Rusted Blade
[14] Master
A while back, I came across a very interesting work-around for placing functional eyeballs on to the base model of a colossus or shapeshifter, which feature is baked into the editor, but as a hidden function. To be clear, this is not just about placing a sticker or pattern over the eye in a stationary position that simulates the basic appearance of an unmoving eye: when this method is used, you get something very close to the kinds of eyes that are utilized on humans and other models with full pupils--the eyes move/track with the camera and context queues (with some caveats I will mention below) and otherwise operate just as eyes do on the human model by default.
Now, when I first discovered this, I assumed it must be popular knowledge, but after going some time without seeing anybody utilize it in a design, and after doing some extensive searching of these forums and the net more broadly today and finding no reference to it anywhere, I've come to believe it must not be as broadly known as I initially assumed, so here's a breakdown of how to utilize the function for those who are unaware of it:
As I'm sure just about anybody reading this subforum will be familiar with, the colossus and shapeshiter eyeballs usually are composed of a smooth surface devoid of colour or texture suggesting dimensions other than their outer contours. Actually, with regard to the surface of the colossus eyes, there does seem to be an almost imperceptible shading gradient suggesting distinct portions between the pupil and sclera (outer eye/"white of the eye"), but the effect is so subtle that it can only be seen on high magnification and may in fact just be an artifact how how the simulated light falls on the contours encapsulated by the circumference of the eye. Observe on one of my current works in progress and subject-assistant for this tutorial, Pa'u, and note that the base colour (while the same as the markings around the eye) is the result of the colour set for the eyes under the body tab under the "colors/patterns/stickers" menu:
Well, that just won't do for Pa'u as she is meant to simulate a character with very soulful eyes that include irises. We'll start by placing a the Motif 107 sticker on her forehead. Please, resist the urge that I just gave half of you (and myself) to immediately go make a Dr. Manhattan CaS: it can wait.
Now, so long as that dot stays outside of the outer edges of the eyes, it remains a circular sticker and nothing more.
However, once we move the motif down to overlap any portion of said field, something very interesting (and to myself the first time, entirely unexpected) happens. Two separate circles appear in the eyes, more or less (but not exactly) positioned in the same place, relative to each eye:
These circles even track (again, caveats below) with the camera and otherwise function as the simulated irises of human and more human-like models typically do.
In fact, you can even place two of these circles inside the same eye (being sure to make the positioning identical, and make the one on the upper layer smaller) in order to form an eye that has both an iris and an inner pupil. If done with precision, the composite iris/pupil will track just as well, for the most part. (Note that I manually changed the outer iris/lower layer circle to red in the following picture merely for better contrast--the lower motif will keep the colour you assign it.)
However, there are some peculiar limitations to this work-around, that puzzle me some and have sent me into a technical investigation (the results of which I will share later if I arrive at any) as to whether or not this is an intended hidden feature or a handy glitch that results from how the surface of the eye is treated by the software generally
The first limitation is already implicit in how I have framed this trick above: it does not work on all forms of models that normally do not have visible pupils: darksiders, malefics, malfested, and so-forth cannot be given visible pupils in this way. This seems to be because all of these models already have pupils: they are just of a similar chroma, contrast, uniformity and luminosity to the surrounding sclera that they (to varying extents) are not immediately visible.
The second limitation is more interesting from a technical perspective, but probably will not be problem for most of the purposes you might tap this work-around for. The eye which you place the Motif 7 sticker into will limit how much the eye will track in certain directions. So, for example, if we place the circle initially into Pa'u's right eye (right meaning from the models "perspective"), then when the camera forces her eye to track to her right, the eyes will always go a little bit farther to the right than they normally would, and you'll never get the model to appear to look all the way to the left (they will freeze in place near the middle of the eye). Likewise, you can place these simulated irises a little higher or lower than irises as they appear in most models looking forward, and this will cause the eyes to float a little bit higher up or lower in the sclera than normal, even though they will still track.
We can see this effect more clearly in still images if we place the iris and pupil in different eyes initially and a little higher or lower up. You end up with a bizarre and extreme version of a "wall-eyed" look:
But so long as you follow the instructions above, you can create composite inner eyes composed of both iris and pupil in any combination of the standard palette colours, with some variability in the size and positioning, and the eye will function more or less normally relative to how eyes typically do in the editor and play environments.
And that's about it! Someone let me know if this is common knowledge here and especially if there's been a past tutorial for this: as I said at the top, I did a fairly comprehensive search here and online generally and could find no mention of this feature in any discussion, but I can always delete this thread if I missed something and this is a redundancy. Otherwise, enjoy the work-around: it's already proved invaluable for a couple of my designs. it's just a pity that it is limited in application to only two of the several base species models that otherwise have simpler eyes.
Edit: I should mention also that just about any motif that is placed over one eye, even if it is so large that most of the sticker lays outside the eye, will create the mirrored effect in both eyes. It's just that outside of Motif 107, most objects do not scale down enough or have appropriate enough countours to create useful effects for the eyes in this ways. Nevertheless, in theory, one could used multiple stickers to create irises of non-standard shapes, such as slit irises. Here's a (very) rough proof-of-concept, albeit one that requires the mask to cover up unsightly splotches it leaves on the face of this particular design.
Now it would require significant patience and very careful placement, colouring, texturing, and surrounding object placement, but it should be possible to create designs that can simulate non-standard pupils that look and track as if they are inside a moving eyeball, but which also do not have the unsightly elements that will otherwise ruin the over-all look of the face/head. Presuming we're talking about a build that the colossis or shapeshifter base model are otherwise appropriate for.
