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.