Applying Blend shapes to a Head

I have now finished modeling a head which i can use to practice on. The head is very similar to the one i will be using for my film, however this head includes eyes, whereas the character in our film only has from his nose down visible. However I feel like it will be useful to learn how to create eye movements such as blinking for future reference.

Here is the head i shall be using.

I plan to create a number of facial expressions, for now it will be simple shapes such as a smile and frown. This way i will be able to see how much of the mesh I will have to alter in order for the expressions to look right.




Through further research i have found that the head i had originally created would not be suitable to mold in different shapes. The topology i had used was wrong and would not have given me edge loops in the correct places, in order for me to create the shape i need. I therefore had to completely channge the Topology for the head model.

Blending Basic shapes

To make a start to understanding how blend shapes work, I have made some basic shapes which i will then  blend, in order to be able to animate between them. I found a basic tutorial to teach me the tools needed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dS0dcULRBA

I was thinking about mouth movements, so decided  to make shapes that could represent what i'd like to do with a mouth on a proper head model.

I started by naming each one so that when it comes to blending between i know which control will do what.

Here i have: open, wide, high, and slanted.

After selecting the three on the right I then finally       selected the Open shape, in order to have that as my base model.

Using the animation tab i was able to go to create Blend Shape.

Using the Blend Shape editor I am able to use the sliders to change the shape of my base model.

Here i have moved all of the sliders at the same time to create a completely new shape.



Through this editor i am also able to key the movements, and therefore create animation of the model changing shape.

Already I can see how this will be of great use when it comes to rigging a face in order to create facial expressions. However creating expressions that look natural or right for the film could be difficult.

Blend Shapes

After doing some further research, I have decided to look into Rigging instead of ZBrush. Rigging seemed like it will be more useful to me this year. Therefore i will be looking into ways to rig the character which i am currently modeling.

When looking for tutorials for maya I often go to www.Lesterbanks.com , I use these because the tutorials on here although most from outside sources, come recommended. Normally just typing what you want into youtube ends up with so many videos that it's often hard to find one that is actually informative as well as easy to follow.

Having been told about Blend Shapes but not having any real knowledge of what they are,  I decided to look here first to see if there were any videos which could be of use. The following was there http://lesterbanks.com/2011/01/maya-blend-shape-workflow-part-1/

I have found that by using different heads each with different facial expressions I can use controllers to create effective animations that use each extreme pose and anything in between.  The technique seems to suit the character I am currently working on. The character is very cartoony and the poses will need to quite extreme in parts. Blend shapes allow me to exactly model the shape of face I require. Opposed to rigging the face with joints, which may limit the movement in the expressions.

I am keeping the model for the face relatively low poly to enable me to easily manipulate the mesh when needed to create further expressions.

I am in the process of building a character head which I can practice with. However until i have this, I will be using basic shapes to learn the tools needed. I am hoping that by learning the basic principles of blend shapes first, that when I come to apply it to an actual head the process will be clearer for me.