upper Eyelid for Auto-Blink

button in order to set the selected bones as the upper eyelid bones.

The names of the selected bone nodes will be suffixed with strings, "(Auto-Blink)".

Note:

If you find the mapping is incorrect, then click the Set Upper Eyelid for Auto-Blink button again to reset the bone.

Click the Auto-Blink Setting button to show the panel for pairing the upper and lower eyelid bones.

: Click this button to set the bones that are selected in the Scene Tree or the Assign Bone Tags list as the Upper Eyelid Bones. The set bones will be listed under the Upper column of the current tab of the eyes.
: Click this button to set the bone that is selected in the Scene Tree or the Assign Bone Tags list as the Lower Eyelid Bones. The set bone will be listed under the Lower column of the current tab of the eyes.
: Click this button to delete the selected items in the Auto Blink Setting panel.

Select one of the upper eyelid bones that is listed in the Upper column in the panel.
Select the lower eyelid bone in the Scene Tree or the Assign Bone Tags list that is needed to be paired up with the selected one in the Auto Blink Settings panel.
Click the Set Lower Eyelid button in the Auto Blink Settings panel. These two bones will be paired up, which causes the upper eyelid bone to move down to the position of the lower eyelid bone when the character blinks.
Switch to the other eye tab and repeat step 6 to step 8 to pair up the upper and lower eyelid bones for the other eye.
Click the Convert button to leave the Convert to Non-standard mode. The settings will be recorded into the character.