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Basic Expression Shapekeys
In this video I am showing the general shapekey centric workflow to create the different expression tests and expression test building blocks. I'll demonstrate this with simple closed eyes and open mouth shapes. Afterwards we will be setting up drivers to bring them together.
Other links:
- Rain - File 3: Expression Tests: The file of the expression tests made for the character Rain.
General Links
57 comments
Was I supposed to apply the multiresolution modifier before doing the shape keys?
Because it does this weird thing with his jaw for some reason. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eYQNDz-rsXEKS9NxyeBMHnVljQOLU5hM/view?usp=sharing
This is great information. thank you. I'm trying to follow with rain_cloud3_expressions blend file provided. But I can't move any of the vertices. I deleted all shape keys, and vertex groups. made a new shape. I even deleted multi res and subdivision s. modifier. Any idea what I am missing?
@kevin My first guess was that you can't move any vertices because you are on a Shape Key that has the slider set to 0.0. But if you removed all Shape Keys, then I don't know what's wrong ...
For the driver bit, there's also a "copy as new driver" button in the right click menu which speeds up the process of creating drivers quite a bit
I've copied the data path from the head shape key and added a driver to the teeth bottom, however Its not giving the option to paste the data path into the driver. Am i doing something wrong?
@Dione At some point I've learned an easier way of adding drivers in Blender. Try right clicking on the value of the shape key and click on "Copy as New Driver". Then on the shapekey that should have that driver you can right click on the value and press "Paste Driver". This does the same what I showed in the video but sets everything up for you automatically.
MY FIRST 3D MODEL EXPRESSION:
At some point in my mesh these weird yellow splotches appeared in certain areas which are visible in the sculpt mode.
I've double checked for masks but there are none nad vertixes along the edges of these yellow marks do not have sculpt executions applied when made.
Attached is a file and visual example as I cannot discern or google what I'm doing wrong. :'D
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Oq3311r-SeWuZ44-wRG9icdqQOMbSxtV
Thanks!
@Jonathan Doe These are Face Sets. They are sometimes automatically created when editing the mesh or joining objects. They don't do anything by themselves and can be hidden in the overlays if you don;t intend to use them.
@Julien Kaspar
Thank you! This resolved my issue. : )
📌: I figured out some mistakes I was making on my own and figured I'd leave some notes for any who might have similar basic issues!
📝: Rotating the Mouth
If you're rotating the mouth and the upper lip moves with it: be sure to turn on "show gizmo" ( which I had disabled ). That will allow you to rotate the cursor of influence and create the falloff range for the corner of the mouth like the tutorial.
📝: Enabling "Python Tooltips"
Edit ( toolbar ) > Preferences > Interface > Display > Python Tooltips
I think I’m doing a mistake with my shape keys around the 4:30 mark where you select vertexes of the eyes and mouth to make vertex groups but hide the rest.
When I’m not hiding anything on the active object and making vertex groups and edit with all my vertexes visible: I have no issues.
Below is where I have issues:
My mesh does not have a mirror modifier, but I am utilizing this mirror method as seen in your video while making shape keys.
When I select my character’s left eye ( pink ) and hide all the vertexes I don’t want to edit so that I can adjust the eyelids, it only takes effect on the left ( pink ) eyelid, not the right ( blue ).
What am I doing wrong?
Here’s my google folder with my files which contains the base file and the one with the error along with images showcasing my issue more clearly.
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Oq3311r-SeWuZ44-wRG9icdqQOMbSxtV
Thanks!
@Jonathan Doe I am recommending to use vertex groups as a way to quickly hide and mask parts of the emsh. But since these videos were recorded there is a more direct better way directly in sculpt mode. Try out the face sets feature. That might be clearer and easier.
@Julien Kaspar
I think maybe I asked my question wrong or wasn’t clear.
I decided to take a screenshot of the area where I’m having issues following your model and instructions with mine that better showcase the problem with my question being inside the notes in the google doc. : )
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Oq3311r-SeWuZ44-wRG9icdqQOMbSxtV
I am sorry my question is long and tedious. :’D But I provided a more detailed image comparison and my most recent file so hopefully it will make sense.
Thank you!
PS: I'll mess around with the face sets feature but from my brief attempt at trying to work with it, it did not seem to help in my current situation ( although I like the practicality behind it ).|
PPS: I updated the google doc with a "question 2" image that better shows what the "question 1" image neglected to show.
@Jonathan Doe When enabling mirror options in edit mode, it only mirrors deformations and transformations. Selecting and editing the topology will not mirror.
Maybe I missed it, but I have a question concerning what you did to "parent" or group Rain's anatomy because yours looks different from mine.
For my test I've used the parent method to hook the individual teeth to the respective gums for articulation and the same for the segments of hair to the scalp and to the body etc.
