In this tutorial, we will walk through the complete process of rigging and animating eyes in Blender 3D.
Rigging the Eye
Step 1: Rename the eye to eye.R and the eyelids to eyelid_bottom.R and eyelid_top.R
Step 2: Temporarily hide the eyelids
Step 3: Make sure you have the Rigify Add-on enabled
Step 4: Use SHIFT + A to add a single bone
Step 5: Move the bone in front of the eye and scale it as needed
Step 6: In the Outliner, rename the Armature to eye_bone.R
Step 7: Select the eye mesh and open the Constraints tab
Step 8: Add a Track To Constraint with the Target set to the eye_bone.R
Step 9: To fix the eye position, change the Track Axis to -Y and the Up to Z
Step 10: When you select the bone and move it, the eye should follow the bone correctly – by using G + X to move along the X-Axis and G + Z to move along the Z-Axis
Rigging the Eyelids
Step 1: Unhide the eyelids
Step 2: Use SHIFT + A to add a single bone and move it to the front of the eye and scale it down
Step 3: Rename the bone to eyelid_bone.R
Step 4: Rotate the bone 90-degrees on the X-Axis using R + X + 90 and use CTRL + A to apply the Rotation
Step 5: Select the top eyelid
Step 6: Add a Copy Rotation constraint and set the target to eyelid_bone.R
Step 7: Test the Constraint by rotating the bone around the X-Axis by using R + X
Step 8: Select the bottom eyelid
Step 9: Add a Copy Rotation constraint and set the target to eyelid_bone.R
Step 10: Test the Constraint by rotating the bone around the X-Axis by using R + X
Step 11: To fix the issue of both eyelids rotating the same direction, select the bottom eyelid
Step 12: Under the Constraint options, select Invert X
Step 13: Test the Constraint by rotating the bone around the X-Axis by using R + X
Step 14: To limit the bone rotation, select the eyelid bone and open the Object Data Properties tab
Step 15: Lock the Y- and Z-Axis Rotation properties by selecting the Lock icons
Step 16: Test the Constraint by rotating the bone around the X-Axis by using R + X
Creating the Left Eye
Step 1: Use the A-key to select the eye, eyelids, and bones
Step 2: Use SHIFT + D to duplicate the selection and use G + X to move them to the right
Step 3: Rename all the duplicated objects using the suffix .L
Step 3: Test all the bones to make sure they are working correctly
Step 4: Select all the bones and use the M-key to move them to their own collection
Creating Master Controller Bones
Step 1: Use Shift + A to add a single bone between the two eye bones to act as a master eye controller
Step 2: Scale it so it is slightly bigger than the eye bones and rename it in the Outliner to eye_controller
Step 3: Select both eye bones and SHIFT-Select the Controller
Step 4: Use CTRL + P and select Object to parent the eye bones to the controller
Step 5: Move the controller to confirm both eyes move together
*The individual eye bones can be controlled separately
Step 6: Use SHIFT + A to add a single bone between the two eyelid bones to act as a master eyelid controller
Step 7: Scale it so it is slightly bigger than the eyelid bones and rename it in the Outliner to eyelid_controller
Step 8: Rotate the eyelid controller around the X-Axis by 90-degrees by using R + X + 90
Step 9: Use CTRL + A to apply the rotation
Step 10: Select both eye bones and SHIFT-Select the Controller
Step 11: Use CTRL + P and select Object to parent the eye bones to the controller
Step 12: Move the controller to confirm both eyelids move together
*The individual eyelid bones can be controlled separately
Step 13: Select all the controller bones and use the M-key to move them to their own collection
Animating a Simple Eye Blink
Step 1: On Frame 1, select both controller bones and use the I-key to add keyframes
Step 2: On Frame 25, use the eye controller to move the eyes and use the I-key to add keyframes
Step 3: On Frame 35, Select the eyelid controller and rotate the eyelids until they are shut and use the I-key to add keyframes
Step 4: On Frame 45, Select the eyelid controller and rotate the eyelids until they are open and use the I-key to add keyframes
Step 5: Play the animation to see the result
Conclusion
You have now successfully built a complete eye rig system in Blender, including eye tracking, eyelid controls, master controllers, and a simple animated blink.