Animated Modifiers (Morphing Teapot) Richard J Lapidus

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Animated Modifiers (Morphing Teapot) Richard J Lapidus Learning Objectives After completing this chapter, you will be able to: Add and adjust a wide range of modifiers.

Animate the weights of morph targets In this tutorial we will explore the Morpher Modifier as it applies to modeling and animation.

The first is to acquaint you with a wide variety of modifiers and the 2 nd is to show you how to create animation by blending these various copies over time. 1.

1 Animated Modifiers (Morphing Teapot) Richard J Lapidus Learning Objectives After completing this chapter, you will be able to: Add and adjust a wide range of modifiers. Work in both object and world space with modifiers Use the morpher modifier to blend morph targets. Animate the weights of morph targets In this tutorial we will explore the Morpher Modifier as it applies to modeling and animation. The Morpher allows you to use target copies of a modified object to blend distinctive characteristics into a single animated object. This tutorial will satisfy two goals. The first is to acquaint you with a wide variety of modifiers and the 2 nd is to show you how to create animation by blending these various copies over time. 1. Activate the top viewport and create a teapot with a radius of about 30 units. 2. Right click the viewport after it is created to turn off creation mode or select the Select and Move tool. 3. Go to the Modify Panel and rename the object: Morph Object 4. While holding the shift key, move the object along the X axis about units. Use a larger number if you want some extra space to work on the objects. 5. When the Clone Dialog appears, make sure copy is the enabled option. Name the object: Edit Mesh (Tip lid) 6. Click okay to close the dialog Note: We want to use copy and not instance or reference. The other two object types will be wired to the original and will not allow us to create unique morph targets. 7. Repeat the clone operation until you have 17 copies of the teapot. Note figure 3. Rename them with the list below. Fig 2 Bend Displace Edit Mesh (Tip lid) Edit Mesh (Lid in) FFD Linked Xform Melt Skew Taper Twist Wave Xform Spherify Squeeze Stretch Noise Fig 3

Notes on Navigating the steps 8-10 Edit Mesh is a modifier that allows you access to the subobject component of a mesh for modifying. There are two ways to access the sub-object components.

In the Perspective view, you will see the Z-axis is pointed up. The REFERENCE COORDINATE SYSTEM is set to VIEW by default. This means that you are always moving X & Y relative to the view.

Color Coding: Yellow in the sub-object mode indicates that you have access to some portion of the object. With Transforms and Viewports, yellow indicates the active axis or view. 8.

2 Notes on Navigating the steps 8-10 Edit Mesh is a modifier that allows you access to the subobject component of a mesh for modifying. There are two ways to access the sub-object components. Using the tree structure and choosing the type which you want to edit Or Clicking the Icon for that selection type. They are interactive. One enables the other. In the Perspective view, you will see the Z-axis is pointed up. The REFERENCE COORDINATE SYSTEM is set to VIEW by default. This means that you are always moving X & Y relative to the view. You will see the coordinate system change as you enable the left, front or top views. In the perspective view, the Z-axis is always pointed up. Color Coding: Yellow in the sub-object mode indicates that you have access to some portion of the object. With Transforms and Viewports, yellow indicates the active axis or view. 8. Hit the H key on your keyboard to select by name and choose the object named: Edit Mesh (Tip lid) 9. Go to the Modifier Panel, Click on the dropdown modifier list and add an Edit Mesh Modifier. Modify Panel Modifier Drop Down List 10. Open the sub-object selection for elements. 11. Select the lid and move it up on the z axis in the perspective view or the Y axis in the front view 12. Turn off the sub-object mode by clicking either the Element Level or ICON. CLICK where you see yellow in the modify panel. Note: This ability to open and close sub-object is very important. This will be on your final exam.

13. Select the teapot called Edit Mesh (Lid in), add an Edit Mesh modifier to it and move the lid inside of the body of the teapot.

It is also important to note that we have used objects with the same number of vertices, and polygons.

Do not add or delete geometry on the objects or the morpher will not work or function strangely. Each vertice is numbered based upon the order it was created in when the object was made.

