Blendshapes

The animations for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. They are found in the folder called Blendshape Tests.

At first, I was convinced that I would create facial expressions by using skin clusters and painting weights, as this is my comfort zone, but I have already made a point here about wanting to push myself and learn things that are foreign to me. Mudbox again had more to offer in this regard. It is possible to use Mudbox sculpt layers to create blendshapes that can be used for seamless animation in Maya.

I had heard of blendshapes before, and had even used them, but never created any of my own as I thought that modelling polygons in maya at a sufficient level for them to be effective would take too long, because Maya is only good for creating base meshes as far as modelling goes. I never knew that people were using sculpting programs like Mudbox and Zbrush all this time.

Anyhow, once I knew what facial expressions I wanted, I set about sculpting them in Mudbox, and then brought them back to Maya for animating. 

Here are some printscreens of the expressions, starting with the default one I made with the base mesh:

During the creation of this character, I decided he wasn't going to be a dastardly, scheming villain like Jafar or Maleficent, but rather a fighter like Shan Yu. That is why the facial expressions are limited to angry grunts and hard blinks, instead of sinister smiles, or raised eyebrows of opportunity.

I tested them out and they all work. The final shape looks a bit odd, but I think that with some context it will be more suitable, like when he is pulling this face and performing an action that fits.

Here are some playblasts: