Learn how to create believable facial animation with this series of tutorials, which contain nearly 4 hours of video. Topics discussed include:
- Observation and planning
- Principles for animating eyes, eyelids, eyebrows, and mouth, with demonstrations designed around a short sample clip
- Application of traditional animation principles to facial animation
- Detailed lip-sync demonstrations using both 3D and 2D mouth designs
- Facial rigging and animation techniques specific to each design
While Animation:Master was used to demonstrate these concepts, the topics discussed can be applied to facial animation in any package. Very few program-specific tools are used.
Watch the full series on YouTube!
Files
Files originally available as part of the CDROM set can be downloaded here.
Audio & Transcripts
“I eat breakfast three hundred yards from four thousand Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don’t think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.”
A Nightmare Before Christmas: WAV | MP3
- Italian: “Tu vuoi che io muoia di fame. Sono un vecchietto che a stento si reggie sulle sue deboli forze. Io, a qui tu devi la tua stessa vita!”
- English: “You want me to starve. An old man like me who hardly has any strength as it is. Me, to whom you owe your very life!”
Animation:Master Actions and Models
The following files were saved from Animation:Master 2003, and are being provided as-is. I no longer use Animation:Master, and am unable to verify whether or not these files will work in the most recent versions.
Actions
- A Few Good Men: Pass 1 | Pass 2-Final
- A Nightmare Before Christmas: Pass 1 | Passes 2-4 | Pass 5-Final
- “Why” scene
- Head turn: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Models
- Flat Mouth model
- Insect Man: Full Model | Head Only