Erika Hi Erika, your video is fantastic. I agree with everything you said. Actually, I've applied the methods you showed in this video to my own project. When I tried these methods in another project, everything worked fine until I got to the eyes; when I got to the eyes, a definite problem arose and my work stopped. I still haven't figured this out.
The "Snow Globe Spine Boy" tutorial video was very good. I also really liked the "Dinosaur Rig" video, it was very educational. When I mentioned other videos on YouTube, I was referring to tutorial videos created by other people from different channels. I said that these videos only show left-right turns of the face and are therefore incomplete. They were just examples.
In the "Snow Globe Spine Boy" tutorial video, the head angle is slightly tilted, but still close to a frontal view. In this case, turning the head left, right, up, and down works smoothly – I can clearly see that.
However, when we try the same process on the character face I showed earlier (with an angle of 30-45 degrees) (face number 1), the area (skin) between the right eye and the temple becomes very thin. After applying the necessary head angle movements, it becomes difficult for the eyes to naturally follow this movement.
Example:
Let's take the first face example I mentioned above (the face where the skin between the eye and the temple is thin).
Let's say I want this face (number 1) to look further to the right and then back to the front.
If I try to do this with "restraints," the eye bone pops out of the eye socket. Even if I try different bones, it's still very difficult to control properly.
If I try to do this with weights, the eyes naturally seem to pop out because they follow the movement of the bones.
For example (Colors are representative):
If I apply the weight of the facial skin layer using "skull bone (blue)," "face support bone (yellow)," and "front head/nose bone (red)," I can rotate the face smoothly.
However, let's say I rotate the face to a specific angle. If I readjust the weight values at this new angle, I notice:
At this angle, the blue and yellow bones are stretching the skin in the same direction, which looks correct.
But during animation—when I change the head angle—I realize I shouldn't actually adjust the blue weight at all (e.g.,).
So it becomes very experimental and unpredictable.
I think the weight usage in tutorial videos could be standardized a bit more depending on the project, because it's not always clear which weights should be set at which angle.
Another problem:
Let's say after finishing the weight adjustment, I want to add a specific movement to my character. This could be a body movement unrelated to the face.
Everything seemed fine with the previous movement. But when I try a different angle, I suddenly realize I shouldn't adjust the yellow weight either. I can't see my next move.
So, even though I think the weights are correct in the first move, in the second move I realize I've changed a weight that should never have been touched. This is very confusing and time-consuming.
While the blue and yellow weights stretch the skin in the same direction in a certain movement, for the next or two moves, do I need to change the blue or the yellow weight in the move I made a thousand times before? (etc.)
Why do I need to adjust the value of the yellow weight in different moves? They both stretch the skin in the same direction.
In theory, I completely understand what the weights do. However, knowing which weight should be set at which angle in a complex bone structure is very difficult. Some weights give the same skin tension result in the same direction and look visually correct… But then, at different angles, I realize I've set the wrong weight. And I think that's exactly where my main problem stems from. This part has been challenging for me. I will continue watching your videos and learning from them. Thank you.
