Kenzden
Conceptual Computing
Creating Facial Expressions
This tutorial best viewed at 1024x768 resolution. Some images within this are close to this size, so smaller screens may have to scroll to see it all. I will try in the future to get this in a smaller format.
This tutorial will help you learn the basics of using Carrara Studio 2 to create facial expressions with the Bones & Skinning tools now contained there. While not complete it will give the user enough experience to transpose the information to their own models.
Model the Face
The first step is to create a basic face and eyes so that we can start using the bones' structure to add character.
Start Carrara and create a new document.
Once our working window had popped up we will need to create a new vertex object. Bones & Skinning only works on Vertex objects so everything we create will need to be either in the Vertex Modeler or converted to a vertex model.
Create a sphere with the following attributes (see Fig. 1):
120 Polygons
8 Inches in size
Once our Sphere is created, select the two vertices closest to the front (See Fig. 2).
Make sure to hold the shift key when you select the second vertex.
Use the Move command to slide these vertices in the X-direction -1 inch. This will give us the hollows for our eye sockets.
Next, select the very front vertices (Fig. 3).
Subdivide these polygons (Fig. 4).
While the subdivide-smoothing function is a good way to make the model smoother without adding to the vertex count, we still need something to make further refinement when we attach the bones.
Select the whole sphere and use the Selection-->Triangulate Polygons command.
This may add a few edges to the model, but we can see where everything is attached. While I don't mind having a few quad polygons in my models, in this part of the model we need to see exactly where everything is attached.
Select the whole model and open the Properties Tray. This will add the subdivision area to the polymesh sub-menu.
Select the Smooth toggle and set the slider to 2 or 3.
This adds subdivision smoothing to the model and does not increase the vertex count. A useful tool, but don't put it too high unless you want to wait for a while as the model refreshes.
Jump back to Assemble room.
Create a Sphere and reduce the size to about 20%. Use the Properties Bar to do this action, as resizing manually will yield irregular results at times.
Rotate the sphere 90 degrees in Pitch on the Properties Tray.I do this so that in the future we can use this to rotate the eyes using a helper object, but that will be in an upcoming tutorial.
Move the sphere to the front of the face.
With the sphere still selected jump to the Shader Room
Use Fig. 5 to set up the shader for the eyes. You can have more complex variations for the eye, but this will give us the basic for it.
Jump back to the Assemble room.
Duplicate the Sphere and Place the approximately symmetrical in front of the face (Fig. 6).
Move the Spheres back into the head (Fig. 7)
Now that we have finished the Head model, we can proceed onto creating the skeleton so we can move the face.
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