Hi there
So for facial face expressions we use Shape keys driving by the bones via drivers
So my question is if we can also ad a lot of deformation bones in the face e.x around the mouth in the cheek areas and so on
This technique I assume it’s good for motion capture face expressions? Or it can be helpful also for key frame animation?
Yes you can!
This is the MakeHuman 163 bone rig, with extra bones for her pony tail that I added and also she now has IK/FK for her arms and legs, also added by me. If you use the MH importer, you also get all the expressions and poses from MH.
Cheers, Clock.
Bones in face rig can create even more complex face expressions, where everything depends on location of a bone (it’s more precise for mocap). Shape keys depend only on a move of vertices along straight lines to the final shape.
If you’re going to capture something then you need to follow the guidelines from the makers of the device or software that you’ll use for capturing, it should say what bones the software expects to find in the rig. It’ll be very specific about it.
If it’s not for motion capture then I agree with the others, make whatever rig that works for you.
A great tutorial is Josh Sobel’s ($):
It’s for Maya, but I promise you it can be applied on Blender if you’re familiar with Blender’s rigging tools. It’s for intermediate to advanced level riggers.
He uses bones, shape keys and drivers.
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You can have tons of bones. Do you really want to? You need to find a blend of bones, shape keys, lattice and mesh deform polygons that work for your topology. You just need to experiment by asking yourself when you look at a model’s topology, “What is the (easiest to rig, quickest, best deformations, easiest to animate, best to shade with, etc) way to get to where you want to go?” I think you just need to try different ways and find one you are comfortable with for your model. The next model could be different. One thing that has helped me is to look at the model and think about where and how you want to move vertices for a particular expression. Fix that and then go on to the next expression. Ask yourself if there might be a way to combine them. Repeat the process until your happy or your boss doesn’t shit when he sees it.