Working on Panda Puppet I was stuck for quite awhile trying to figure out a work around for this problem until I stumbled across an article on bone based facial animation. I won't bore you with all the details (if you really want them, click the link) but essentially the idea is to stick a bunch of bones in a character's head and have each one control a different area of the character's face.
Here's how I am currently rigging using the default monkey head in Blender:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoPVK2zTrc0WTjwil5nN6YZfgVPpm6GadEVc0n1p8P7PA2Mfqu1_5c5A9fX9H6DE6ewFW7QlMifPhCMS-eK6QuYSC5nuAsM6TxdbHu5OZ10CLNlEN-f2vLXduICL8JqlhurSaWQ/s400/Monkey-Head-For-Bones-Front.png)
The bones work as follows:
B/C - Ears
D/E - Brow
F - Nose
G - Snout
H - Jaw
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_BoUOzhewto4VN8zB4KN4Wy2PdfUe5_UcEoRxbnLvtu8Z1OxK5KDinBI8ZzFzxCp3O8bvwiJVSdmQ3kIuDvGfFU92LCxD76q7rNYivLKhh-JM9_kolEWo1qOayrJnUw8B1UVnw/s400/Monkey-Head-For-Bones-Side.png)
Here is a side view, in which the "A" bone (the primary head bone) is visible.
I am working with a low-poly head, made up of about 500 polygons. The poly count could be higher (more polys = smoother shape), but I am keeping it simple for now. Hopefully this "bone-based approach" will work. I need a more or less functional monkey head by March 15th to meet the deadline I am working with. The next week and a half is going to be very, very busy!
No comments:
Post a Comment