WIP Update - SilverGaze

Hello All!

I had mentioned my next project after SilverBJ in a past post and wanted to give you a quick update.  I am working on a gaze plugin!

If you aren't familiar with this type of plugin, the idea is pretty straight-forward; The gaze plugin rotates a character's head to face something.  The camera, another character, etc.  There are already a couple of very good gaze plugins available, so you would be right to wonder why I'm going to the trouble.

SilverGaze works a bit differently than other solutions.  It drives a character's head and neck using spring force, which is sort of analogous to muscle tension.  I first started thinking of this after creating SilverRoper.  Existing gaze plugins apply physical forces to a character's head to rotate around.  When a character is suspended using ropes, the results don't always look very realistic.  The character's entire body tends to twirl around as a result of the force being applied to the head.  That was the initial motivation to create a plugin using "muscle tension."

Using this approach eliminates that problem.  It also, to my eye, produces more natural looking motions.  I've added some additional features on top of this.  One of the most important is something I call "recheck time" in the plugin.  When we track an item moving in space, we don't usually move our head continuously.  SilverGaze updates its target periodically, resulting in more discrete motions which, I'm hoping, look a little more realistic.

To augment the basic gaze motions, I've added some randomized variation.  The character's head isn't always pointed directly at the target.  Sometimes, we may be looking at something with our head angled slightly to the side, for example.  I've also added some math which motivates the head to an upright position.  When we aren't standing or sitting upright, we still tend to try and rotate our head into an upright posture, so this effect is represented in the plugin.

Sorry, that's a lot of text!  The gif is an attempt to demonstrate what is unique about the plugin.  When all of the controllers are disabled, the character's gaze still follows the camera.  The plugin also includes options to target other characters' heads and, uhmm, anatomy :-P.   It also has a process for random targets, so characters will periodically stare off into space.

If you made it this far, good job!  That was a lot of reading.  This is pretty far along and will be ready soon.  SilverGaze is going to be a supporter exclusive, at least for the time being.

THANK YOU!!!