You can thank me next time you are working on a reptilian or alien design. Or curse my name for the extra hour(s) I've added on to every cat person / alien / insect / demon you make, because now you know you can give them custom pupil shape and your OCD won't let you skip that step. Whichever the case may be be for you. ;)
Now, when I first discovered this, I assumed it must be popular knowledge, but after going some time without seeing anybody utilize it in a design, and after doing some extensive searching of these forums and the net more broadly today and finding no reference to it anywhere, I've come to believe it must not be as broadly known as I initially assumed, so here's a breakdown of how to utilize the function for those who are unaware of it:
As I'm sure just about anybody reading this subforum will be familiar with, the colossus and shapeshiter eyeballs usually are composed of a smooth surface devoid of colour or texture suggesting dimensions other than their outer contours. Actually, with regard to the surface of the colossus eyes, there does seem to be an almost imperceptible shading gradient suggesting distinct portions between the pupil and sclera (outer eye/"white of the eye"), but the effect is so subtle that it can only be seen on high magnification and may in fact just be an artifact how how the simulated light falls on the contours encapsulated by the circumference of the eye. Observe on one of my current works in progress and subject-assistant for this tutorial, Pa'u, and note that the base colour (while the same as the markings around the eye) is the result of the colour set for the eyes under the body tab under the "colors/patterns/stickers" menu:
Well, that just won't do for Pa'u as she is meant to simulate a character with very soulful eyes that include irises. We'll start by placing a the Motif 107 sticker on her forehead. Please, resist the urge that I just gave half of you (and myself) to immediately go make a Dr. Manhattan CaS: it can wait.
Now, so long as that dot stays outside of the outer edges of the eyes, it remains a circular sticker and nothing more.
However, once we move the motif down to overlap any portion of said field, something very interesting (and to myself the first time, entirely unexpected) happens. Two separate circles appear in the eyes, more or less (but not exactly) positioned in the same place, relative to each eye:
These circles even track (again, caveats below) with the camera and otherwise function as the simulated irises of human and more human-like models typically do.
In fact, you can even place two of these circles inside the same eye (being sure to make the positioning identical, and make the one on the upper layer smaller) in order to form an eye that has both an iris and an inner pupil. If done with precision, the composite iris/pupil will track just as well, for the most part. (Note that I manually changed the outer iris/lower layer circle to red in the following picture merely for better contrast--the lower motif will keep the colour you assign it.)
However, there are some peculiar limitations to this work-around, that puzzle me some and have sent me into a technical investigation (the results of which I will share later if I arrive at any) as to whether or not this is an intended hidden feature or a handy glitch that results from how the surface of the eye is treated by the software generally
The first limitation is already implicit in how I have framed this trick above: it does not work on all forms of models that normally do not have visible pupils: darksiders, malefics, malfested, and so-forth cannot be given visible pupils in this way. This seems to be because all of these models already have pupils: they are just of a similar chroma, contrast, uniformity and luminosity to the surrounding sclera that they (to varying extents) are not immediately visible.
The second limitation is more interesting from a technical perspective, but probably will not be problem for most of the purposes you might tap this work-around for. The eye which you place the Motif 7 sticker into will limit how much the eye will track in certain directions. So, for example, if we place the circle initially into Pa'u's right eye (right meaning from the models "perspective"), then when the camera forces her eye to track to her right, the eyes will always go a little bit farther to the right than they normally would, and you'll never get the model to appear to look all the way to the left (they will freeze in place near the middle of the eye). Likewise, you can place these simulated irises a little higher or lower than irises as they appear in most models looking forward, and this will cause the eyes to float a little bit higher up or lower in the sclera than normal, even though they will still track.
We can see this effect more clearly in still images if we place the iris and pupil in different eyes initially and a little higher or lower up. You end up with a bizarre and extreme version of a "wall-eyed" look:
But so long as you follow the instructions above, you can create composite inner eyes composed of both iris and pupil in any combination of the standard palette colours, with some variability in the size and positioning, and the eye will function more or less normally relative to how eyes typically do in the editor and play environments.
And that's about it! Someone let me know if this is common knowledge here and especially if there's been a past tutorial for this: as I said at the top, I did a fairly comprehensive search here and online generally and could find no mention of this feature in any discussion, but I can always delete this thread if I missed something and this is a redundancy. Otherwise, enjoy the work-around: it's already proved invaluable for a couple of my designs. it's just a pity that it is limited in application to only two of the several base species models that otherwise have simpler eyes.
Edit: I should mention also that just about any motif that is placed over one eye, even if it is so large that most of the sticker lays outside the eye, will create the mirrored effect in both eyes. It's just that outside of Motif 107, most objects do not scale down enough or have appropriate enough countours to create useful effects for the eyes in this ways. Nevertheless, in theory, one could used multiple stickers to create irises of non-standard shapes, such as slit irises. Here's a (very) rough proof-of-concept, albeit one that requires the mask to cover up unsightly splotches it leaves on the face of this particular design.
Now it would require significant patience and very careful placement, colouring, texturing, and surrounding object placement, but it should be possible to create designs that can simulate non-standard pupils that look and track as if they are inside a moving eyeball, but which also do not have the unsightly elements that will otherwise ruin the over-all look of the face/head. Presuming we're talking about a build that the colossis or shapeshifter base model are otherwise appropriate for.
You can thank me next time you are working on a reptilian or alien design. Or curse my name for the extra hour(s) I've added on to every cat person / alien / insect / demon you make, because now you know you can give them custom pupil shape and your OCD won't let you skip that step. Whichever the case may be be for you. ;)
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