Of course I'll watch the other videos to see if you cover this in more depth, but based on how your toolbar looks it seems you used a different method with Rain.
Below is a link to my dropbox highlighting your method in comparison to my method.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c-xhqnjY9fXk9HfeY1U9WNRYXFXdQbQY/view?usp=sharing
I'd like to follow this tutorial exactly so if there's a video I missed on what it is you did. Please don't hesitate to link me.
Thank you. :D
@Jonathan Doe Since all of the expressions are made with shapekeys and hooked up via drivers to move together, it would make more sense to add shapekeys to the teeth and gums.
Parenting makes more sense when you plan to move the objects instead of the mesh within them. But moving objects and shakekeys together can not so easily be set up with drivers.
@Julien Kaspar
Sad to say but the concept of “drivers” doesn’t make a lick of sense of me but I’m sure that’s something I’ll come to understand as I watch more videos, lol!
If I don’t understand still, I’ll be sure to hit you back up. : )
@Jonathan Doe Sorry if it wasn't clear. In essence what drivers do is that they look at one value you specify somewhere, and then copy it.
It's like saying in code x = y. If x is 10, then y is also 10. If you then change x to be 20, then y also changes to 20.
So if you have a shapekey for an open mouth, you can make other shapekeys driven by that one, like shapekeys on the teeth & gums. So if you slide the shapekey for the open mouth to 1, then the other shapekeys also turn to slide to 1. So they move together with only one slider.
You can even do more with drivers but this is the basic concept that is useful here.
Ow I couldn't attach it. But I found a way around it. However, I'm having trouble with the drivers. My copying the keyframes doesn't seem to work...the eyebrows, jaws and teeth stay in the same position.
@Gabriella WauyeTo make creating and pasting drivers easier I can recommend to right click on a value and clicking on "Copy as New Driver". Then right click on another value and use "Paste Driver".
@Julien Kaspar I've tried doing that. The eyelashes move to the position of the eyelids. But when I move the eyelids after, the lashes remain in the same position.
@Gabriella Wauye Hmm I don't have enough info to find out what could be going wrong, sorry. If you could record a video of your screen, showing what you are doing in full, and showing how it doesn't work, then I could help.
@Gabriella Wauye Ahh! You copied the name of the shapekey as a driver. You need to right click on the value instead.
@Julien Kaspar it worked!! Thankyouu:)
Hello @Julien Kaspar, this is my mouth shape key process. everything goes alright until I try to sculpt the mouth to smooth the edit mode result, them it deforms like this. Any idea why and how to fix it? I use versiom 2.90.1. I also camt sculpt at resolutiom 0 so ive deem usimg ome
@Gabriella Wauye There's no link to a video in the comment.
thank you for the tutorial, I find this very useful!
ok sorry i once again read a bit further down through the comments and saw that i needed to click on the value of the shape key not the name...
Hello, I am stuck again, I am using Blender 2.91 when I right click on the eyelash, closed eye, shape key I do not have all the menu choices and there is no Add Driver menu selection.
additionally i actually read more of the comments below and clicked on 'sculpt base mesh' and also reduced all subdivisions to zero whilst sculpting... i think this may have resolved the issue!!
@joanneseale Yes you need to sculpt on the lowest resolution. The toggle for "Sculpt Base Mesh" sadly doesn't work with shapekeys. What that toggle does is it lets you sculpt on the lowest resolution while seeing the higher ones.
Hey Julien, i imported my model into Blender 2.91 to make use of the sculpt in multi res, however when i add the jaw smoothing and clay it stays present on the model when the mouth is closed, is this supposed to happen? If so I will try a work around and try to shape the vertexes instead??
Hello there! This course is great! All of it is gold and i am excited working through every chapter of it. How do i upload images of what i have made from this course?
*@Sosa* Hopefully it will soon get simpler but so far you have to do it like this: https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet#images
You essentially just embed an image that is already uploaded somewhere on the internet.
Hi, I wanted to add Driver but RMB context menu does not show like below picture. I followed process so I do not know why it is not displayed on my blender 2.83. I suspected to changed "Add Driver" from 2.83 then went to the manual below but it seems not changed. I also tried to Ctrl + D but nothing showed up. Could you please help me why it is not shown to me?
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/animation/drivers/usage.html#add-driver
*@madonna* Perhaps you right clicked on the name instead of the value of the shapekey?
I'm also going to make an update video on this but as a tip: Use the "Copy as
New Driver" and then just paste the driver on the other shapekeys instead of going through all the steps manually.
This will save a lot of time.
*@Julien Kaspar* Hi Julien, you are right!. Thank you very much to your response. I also tried to downgrade Blender but nothing change. it is very much aha! Once you told me it is very much easy... I can keep going on the tutorial now. Thank you very much again!
