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

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2026
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2023
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2018
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2019
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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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1. Model preparation

Summary

Rik Schutte
Rik Schutte Author
License CC-BY
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In this video, I’ll go over the different areas to check to make sure the model is clean and ready for rigging, and explain why it’s important to check the geometry, resolution, and scale before you start rigging.

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9 comments
Uncle_Bib
Uncle_Bib
April 15th, 2026

I decided to take this class to upgrade the facial expressions of my VTube avatar that I created myself. I am really looking forward to it.

Carina Ilea
Carina Ilea
March 22nd, 2026

Hello! I came here to learn Facial rigging but...are there any videos with subtitles? I'm deaf so I need to read the subtitles (English or Romanian) instead of listening to the audio :(

Rik Schutte
Rik Schutte
March 23rd, 2026

@Carina Ilea I will check if this is possible!

Carina Ilea
Carina Ilea
March 27th, 2026

@Rik Schutte Thank you so much!! Subtitles have been added to every video and now I can finally read and learn it from your course. <3

Aitor Fernández
Aitor Fernández
March 15th, 2026

Hello, silly but necessary question, how can I start clean with just the model, textures and shading?

Rik Schutte
Rik Schutte
March 16th, 2026

@Aitor Fernández You can download the Storm face from the introduction page of this course

Leon Seal G
Leon Seal G
March 14th, 2026

We have waited for so so many years for this. Thank you, no more watching Maya tutorials trying to stitch something up and deconstruct it to fit blender working pipeline

Sheldon J Smith
Sheldon J Smith
March 9th, 2026

It's about time! worth the wait! Thank you!

Nicolas D'Amore
Nicolas D'Amore
March 7th, 2026

This is the course I was waiting for! Thanks a lot :)

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