Introduction
This week we learned how to create blend shapes on a face rig in order to create different facial expressions. We also used joints in order to animate the mouth opening and closing. In order to change the influence, we painted skin weights over the head, mouth and neck.
Part 1: References
The first part of our assignment was to customize our face rig and change the shape of the face.
I decided I wanted to create my version of an elf and therefore, I looked up for some reference pictures.
I analyzed the key features of those creatures in The Elder Scrolls game and found some similarities on their face construction. The vast majority of the elves have:
- Long faces
- Sunken cheeks
- Pointy ears
- Pointy nose
- Upturn eyes
Part 2: Blend Shapes
After analyzing the key features of the elves, I created two blend shapes for my face rig (one for the face and another one for the teeth).
For each part of the face we wanted to modify, we added a new target and therefore I ended up with one for the mouth, ears, nose, cheeks, eyes, chin, eyebrows, skull and teeth.
Face Rig: Before and after
Part 3: Create Joints
The first thing we had to do in order to animate the mouth opening and closing was to create joints for the face. I ended up having six joints:
- Base neck
- Mid neck
- Head rotation
- Jaw rotation
- Upper Jaw
- Lower Jaw
Part 4: Paint Skin Weights
Then, we used the paint skin weights tool in order to change the influcence of the movement for the following parts of the face:
- Head
- Neck
- Jaw
I learned that we could increase but also decrease the influence using the brush tool, and so the parts of the face that were painted in white had the most influence.
Part 5: Mouth Opening & Closing