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The morphing paradox...
18 years ago
The past couple of days I've been working on the face morphing for the Meerkat TF, and ive noticed an odd paradox...
Quick zappy transformations are a cop out - its the in-between stages that are so compelling. So the slower the better, right?
Well not really, ive found that if you morph too slow you don't really notice the transformation. Its even worse if the transformation uniformly effects the whole head or whole body. And if the characters moving around too, the transformation itself just gets lost in the mix.
I'm starting to realise that what makes a good transformation is CONTRAST. If the transition between human and animal is too slow, there's no contrast. Likewise if its too uniform.
So a change either needs to go from human to animal quick enough that the first is still fresh in the audiences mind. Or bits need to remain human next to the animal for contrast.
A slow smooth change is nice but dull: there's no point of reference.
Keep one element unchanged and the impact of the morph is greatly increased.
There's really no easy way to get that effect, so im having to model and texture various stages along the way and transition between each in turn. It's time consuming but I really feel like im learning. =O)
Quick zappy transformations are a cop out - its the in-between stages that are so compelling. So the slower the better, right?
Well not really, ive found that if you morph too slow you don't really notice the transformation. Its even worse if the transformation uniformly effects the whole head or whole body. And if the characters moving around too, the transformation itself just gets lost in the mix.
I'm starting to realise that what makes a good transformation is CONTRAST. If the transition between human and animal is too slow, there's no contrast. Likewise if its too uniform.
So a change either needs to go from human to animal quick enough that the first is still fresh in the audiences mind. Or bits need to remain human next to the animal for contrast.
A slow smooth change is nice but dull: there's no point of reference.
Keep one element unchanged and the impact of the morph is greatly increased.
There's really no easy way to get that effect, so im having to model and texture various stages along the way and transition between each in turn. It's time consuming but I really feel like im learning. =O)
And I love how positive you are about learning all of this!
These problems also arise in drawing transformations, because it is very difficult to decide how many stages to share and how much should change between each frame of a sequence.
Aaargh, this stuff isn't easy to do sexy! :O
And I can't wait to see the next step and the entire finished product! When can we expect the next installment?