When Teeth Decide to Dance on Their Own in 3ds Max 🕺
Imagine this: you're animating a face in 3ds Max with the CAT system, everything is going smoothly until... the lower teeth rebel! When opening the mouth more than 30 degrees, instead of following the rhythm, they do breakdance and come out of place. Who gave them dance lessons? 😅
The Problem of Inheriting Bad Habits (from Rotation)
The classic mistake is making the dental bones direct children of the jaw. This way, they not only inherit the movement, but also its excesses. It's like leaving a teenager unsupervised: they'll end up doing weird things. Some try using Spring controllers, but these only control position, not rotation. Catastrophic failure!
Tricks to Tame Rebellious Teeth
- Orientation constraint: Make them follow the jaw (70%) but also the skull (30%). This way they move... but with moderation.
- Script controller: For programmer animators. A bit of code can add delay or smoothing. 🧠
- Review skin weights: Sometimes the problem isn't the teeth, but the lazy lips that don't follow the movement!
In facial animation, teeth should be like good guests: present, but without stealing the spotlight. Unless, of course, your character spits words like bullets... then anything goes.
And remember: if all else fails, you can always say it's an artistic style. Teeth spinning 360 degrees? Disruptive innovation! 🤪