Facial animation

You can use preset sliders and control sliders to adjust the expression of a character. In the Animation Set Editor, select the controls for the various parts of the face. The Controls panel will update to list the controls you selected.

To adjust a character's expression:

1. Move the work camera so you can see the character's face.
2. In the Animation Set Editor, select a control for part of the face. The Controls panel will update to list the controls you selected.
3. Drag one of the sliders on the Controls panel (for example, BrowInV). The character's expression changes as you move the slider.
4. Go into the Motion Editor, and select the region of time you want affected (or select all of time with Ctrl+A).

You can also click the Emotion tab (on the Presets panel), which is visible because your shot contains a character model with facial controls, and play around with the presets. The presets on the Emotion tab control multiple sliders in the Controls panel, to adjust even more parts of an expression simultaneously.

Note:To apply a control-specific slider asymmetrically, in the center of the Procedural tab, drag the L-R slider left or right.

Working with eyes

You can work with eyes as you would any other part of a facial expression. Eyes do have one additional feature, though: the view target. Adjusting the location of the view target adjusts where the eyes look.

Tip:When working with eyes, you can move the pivot point of their view target to right between the eyes. This makes it easy to manipulate them. For more information about pivot points, see The screen manipulator.

To move a character's view target:

1. In the Animation Set Editor, expand the character's animation set, expand Eyes, and select viewTarget. This selects the eyes' view target in the viewport.
2. Click in the work camera's viewport to give it focus, and then press V to aim the work camera at the screen manipulator. This makes it easier to find a view target that may otherwise be off-screen.
3. Go into the Motion Editor, and press Ctrl+A to select all of time.
4. Reset the view target's recorded motion by dragging the Default procedural preset slider. This will move the view target to the root joint, probably at the character's feet.
5. Click in the scene camera's viewport, and then press Alt+V to move the screen manipulator to the center of the viewport.
6. Drag the screen manipulator's pivot handle. To drag along the world's surfaces, press and hold down ⇧ Shift. If you want to, you can place the pivot right between the character's eyes.

See also

• Lip-sync animation and Extract Phonemes