Final thoughts

I have found blend shapes quite easy to work with. The technique itself is not overly difficult to get working. However to create the shapes in the first place proved harder than I first thought. I have only used basic shapes for this exercise. However i could have used a lot more detail when modeling the shapes but this would have been more time consuming. What i have used has been ideal to learn with though.

 For the film i will make sure that the models are as good as possible. Our film doesn't have speech but i will need to make some awkward shapes none the less. At least now i know how to do it and how to control them.

Im impressed with how well the model can blend between shapes. As long as models have the same topology the shapes will work.

Working Blend shapes and Controls!

This is everything working. It shows me  using the sliders to manipulate the face.
Im pleased with my progress in this project and feel i have earnt a very useful skill which will no doubt help me in the future.

Controls System

In order to make a control system, I had to find out the best way to do this.  Previous rigs ive used such as the Max rig, have a face control system made from groups of sliders. I decided to try this. I found a tutorial showing how this was done and applied it to my own controls.      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ5SFhynSWU

 I started off by making the slider shapes from CV curve tool.

I then had to find the points in which my slider was to move between. As my blend shapes work between 0-1 i used this. 0 being no blend 1 being the whole shape.

Before parenting the two rectangles i had to freeze transformations on the long one. I had previously not done this and when i started trying to move the slider nothing happened.

 So that the slider would not exceed 1 or go below 0 i had to lock the limits which it could move between.

Using the Connection editor i was able to connect the slider to the blend shapes.















I was then able to control the eyebrows by moving the slider

 I then continued to make more slider and continued to connect these to various shapes.

So i would know which each was called i created text to label each set of controls.

Im very happy to have got this working. This is the first time ive made any kind of controls. This will come in very useful when it comes to making future rigs.

Blend Shapes

Now i have all shapes I will apply the shape to my base model. I now have a model which can be played with using the sliders in the blend shape editor.

So i would know which each slider is for i needed to name all my shapes.

Although this works well and i can keyframe using the editor i still fell like i need a control system.
As it would be good to have the controls on screen with the head. I will however put them on a layer so they can be turned off if needed.

http://vimeo.com/32955399

More Shapes

I have now made a number of different shapes.

 These are the shapes I've made. If working on a head that required more detail. I would have spent a lot longer making the shapes, but because this unit is more about me learning the technique of making the blend shapes and getting them to work with each other I've chosen to leave it like this and concentrate on making working controls.

The eyebrows move separately allowing for  extra expressions.



I was trying to make an O shape here although its not my best work. However for the purposes of this exercise it works.

By Mixing a number of these shapes together i will be able to make a number of different combinations.

The open and wide positions are often used in speech so  i have chosen to make basic versions of those.

The smile here can be used with the wide as seen above to create a wide smile.

The shape with inflated cheeks can be used for a number of reasons. Im not overly happy with it and given more time i would try and use refrence a bit better.

Mouth Shapes for Speech

If i was making a fully working head which to be used for speech i would need to make sure that all the shapes required for speech are made. I have been looking into the shapes the mouth makes when making particular sounds or words.

The image here shows the main expressions used for speech.

I had originally planned to make all of these. However through making just a few so far i have learnt that each shape can be very time consuming.  However it will be of good reference for the future, should i ever need a talking character. The ones shown here are very cartoony and show lots of deformation on the characters face shape. The character head i am currently using would not really allow for this nor would it suit the style.

First Expressions

I have started making Facial expressions. I've started simple and down each eye blinking. This is something that would definitely be needed on most character rigs. To start i copied the head model and started moving the vertices to create a shut eye. Initially i though i could just mirror the model and use that for the other side. However when it came to making the blend shape with the original. When sliding between the two, all i got was the face being squashed. I tried freezing the transformations in the original position, but thaht didnt work either. Therefore i just used the same method i used for the first side i did.

It now works well and using the slider controls i can create a blink if i move both, or a wink either side by just moving one for the sliders.