Hi all. Relativily new to poser.

I created a scene with a V2 character in it. I wanted to have the character look at the camera. I did the following.

Cameras -> Main Camera
Selected Figure 1 (only one figure in the scene)
Body Parts -> Head
Object -> Point At...
In the Choose Actor box, I select Main Camera

When I click OK, the character looks streight down! Can anyone explain why the head did not look at the camera position and as a result, at the viewer of the image?

DrOsborn

Hi DrOsborn - I understand that you needed to select each eye individually and "point at" main camera to give the effect of your model looking straight out at the viewer. Which I believe only works so long as the camera is not too close, otherwise you end up with a cross eyed model.

>> *Can anyone explain why the head did not look at the camera position and as a result, at the viewer of the image?*

Okay, a quick lesson about joint parameters and the Point At function ....

Each joint has a center-point and end-point. Take the eyes, for example. An eye's joint is centered (green cross) inside the eye (green cross), and ends (red cross) outside the eye. If you drew a line from center to end, it would pass through the pupil, in the direction the eye should be looking.

That's why you can use Point At with the eyes ... the Point At function aligns an actor along its joint.

The head, on the other hand, typically has its joint centered somewhere around the neck, with the end-point up near the crown of the head.

That's why, when you use Point At with the head, the character aims his scalp at the target.

How can you change this? Well, if you're feeling particularly bold, you can select the head, open the Joint Editor, then grab the end-point and drag it down so that it's in front of the character's face.

That way, the head joint will be more or less aligned in the same direction as the face.

Thank you, Little Dragon. There is some info in your mini-turorial that I was unaware of... I have saved this info in my Poser tutorial folder. Next question...you know I always ask this when I reply to one of your posts!! Furette version 2?? Is she still lurking somewhere on our horizon? If you need Beta testers b4 release I will happily volunteer...LOL.

Little_Dragon, you have done a great job of explaining this. I would like to add one thing. Changing the end point also changes the way the head bends at the neck. For a small rotation this should not matter much, but fot a large rotation it will become obvious (whether the new bend is worse or better than old one is another question).

In the image above the heads were twisted 64 degrees and bent 20 degrees.

I have been trying to find a way to overcome this problem, but with only limited sucess so far.

It may be "mini," but this is one of the most helpful tutorials I've ever seen here! Thank you LD, great job, great info.

Furette version 2?? Is she still lurking somewhere on our horizon? I'm hoping to have her ready in time for the Shrek 2 premiere, but it's going to be close. I take it you'd like some more preview pics?

Thanks for the info on Furette. Yes, more preview pics would be nice...and I will try to wait patiently and not bug you about her anymore. [Not anymore than usual,that is!!]

I'll start a separate thread, then. No need to derail this one further.

Also, normal human eyes do not track in parallel: they face outwards about 3 degrees. So only one eye at a time will focus sharply, and the other will be slightly skewed.

Thank you Little Dragon for the explaination. I'm to much of a beginner to try adjusting the joint parameter and it is not needed for what I was trying to do.

Engel47 and hauksdottir: the figure is to far away to worry about where the eyes are pointing but thanks for you two-bits (each) ;)

DrOsborn.

One thing you might want to keep an eye on, is the "Scale" of your camera setting. It seems to me you did all the correct things. If you point the eys at the main camera and things still dont work, for me it always comes down to 2 things. 1) Make sure you scale is set to 100%.... and 2) Make sure your "hither" is set to ZERO....with a hither set to zero you should be able to focus as close as you want on the figures face, and have a resolve of about 11 inches (real-life) before your figure starts to look cross eyes. Also, make sure your Main Camera Orbit is set around -0.010 degress that way youll be straight on, as long as your figure is standing more or less in a vertical position.

Hope this helps.

Message edited on: 05/15/2004 22:59