I decided to have another go at creating the book, this time for use in my final piece. From a previous task I discovered the dope sheet, which means that keyframing is really logical and although it may look very confusing, it makes a lot of sense.
Last time I modelled the book, I modelled it open because I know that hardback books are confusing. When they’re closed the paper usually has a curve to it in the spine and is stitched in this shape. I knew this would be really hard to model, so I had to come up with a way to simulate the right look for the paper when it was open, without it looking wrong when the book was closed.
I ended up deciding that the best method would be to have the pages flush with the spine when the book is closed, then having a very basic square gap when the book is open, and using a cylinder at the surface to bridge the gap.
I also decided that unlike my previous book model, I would like this one to sit flat on a surface. I think with it being fully animated, it would be much easier to do it this way and wouldn’t end up affecting the final piece negatively.
Creating the page turn animation was much easier now that I had access to the dope sheet. I decided that for this one I wanted to use the warp spline tool to just create a singular page, and then duplicate it, so that I had more control over the speed at which each page animated. I think this book is so much more successful than the last piece. I also added a camera movement, as I think I would like to do this in my final piece.
Here is the final dope sheet for this piece:
Jennie Hawkes 