An Investigation of facial rigging for animation

Abstract

The project " An investigation of facial rigging for animation " explores possible rigging methods for developing a stylistic 3D head that is both expressive and mimics realistic movements with animation. This project is broken into two parts: the modeling and rigging stage where most of the research and exploration takes place, and the animation stage that presents the final result of the rigging exploration. The first stage of this project explores developing an animatable head that resembles all basic emotions of the human face. The main focus of the project is on the formation of joint deformers and blendshapes, where more subtle emotions are created to increase its believability. The resulting product is an animatable head that can be used for animations for film, television, and motion graphics needs. Because of this, the project also includes a basic Macintosh computer, or PC , with the program Maya for modeling, rigging, and animation. The animations are done based on every possible emotion it can create while lip-syncing. The final presentation is a short film called "Barflies," with a talking character that is believable and interesting to watch, and that demonstrates the animatable end product.