LESSON 5: PAIRED SPECIAL EQUIPMENT (ExEq)
How to use paired ExEq like the beetle horns, cow horns, or batwings.
*Warning: for paired ExEq, it's really hard to tell which stat to adjust. The only reliable way is to adjust each slider left and right until you figure out which stat you need. Stay calm and keep the image of what you want in your head.
Let's start with the trickiest pair - the batwings. Let's make Ms. Grey a tricorn hat by adding two folds to her hat.
Here's a basic guide for how to adjust the various rotation options
RV = rotate vertical
RH = rotate horizontal
A = angle
*I'll be using the same color coding to guide you along.
Note that once you start fucking with the numbers, these rotation values start looking wonky, so you'll have to do a lot of experimentation here.
Tip 1: Move the object waaaay forward so you can tell what the fuck is going on first.
Tip 2: Reduce the object size, so you can see what's happening without zooming in and out.
Tip 3: Start with rotate vertical (RV) first. It seems to be the easiest to understand.
You want the curve of the bat wings to face upwards like a hat. Right now they're facing downwards, so let's rotate the wings
vertically. It doesn't really matter if you go positive (+) or negative (-) here.
See how the wings are now curving upwards like a hat? Mission accomplished. Now we want to rotate the batwings
outwards using the
rotate horizontal stat. Ok, so the tricky part is knowing when to go positive or negative. I really don't know, so you pretty much have to fuck around with the numbers until you know the direction the numbers are going. Once you've found the direction you're looking for, you're pretty much set.
Alright, so now the wings are pointed backwards. Now that we have a general idea of what this shit's supposed to look like, so let's reposition the wings so that they fit the hat. Move backwards and upwards.
Now we want the hat to angle a little bit downwards by rotating the
back upwards a bit. So here's where it gets tricky again. Now that we've fucked around with the numbers, we don't really know which 'rotation' value to adjust. Once again, you're gonna have to try all three (RV, RH, and A) to figure out which stat to adjust. Turns out you need to adjust
angle here.
Better. Now let's check how we're doing on the front view.
You see how the wings are crossed at the front like that? We don't want that. So this time we adjust the
left/right stat. For paired objects, the left/right stat controls the distance between the two objects. But rather than collide with each other, you can actually completely reverse their positioning for a different look. In this case, we just want to eliminate the crossed wing stubs. Again, keep playing around with the numbers until you get the look you want.
Ok, so the crossed tips are gone, but now you have an awkward gap between the wings and the hat brim. Let's rotate the camera upwards to get a better view of what's going on.
From this angle you can see that we want to expand the wings so that the curve of the wings match the curve of the hat brim. Unfortunately, it's really hard to tell whether you want to adjust length, width, or thickness. So once again, you'll need to figure that out for yourself. In this case, you adjust
length.
Looks like adjusting length did the trick. Now let's check up on the front view to see that everything's alright.
Front view seems alright. Let's check side view.
Side view seems alright. Ok. So time to complete the creation as you see fit.
Aaaand there you go! The first time you try to use paired, it'll literally take hours. Once you get the hang of the process, you'll figure out which directions to rotate the paired objects pretty quickly, and that'll cut your time to 15 to 20 minutes if you really know what you're doing. You'll actually get a lot of practice doing recreations, which is where you'll pick up most of your creation skills. Then you can apply these skills to your original characters.
Good luck!
