I’ve read a tutorial on how to use Relative Vertex Key, so I know how it works. Actually getting the facial expressions right is what I’m having problems with. Does anyone know where to find a tutorial for for facial expressions?
I’ve modeled the body and rigged it (she’s still missing hands, though), and the hair mesh is a soft body, so it swings around a bit when she moves.
The best tutorial on that particular topic is to pick up a mirror or your webcam and to copy your face’s expressions onto your 3d model. 
The rest is just a matter of pushing/pulling vertices … Using the PET (proportional editing tool => O key) can be helpful for that.
If you’re bold n brave, you could check out the latest cvs’ capabilities described in this thread: https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50625&start=148
Would give you hair & facial expressions!
This thread is in my sig too:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45783
Be aware that the code for RV and AVK’s has already changed in CVS and will be considerably easier (though considerably different).
Very nice work so far!
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Firstly - It’s all in the loops - if you get those right it makes things much easier. Simple linear movements of the verts along the loops will give you the expressions.
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21066
You could also look at using bones or hooks depending on how much you want/need to do (CVS version very much recommended 
)
Serialsiner, I tink that’s the easiest way to do it too, but I’m lazy and was hoping there were tutorials on how to do spesific emotions :P. Anyway, I’ll stick with a mirror, it works nicely.
purple, I used the same tutorial you had a link to in your post on the girl’s face ;). What is this CVS thing, anyway? It’s been mentioned often, but I still don’t know exactly what it is.
I’ve been playing around a bit, and I find it easier to rig some parts of the face with bones (eyelids, jaw, tongue), then use RVK on the rest of the face. Here’s a short video of the girl (I call her Tee from now on) looking at something moving behind the camera, mouthes “wow!” and smiles.
Looks pretty good!
I think in this case you might want to give just a little lift/pull to the corners of the mouth leading into the middle of the A in UAU.
It appears you have either inverted normals or vertex/face doubles in your mesh. Select the head/neck, tab into edit mode, select only all the vertices in the neck/bust area (excluding the face), pump up the distance (“Limit” in Mesh Tools F9) a little (to 0.05) or something) and hit W–>Remove Doubles.
Also, the hair SB is too highly strung, resulting in some wiggling in the hair. Try reducing either your stiffness or damping a little and see if that helps. Also reduce the mass a lot. The hair should swing a little. For a gentle movement like this you shouldn’t see any intersection in the skin.
Hope this helps.
Erm, sorry, also: eyes almost never drift across things. They should be focused on something. Even when surveying a panoramic scene or something, they will jump from focal point to focal point. The movement will be barely noticeable, but will: (1) get rid of the “lazy eye” phenomenon and (2) give your character, well, character and spirit.
Keep posting.
Thanks for the feedback, Duoas.
Your criticism is very spesific, so it’s easier to work out the flaws ^^. I tried to remove doubles with the limit at 0.001, and I removed 2 faces. When I tried to do it with the limit at 0.05, or even 0.005, her mouth ended up looking really weird :-?. I’ll be working on her mouth, hair and eyes, and hopefully I’ll post an update soon.
Yeah, I didn’t know what scale your object was, so 0.05 was something of a large guess… Don’t select vertices in the mouth, just the neck and collar area and play with limit until those artifacts disappear.
Waiting patiently for an update… 
If those artifacts you’re talking about are those lines on her neck, then it’s just me being lazy with the UV mapping :P. I’ll get it fixed on the next update.
