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Training Highlights
Advanced Facial Rigging
3D Printing with Blender
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Blender Fundamentals 4.5 LTS

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Course
Advanced Facial Rigging
Course introduction
  1. 01

    Introduction

    Free
1. Model preparation
  1. 01

    Summary

  2. 02

    Separating objects

  3. 03

    Scale, symmetry and resolution

  4. 04

    Aligning to world orientation

  5. 05

    Modeling adjustments

  6. 06

    Managing the outliner

2. Initial bones
  1. 01

    Neck and head

  2. 02

    Jaw

  3. 03

    Mouth

  4. 04

    Extra bones

  5. 05

    Nose

3. Lips
  1. 01

    3 Curve principle

  2. 02

    Ribbon mesh

  3. 03

    Helper empties

  4. 04

    Stretch bones

  5. 05

    Deformation bones

  6. 06

    Constraints

  7. 07

    Local control bones

  8. 08

    Weight painting

  9. 09

    Lip zipper

4. Eyes
  1. 01

    Initial bones

  2. 02

    Eye highlights

  3. 03

    Iris and pupil

  4. 04

    Initial weight painting

  5. 05

    Eyelids ribbon mesh

  6. 06

    Eyelids deformation bones

  7. 07

    Eyelids local controls

  8. 08

    Eyelids weight painting

  9. 09

    Auto blink

  10. 10

    Eyelids follow

5. Brows
  1. 01

    Why shape keys

  2. 02

    Deformation and eye sockets

  3. 03

    Temporary geometry

  4. 04

    Creating x and z directions

  5. 05

    Creating Shape keys

  6. 06

    Applying shape keys

  7. 07

    Splitting weights

  8. 08

    Local controls

6. Cheeks
  1. 01

    Main shape keys

  2. 02

    Lattice deformers

  3. 03

    Splitting weights

7. Teeth and tongue
  1. 01

    Teeth

  2. 02

    Tongue

8. Mouthcorner shape keys
  1. 01

    Concept

  2. 02

    Initial shape keys

  3. 03

    Combination shape keys

  4. 04

    Mouth open corrective shape keys

  5. 05

    Mouth squash

9. Additional deformers
  1. 01

    Cheek puff

  2. 02

    Additional lattices

  3. 03

    Lip pucker

  4. 04

    Lip compress

  5. 05

    Nostril shape keys

10. Control widgets
  1. 01

    Widgets and override transforms

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5. Brows

Local controls

Rik Schutte
Rik Schutte Author
License CC-BY
Report Problem

After extracting the local shape keys, we can now assign these to our face mesh and use the python script to automatically assign the right driver to the right axis. After assigning, we can go back and adjust the weights and shapes for the local shape keys if necessary.

Download the python script mentioned in the video here:

shapekeys_automatic_driver_assignment.py
Blender File · 3.9 KB · CC-BY shapekeys_automatic_driver_assignment.py
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7 comments
Dmitry
Dmitry
April 23rd, 2026

Hi, I have a question about the course. When I click the weight selection in the Geometry Nodes modifier, the list of vertex groups does not appear. I already enabled the Input Attribute Toggle, but it still doesn’t show up. I’m using Blender 5.1. Is this a version-related change, or am I missing a step?

Dmitry
Dmitry
April 23rd, 2026

Update: I found a workaround — manually entering the vertex group name works. It seems only the dropdown list is missing in Blender 5.1. Maybe this is a UI change in newer versions?

Rik Schutte
Rik Schutte
May 29th, 2026

@Dmitry That's odd, it should pop up indeed. I'll check if it has a bugreport

Dmytry
Dmytry
March 16th, 2026

This is incredible. I used a similar shapekey technique for my character, but I had no idea it was the three-curve principle. I'm quite amazed at how easily you installed them on the main character, ensuring there were no mesh errors, etc. This is INCREDIBLE!!! But confusing a bit.

Yunior José Bautista Batista
Yunior José Bautista Batista
March 7th, 2026

i woould like to know why the pose shape keys panel does not appear when I look for it.

Rik Schutte
Rik Schutte
March 7th, 2026

@Yunior José Bautista Batista Happy to help, I assume you talk about the addon? It should appear as an extra tab in the shape keys panel.

Yunior José Bautista Batista
Yunior José Bautista Batista
March 11th, 2026

@Rik Schutte thanks, I noticed just after I asked You.

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