3 13. Select the teapot called Edit Mesh (Lid in), add an Edit Mesh modifier to it and move the lid inside of the body of the teapot. Note: We will use the two distinctive positions of a portion of the object to animate the lid moving up and down. This will give us the range of the movement of the lid. It is also important to note that we have used objects with the same number of vertices, and polygons. What we will actually be animating are the changes of position of vertices on the various objects layered onto our morph copy. Do not add or delete geometry on the objects or the morpher will not work or function strangely. Each vertice is numbered based upon the order it was created in when the object was made. Image for the Bend Modifier 14. Add a Bend Modifier to the teapot called Bend. 15. Adjust the angle to about 40. Note how the teapot bends on the Z axis. You can change it if you need to or if it is the wrong axis. Note: In the perspective or a camera viewport you will see the Z axis pointing up. Also note that the object s pivot is at the base of the object. This is the default for most objects created except for a sphere, which has its pivot in the center. The AXIS for the bend is based upon the axis of the object. You may want to change this at some point. In the sub-object portions of the bend modifier, there are two choices, Gizmo and Center. The center when enabled allows you to move the pivot of the modifier. The GIZMO is the amber colored bounding box. By default, the extent of the modifier is to the extents of the object unless you had a sub-object selection selected and open before adding the modifier. The next modifier we will add is the displace modifier. Note only is displace a modifier, but there is also a distinctive displace space warp and displacement map in the maps panel of materials. Each is applied differently, but the functions do work in similar manners. Applying displace as a modifier on an object makes it work locally on the object. NOTE: You will see a spherical gizmo in the picture. I have already changed it from the default planar gizmo.

16. Select the Displace teapot and add a displace modifier 17.

19. Increase the strength to about 1.71. Look at the object as you drag on the spinner.

Change the Modes to Compact Material Editor from Slate Fig 21 Fig 22 Fig 24 22.

4 16. Select the Displace teapot and add a displace modifier 17. Pan the panel until you see the Map area and choose Spherical. 18. Go to the Align Panel and choose Fit. 19. Increase the strength to about Look at the object as you drag on the spinner. Do not deform the object too much. 20. Hit the M key on your keyboard to bring up the material editor 21. Change the Modes to Compact Material Editor from Slate Fig 21 Fig 22 Fig Click the Get Material Icon Fig Make sure NEW is selected in Browse From and double click Checker. Fig In the Coordinates Panel, increase the Tiling to 5 U & 5 V FIG 23 Steps NOTE: The map is now independent and not part of a material. See how it shows as a square instead of a sphere. This map can t be assigned to an object as a material, but can be used as a map in a modifier. Fig 24

25. Drag the map from the material editor to the Map None button in the displace modifier.

modifier panel to Instance (copy) Map. 26. Choose Instance as the copy method.

27. Activate the front viewport 28. Select the FFD teapot 29.

Open the sub-object area (+) and enable control points 32.

5 25. Drag the map from the material editor to the Map None button in the displace modifier. Note: The Cursor will appear to change when you have dragged over the right place in the modifier panel to Instance (copy) Map. 26. Choose Instance as the copy method. If we need to change any of the parameters of the map, this will update it in both places. 27. Activate the front viewport 28. Select the FFD teapot 29. Zoom and pan until it is visible. 30. Add an FFD (Cyl) 31. Open the sub-object area (+) and enable control points 32. Drag a marquee window around the center two rows as indicated in the picture Note: The arrows show dragging a marquee selection outside of the control points but including the middle two rows.

33. Choose the Select and Uniform Scale Icon 34. Right click the TOP viewport to make it active and keep your control points actively selected. 35.

NOTE: If you look in at the status line you will see the % appearing as you drag. I set mine to about 33% 36. Result: The teapot is pinched in the middle.

Its like the force of the scale on the object has been distributed across a larger area.

When you add a modifier, check to see what is in the sub-object area. 37. Add a Taper Modifier to the Taper Teapot. 38. Change the amount to -0.49 39.

