In 3D animation movies (good option to present a 3D configurator), the face is undoubtedly the most attention-grabbing part of a character`s body. Here the dialogue is spoken in the movie, but also many emotions of the character show up in it. It is the task of the animators to create credible facial performances in the 3D characters. For this to succeed, the riggers must first give the animators enough control and flexibility within the rigging so that the emotions can be highlighted.
Often the facial rigging is neglected and the rigger cannot give the animators enough control over the faces. What makes a professional facial rigging? And what control mechanism should be made available to the animators in the pipeline? In the following we will take a closer look at the development of a successful facial rig that every animator would like to work with.
The following tutorial will explain the basics of facial rigging for the 3D software Maya:
Narrow and wide.
The mouth is characterized by a lot of movement. Especially when people communicate, many different movements can be recognized. Every emotion like being happy or sad has an effect on the shape of the mouth. Depending on the shape, the mouth can be narrow as in an “O” shape or very wide as in an “Ah” shape. For this reason, you should take sure that you not only provide enough control around the mouth, but also that the deformities look correct. The animator should be able to do everything from extremely narrow shapes without strange deformations to wide shapes of the mouth.
Do not neglect the upper face.
Often a large part of the processing time is spent in the mouth and lip area. This area is of great importance, but one should not neglect the upper face, i. e. eyebrows, eyes, forehead etc. The upper part of the face should be offer sufficient control over squash and stretch properties so that the animator is able to create some truly realistic animations. You should also make sure that there is a lot of flexibility within a character`s forehead area. The eyebrows are great for showing certain emotions. Here you should not only provide the animator with enough controls, but also makes sure that deformations around the eyebrow area don`t look strange even with very exaggerated shapes.
Blendshapes offer many advantages.
Animators love to quickly realize certain facial shapes. So-called blendshapes are an excellent way to do just that. When creating blendshapes they have to be modelled correctly so that no pinched corners or strange areas are visible on the mesh. You should allow yourself enough time in this step to make sure that the blendshapes look like the special emotions you want to transport. It`s also important to know that animators like to do very exaggerated things. You shouldn`t stop once the blendshapes are anatomically correct. Your blendshapes should allow the animators to really push the pose, so you should exaggerate your blendshapes.
The meaning of the eyes.
The eyes reflect the soul of people. Especially in animations emotions can be expressed through the eyes. For example, the eyes can express nervousness or sadness. Also the form of the eyelids helps to transport emotions. When you create the exelid controls, consider what dynamic shapes the animator needs to create. You should provide enough control to open and close the eyes. Think about all possible eye shapes and develop enough control to open and close the eyes. Think about all possible eye shapes and develop enough controls around the eyelids so that really any desired shape can be created around the eyes. The eyelids should have the ability to respond anatomically correct to the movements of the eyes. So if you move your eyes upwards, the eyelids should behave correctly.
Provide the animator with sufficient options.
Animators love to have enough options within Facial Riggs. The animator should never feel restricted by the Facial Rigg, i.e. not able to realize a certain facial expression. Blendhapes are excellent for achieving any kind of pose.
If you have a Facial Rigg based on blendshapesm you should have enough controls to allow the animator to fine-tune the facial expression. This is a king of mixed form because you give the animator both options. Often animators use blendshapes to get into the home position and use the controls on the face so you can fine-tune everything.
Another great thing for Facial Riggs are basic phoneme blendshapes for lip-sync animations. So when the animator is working in lip syncing, he can quickly get the “O” shape out of the blendshape and adjust it with the controls on the rig if necessary. If you`re busy as a rig that creates facial rigs in the pipeline and then forwards them, you should consider the following tips. Flexibility is of paramount importance in this context. The animator should have enough control to really achieve every possible facial pose. In addition, the use of blendshapes should speed up the animator`s workflow.