Hi all!

I've modeled lots of heads before in the past. When I want to model the ye area, I have to sculpt the eyelids so that the eyeball (a seperate sphere) can fit into it.

Nowadays, I don't really like this method too much anymore. Having to mould the shape of the eyelids to the eyeball is very restricting. Some have suggested that I just texture the eyes on so I can make them any shape I want. But I still do want the eye to be able to be moved. Some have suggested texturing the scelera (whites of the eyes) and having the iris and pupil be a separate object. That way it can be moved. But that still leaves the question of how the eyelid will be able to be open and closed.

Can anyone give me some advice/examples on this topic? It is making me very frustrated.

Making pupil and iris as separate objects is good idea. It gives nice look and good control for iris. What about eyelids I use morping to move it.

Thanks for getting back to me.

But My idea was to make the sclera and the iris seperate rather than the pupil and iris. How do you usually make your eyes?

When building eyes I'm basing on an eye scheme. Something similar to eye from this tutorial http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/category/167/Free-Maya-Tutorials It is made in Maya but it can be done in any other soft of this sort too like 3dsmax which I use. Because normally light scatters through eyes I use SSS materials which gives me nice look for them but of course material you'll use depends on renderer you work with. I use mr mostly so I often use SSS for such objects.
What about eyelid I usually use reactor manager. One morphers are made for closing and opening eyes and others for reaction on eye movement. All morphs can be used simultanously which gives much control. This is simple and easy way to work with eyes. It can be done better if you need very realistic animation but for me this method works with most of cases.