6 33. Choose the Select and Uniform Scale Icon 34. Right click the TOP viewport to make it active and keep your control points actively selected. 35. Left Click and Drag near the center of the Axis when you see both X&Y axis letters are yellow. This means that you are scaling the points in on both axis. NOTE: If you look in at the status line you will see the % appearing as you drag. I set mine to about 33% 36. Result: The teapot is pinched in the middle. Turn off the sub-object for the FFD Modifier. In this case, we have use a gizmo to affect many rows of vertices with just two rows of control points. Its like the force of the scale on the object has been distributed across a larger area. Some of the modifiers like FFD will require us to use sub-object adjustment. Others will be just within the panel. When you add a modifier, check to see what is in the sub-object area. 37. Add a Taper Modifier to the Taper Teapot. 38. Change the amount to Change the Curve to Try the following adjustments yourself for Skew, Spherify, Melt and Stretch. My numbers were: 40. Spherify Modifier: Try about 70 percent with the amount 41. Melt Modifier: use the following: 50% amount, 19 percent spread, Plastic as Solidity 42. Stretch: 1.4 for the stretch and 33.4 with the upper limit enabled Step 41

43. Skew: I used about 20 on the amount. This makes it stretch back. If you animate the direction 360 at frame 100, it will do a drunken spin. (Not the preferred type of movement for a teapot.) 44.

7 43. Skew: I used about 20 on the amount. This makes it stretch back. If you animate the direction 360 at frame 100, it will do a drunken spin. (Not the preferred type of movement for a teapot.) 44. Twist will be an animated modifier. 45. Once the twist is added, set the BIAS to Turn on the Animate or Auto key button. 47. Bring your Twist Angle amount to Got to frame 50. Bring the twist to Go to frame 100. Bring the twist back to 27 NOTE: When a parameter is adjusted over time with Animate or Autokey enabled, the spinner will have a red border indicating this is an animated parameter. 50. Add A Noise Modifier. Note: Many of these parameters are interactive in how they work. Suggest an Incremental File save here and an edit hold. Test out the values and then use the following numbers. 51. Decrease the Scale to Increase the Z Strength to Turn on the Animate Noise Check Box. 54. Turn on Fractal. NOTE: The Frequency all ready has keys. No Need to Animate it. NOTES: These values will adjust how the modifier will project out from the center away from the object. Strength: These values are relative to the size of the object. Basically the amount of displacement you want to gizmo, which will deform the object relative to the X, Y & Z Axis. Scale: Default 100. Decreasing the value multiples the affect, increasing it decreases the value. Roughness & Iterations: Iterations is a step value. This is the complexity of the gizmo. Roughness is the value for controlling how much the gizmo is crunched. Animation: This will control how the affect basically rolls thru the object.

The lower and Upper Limits will define areas of the gizmo that the Modifier will not affect the object. See how the bottom of the teapot seems to not be affected.

8 The Squeeze Modifier 55. Add a Squeeze Modifier to the Squeeze Object. Use the Picture above for the Parameters. The Parameters of the Squeeze Modifier affect have some similar Characteristics of the Bend Modifier. Notice the Limits Section of the Panel. The lower and Upper Limits will define areas of the gizmo that the Modifier will not affect the object. See how the bottom of the teapot seems to not be affected. Axial Bulge: The amount will squeeze the object along the Z axis and the Curve will PULL the Top in or out depending on if you use Positive or negative values. Radial Squeeze: These values will affect the object on the X&Y Axis. Basically pulling it in or out. Affect Balance: Will adjust the affect relative to the whole object. 56. Add a Wave Modifier to the wave teapot 57. Make sure animate is off 58. Increase the amplitudes to 2 each 59. Go to frame Turn on Animate 61. Increase the phase to Turn off animate 63. Drag the time slider Note: Phase is a full cycle of a wave from crest to crest. By using even numbers, a loop is possible back to the original position. Using a number of 5 means that 5 full waves will pass thru the object.

64. Add an Xform modifier to the respective named teapot. 65.

for us when non-uniform scaling an object on one or two axis.

when scaled without a buffer like XFORM.

By using an XFORM, the modifier is scaled, not the object.

