Intermediate - Advanced Level Users.
Includes CD-ROM.
Creating realistic animated characters and creatures is a major challenge for computer artists, and getting the facial features and expressions right is a difficult aspect. This one-of-a-kind book is an in-depth resource to guide you through the entire process from the history of facial animation and anatomical structures, to expressing emotions and speech visually.
The book features:
- Comprehensive character studies showing detailed examples of 38 human and cartoon facial expressions through timing charts and side-by-side comparisons
- Detailed instruction on how to recreate these expressions using weighted morph targets, providing the actual target percentages to achieve the expressions
- Reference guide showing you how the weighted morph targets should appear so you are guaranteed perfect facial expression morphs
- Phonetic speech and how it can be used for flawless lip sync every time, without the need of relentless tweaking to resolve mouth movement errors
- Explanation of how to create visual expressions for speech and sound under various conditions: excited, sad, etc
- Techniques for determining proper facial expressions
- An extensive look at the human head, illustrating precise techniques for ensuring the proper proportions and placement of details
- Little known facts about the proper movement of the jaw and facial tissue during expression
- Elements of proper skeletal and tissue movement so your character's skin appears to be moving over the skeletal structure beneath, rather than the actual bones moving - a common problem with 3D facial animation
- CD-ROM containing front and side templates of each expression so you can recreate them with your characters
