"Automorph" / "Camera Keys" setup prototype for stylistic Cartoon Design on 2D→3D adaption; specialized Shape Keys morphs to a stylized character's face (front, 3/4, side, views and so forth…), automated and Driven by relative Camera view angle changes.

Hello, Blenderfolks.

(Sorry if I don't have better means of sharing this here.)

This is the relatively simple and light protytpe I was able to forge this week, combining Bone Constraint and Driver:

blenderartists.org/t/3d-character-adaptation-from-2d-style/1344882/33

Of course, you might wonder what would be its concrete use artistically speaking (this is from an animation feature film that):

video.twimg.com/tweet_video/FI-JJXiaIAI55-U.mp4

MORE CONTEXT: I didn't know of this ingenious Shape Keys solution (note that the automation per se, although efficient in production, is but accessory; but really cool). However, in April 04 of this year, while I was making and sharing character progress in a forum's thread, I've received this curious feedback:

blenderartists.org/t/3d-character-adaptation-from-2d-style/1344882/8

From there I've made a few experiments in the beggining, but couldn't get very far; I had at very few tools at my disposal (like, very limited Bone Constraints skills). As I kept learning Organic Rigging in Blender, someone else in the forum gave me a few suggestions, and that sparkled again my curiosity, then suddenly I've decide to try it once again, and… ¡Bingo!… Well, at least as a working prototype. Because it was a parallel investigation and I'm not animating anything yet, I've just happen to make it work, as explained on the post, for the Z-Axis —the most common one probably (allows for front, 3/4 and side views).

I think this resource may be quite useful for many 3D artists around; because this stylistic adapation problem is recurrent for us, especially on cartoon styles adapted directly from 2D 'impossible' character designs. Which is actually funny if we think about it.