Implementing head turns

With a rig set up properly, it can react to the actor turning their head on camera, and as with most behaviors, it can be modified and controlled using a keyboard and mouse if desired. All it takes is setting the proper tags, duplicating layers, and adjusting some values.

Tagging the head phases

As you have seen, our Chaz rig comes with various layers to create a head turn. The three main poses are left ¾, left profile, and front. We went through and refined the rig structure. Now, we just need to tell Character Animator how to react.

Let’s tag the phases and set up the behavior:

1. On the Rig tab, click on the Heads layer.
2. On the bottom right should be the Behavior panel. Click on the + icon and choose Head & Body Turner from the list. This will tell Character Animator that this is where the sub-groups are for the head phases:

Figure 8.13: The Head & Body Turner behavior enables us to animate...