3D Game Model Question - Eyes

[Ryan Timothy B]

I'm mostly just playing around at the moment, trying to learn some new techniques and see where they take me. I'm currently playing around with a game concept, doing a few test models of low-ish polygon humans. I was currently working on the face when I wondered what professionals do in a situation where they want eyes to blink or look around.

I was first looking into making spherical eyeballs and having a rigging system to make them look around, also with moving eyelids. But my characters don't need to be fully realistic as they're in a kind of low polygon and flat cartoon color style.

So my question is: what's easier for me as the programmer and modeler? An eye rigging system with spherical eye with functioning eyelids, or some kind of texturing thing. Where you move the texture sheet around to move the pupil, or to have him blink (I haven't a clue what this is called - so I haven't found much with a Google search).

Thanks guys!

Edit: Sorry, forgot to mention. It's for Unity3D and not AGS or anything unsupportive of bones and rigs.

[Anian]

Blender has a set up for an animated texture where you place an image with frames (like eyes blinking) and it changes it up, but don't know if it's used outside game engine.
In Max animated textures can be made in various ways by animating the exchange of textures in key frames (choose Bitmap then find a sequence checkbox, fall off maps, changing on/off of materials, Mix materials etc.) or even putting .avi files as textures works. But I don't know how that works for game engines.

If you're not just painting the eyes on, then I think the easiest thing you can use is a target. Basically you make a shape (in Max they're called Helpers) which won't render. Then you link the eyes to it then add that they follow the Helper, so now you can move the Helper and the eyes will follow it, just be careful to make the Helper wide enough (basically the width between the pupils, think glasses) and far away enough so the character doesn't appear croseyed.

For blinking, again in 3ds Max, there's a modfier called Morpher which does exactly what it says, check this: http://www.polygonblog.com/character-rigging/
So you model the eyelids in one face then retract them in the other (have to keep the same number of polygons), and the Morpher transitions between those two or three or more. It's used for animating talk and expression in faces as well.
Then again you can just model half-spheres that roll over the eyes, so it seems like the character is blinking.

[Theme]

A joint in the center of the ball, will rotate the eyes, thats what people use for animating the eyeballs.
In cg animation, the eye lids animation are usually made with morph targets/blend shapes. Which do not use bones, but these are not supported by most game engines.
The solution would be to rigg the eyelids, with joints, rotating from the same point of the eye or make like Anian said.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Thanks for the responses guys. I've been a little busy in the past week with a job interview and aptitude testing and such (I got the job), so I haven't even touched modeling since I posted this.

Believe it or not, I'm actually rethinking about my model design completely. I might not even have eyes or mouths at all. But, I'm not quite sure yet. If I do decide to have a mouth, it'll likely just be a sprite decal (whatever that's called) that cycles through the texture sheet for the correct smile, frown, or mouth movement, etc. Likely the same for the eyes. However easy or hard that is in Unity3D. That's what I should likely search for before deciding to change my model design ideas.

[EchosofNezhyt]

You could make a flat low poly iris that moves or a moving eye or just change a texture or have a seperate eye lid model.