Hey! I'm loving the videos and really enjoying this whole experience!
I'm just stuck in one little part, my character's head doesnt have the right X symmetry, so I did what you suggested and deleted half and applied the mirror modifier again. However, because I cant move the modifier above the multires when I apply the mirror modifier the mirror half looks very patchy:
I've also tried deleting the multi res, applying the mirror modifier and adding the multi res again, however it doesnt have the same high quality as the original multi res:
Is there anything you can suggest i can do?
*@andreanselmo100* That is actually a really good question. If you delete one side, mirror the other and flip the normals manually, then the details from the multires modifier will be broken.
I found a workaround that I should include in this video soon:
In edit mode press F3 and search for "Symmetrize". You can then define which side get's mirrored and it will not break the multires details.
it will still break all Shapekeys though if you have any.
*@Julien Kaspar* Thank you!
Hi there i combined my shapekeys together with my eyelids and eyes exactly the way you explained it in the video, but it's not working, when i go into the driver properties of my eye lids the bar where i pasted the path is still highlighted in red and i don't know why, could you maybe help with this?
*@JacoFourienwu* Nevermind i figured it out the 2 values of my shapekeys were different values when i tried to combine it
*@JacoFourienwu* Make sure to use key data blocks and not object or mesh data blocks. Also be sure that the key data block is the right one.
Hi @Julien Kaspar. I am stuck here. Something doesn't work and I can't figure out where I am making something wrong. I use 2.81a version. I don`t have in multires sculpt button. I set up everything on 0 in multires and then I open mouth in edit mode. As in your example, weird things happening under the chin so I go to sculpt mode without changing anything and I smooth everything but it looks like I sculpt on multires even if everything is set up on 0. when I go back to object mode it looks like before without my sculpting but when I change multires to higher value it looks as I sculpted. So I close mouth by setting shape key to 0 and now new crazy thing is happening, when I have multires high but fine when I have multires on 0. I don't know is it a bug or me doing something wrong.
Another thing is how do you keep your hidden part in edit mode still hidden in sculpt mode (~5:40)? When I change from edit to sculpt it doesn't keep it hidden.
*@Artur Machura* The reason why the base resolution is not changing and hidden geometry in edit mode is not hidden in sculpt mode is because you are sculpting on the subdivided version of the object.
The "Sculpt" slider is there to define on which subdivision level you are sculpting when entering sculpt mode.
Sculpting on subdivsions will not translate to the lowest resolution automatically.
I'm sorry, I forgot to add additional info to the chapter description. In Blender 2.81-2.83 the multires modifier lost the "Sculpt" slider.
So when entering sculpt mode you will always sculpt on the highest subdivision and if you want to sculpt on the base resolution of the object you need to disable the modifier temporarily. Adding the button to quick favourites will help to make this easier.
It's still inconvenient but if you download the experimental version of 2.90, the multires modifier is finally fixed.
*@Julien Kaspar* Thank you. So obvious, why haven't I thought about it. Thank you for the quick reply.
*@Artur Machura* It's obvious once you know it ^^
I will do my best to update some of these videos soon to have this info already in the tutorials.
*@Julien Kaspar* I don't think a lot needs to be updated and it that fix would get its way to 2.83 than probably it could stay as it is. This is the first time I get to the point I didn't know what to do but at this same time, I am not a total beginner so as you put it I may know things that for me are obvious now and I overcome other problems that could be difficult for others.
Any new chapter soon on the horizon?
*@Artur Machura* No new chapter yet. Other projects got more priority and I don't know when I can return to the other chapters.
hello, I'm a bit confused, why doing the expression shapekeys before the clean retopology? does it mean we can't really use the animation in production? I'm really looking for a rigging and animation tutoriel. thanks in advance
*@Nly Arivony* I think I did a poor job explaining this in the introduction of the chapter.
To reiterate on the reasons why this step exists in the character creation:
In past movie productions it happened that we designed, modeled and rigged a character before even figuring out the exact animation style. This caused huge problems during the animation, since the model was not fully supporting all the deformations that needed to happen.
Doing some early expression tests for sculpting has 3 purposes.
- You end up with a set of sculpted expressions that will be a style reference for rigging and later the pose library in the animation.
- Any facial proportions that are not working well can still be tweaked so that they won't become an issue later (Like misplaced eyebrows or too small teeth)
- The amount of compression, stretching and creases will help to later retopologize a more optimal model for rigging to capture not just the shapes of the resting pose but all possible and planned shapes of the animation.
Unfortunately there won't be a rigging tutorial attached to this character but the animation fundamentals course might still add some videos using the Rain rig :)
*@Julien Kaspar* thanks a lot
This is just amazing and so well-explained!
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