Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook

Chapter 4. Poker Face? Facial Rigging

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Adding expressions using Shape Keys
• Face controls with lattices
• Creating the jaw controller
• Controlling your tongue

Introduction

The face is the most complex part of the human body to set up. We spend our entire lives looking at human faces, and we're pretty good at detecting the subtlest changes and what they mean emotionally. It's a tough job trying to replicate this amount of complexity in CG: from the carefully built mesh topology to the detailed shading, texturing, and—of course—the animation controllers and movements.

The more you try to build a realistic human face in CG, the more details you have to add in order to avoid the uncanny valley effect. This ...