The Eyes Have It
[Page 6 of 7]

The iris
To create the iris, we're going to use a mesh torus (the donut shape). Just make it any size you want. We can scale it later. In the timeline, name it "Iris," then follow these steps.

1. First we're going to increase the resolution of our mesh torus. If you don't do this, you're going to have some flat edges that will show up in your final render. So just click on the tool that's called MeshMan Quad. Then click on your mesh torus. This will double your polygon count for that object only. (Incidentally, you can also do this to portions of an object by using the mask tool, as discussed in a previous tutorial.) Important: After you've used this tool, select another tool so that you don't accidentally use it again. Increasing polygons can cause a significant slowdown in performance.

2. Go into the FX mode by selecting FX from your menu bar. Select the effect called Normal Displace. Apply it to your "Iris" until it's big and fat, and there's just a little hole in the middle.

Click Image To Watch!

Our mesh torus with normals displaced.
Click image to watch (244 KB QuickTime).

3. Now, if your Top view shows a circle, then apply the next step to the Top view window. Otherwise, just apply it to whichever view shows the circle.

Click Image To Watch!

Our mesh torus flattened. Click image to watch (280 KB QuickTime).

4. Now head over into the Material mode. For Diffuse Color use the texture you created in Photoshop (the one we called "iris1.tif"). Leave it at 100 percent.

5. For Specular Color, Specular Roughness and Bump, select the desaturated texture you created called "irisbump1.tif. Leave all of these at 100 percent as well. Leave everything else at default values.

6. Now, you might have noticed that the texture doesn't look exactly right. So go into the mode called Mapper by clicking the Mapper button in the top menu bar. Then select the tool called "Apply Planar," and click on your object. You might also need to use the Scale and Drag tools to fit it just right.

The pupil
The pupil will be a very simple process. Create a mesh sphere about half the diameter of the "Iris." Then follow these instructions:

1. Go into FX mode and flatten the sphere, just as we did above.

2. Go into the Material mode and set the Diffuse Color to Black. Leave everything else at default values. That's it.

Putting it all together
So now we have an eyeball that's pretty much together.

Parenting
All we have to do is attach the "Iris" and "Pupil." Using tools in the composer, rotate the "Iris" and "Pupil" so that they'll be flat against the indentation we made in the "Inner" object. (To make this process easier, you should temporarily hide the "Outer" object by clicking its Hide button in the timeline.) You'll also want to scale the "Iris" to fit flush against the edges of the indentation of the "Inner" object. Make sure that no part of the "Iris" intersects the "Inner" object, as it will be quite obvious in the final render.

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