9 64. Add an Xform modifier to the respective named teapot. 65. Scale it how ever you like to get a tall skinny teapot Note: We could do the same thing with a FFD or a Stretch modifier. The reason I like using the XFORM and demonstrating it in this tutorial is that is does an important function for us when non-uniform scaling an object on one or two axis. The transform matrix, which is what passes information between objects in links, can produce strange results when scaled without a buffer like XFORM. In addition, scaling is one of those transforms, which is hard to undo later on. By using an XFORM, the modifier is scaled, not the object. If you need to remove the scaling later on delete the xform modifier. NOTE: I used about percent on the Z axis 66. Switch to the top viewport 67. Select the LINKED XFORM Teapot. 68. Hit the Zoom extents all viewport control 69. Got to Helpers and create a dummy near the spout 70. Go to the Hierarchy Panel and Select Pivots 71. Turn On affect Pivot only 72. Move the Pivot back towards the center of the lid 73. Turn off Affect Pivot Only

74. Activate the front viewport 75. Move the dummy up in the front viewport 76.

Turn on Vertex Sub Object 79. Open the Soft Selection Panel and activate Soft Selection 80.

Increase the Fall of until you see a large band of colors emanating from the tip towards the

10 74. Activate the front viewport 75. Move the dummy up in the front viewport 76. Select the Linked XFORM Teapot again 77. Add an Edit Mesh Modifier 78. Turn on Vertex Sub Object 79. Open the Soft Selection Panel and activate Soft Selection 80. Select a vertex near the tip of the spout 81. Increase the Fall of until you see a large band of colors emanating from the tip towards the base. Soft Selection allows you to affect a larger region of an object and have the affect spread out over an area. This will let changes made appear to blend into the object.

82. WITHOUT CLOSING SUBOBJECT, add a LINKED XFORM Modifier Open SubObject 83. Click the Pick Control Object Button in the Panel to activate it.

We are about to pass control of the selected area to a Dummy Object. This is an important concept in passing control of one object to another. 84.

Re-select the dummy object 88. Active select and Rotate 89. Activate Auto key 90. Rotate the dummy in the top viewport at frame 0 91. Move to Frame 100 92.

11 82. WITHOUT CLOSING SUBOBJECT, add a LINKED XFORM Modifier Open SubObject 83. Click the Pick Control Object Button in the Panel to activate it. NOTE: Any movement, rotation or scaling done to the selection in the linked object will affect the selection. We are about to pass control of the selected area to a Dummy Object. This is an important concept in passing control of one object to another. 84. Hit the H Key to select by name 85. Select the dummy object by double clicking it 86. Select the Dummy Object Result: Dummy01 will appear in the button. 87. Re-select the dummy object 88. Active select and Rotate 89. Activate Auto key 90. Rotate the dummy in the top viewport at frame Move to Frame Rotate it some more 93. Play the Animation. Note how just a portion of the front of the teapot animates. 94. Turn off Auto key. NOTE: The dummy will appear to be rotate about an axis which is not at it s default center.

95. Got to the Modify Panel 96. Add a Morpher Modifier 97.

hold the cursor over the edge of the Command panel, a double arrow will appear.

Hit the LOAD MULTIPLE TARGETS BUTTON 99.

12 95. Got to the Modify Panel 96. Add a Morpher Modifier 97. Drag the Panel Open to reveal the Channel List & Parameters Panels NOTE: When you hold the cursor over the edge of the Command panel, a double arrow will appear. Hold the mouse and drag left to expand the view. 98. Hit the LOAD MULTIPLE TARGETS BUTTON 99. Add all the teapots that show in the Select by Name List 100. Go to the Display Panel 101. Pan the Panel up and hit hide unselected 102. You have now added all the hidden teapots in the channels

Over time you can animate these values from 0-100 and the morpher will blend the channels together. HINTS Do not use full two or more of the same type of modifier at the same time.

13 103. Go back to the Modify Panel 104. Right now none of the teapots have any affect because they have ZERO in the Channel 105. Drag on the Squeeze channel and you will see the teapot being affected 106. Right Click on the spinner button 107. It will zero out 108. Over time you can animate these values from and the morpher will blend the channels together. HINTS Do not use full two or more of the same type of modifier at the same time. For Example, a stretch and squeeze will multiple the height of the teapot and make it too tall. The FFD & the Taper will exaggerate the pulling in of the side polygons and the object will cross in on itself. Very unnatural movement for a 3d object. Try to offset the times that you change different channels. Overlapping motion is more realistic Try to space your animation keys out to give the modifier time to interpolate the movement. Lapidus 2012 FFD & TAPER forcing the sides to cross each other.

Animation Basics. Learning Objectives

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