BlendShape
Targets (Shortcut for making R and L derivatives of a face expression)
After Making 20 facial expressions which morphs both sides of my character's
face, the next task was to break most of the blendshapes targets into blendshapes
targets which morph the right and left sides separately (e.g. eye brow raise right
and eye brow raise left). It would take way too long to re-sculpt two the expressions
for both sides. This is the short cuts I used: 1)
After you weight the blendshape target as you like it. Make a copy of your face.
2) Add this new face to
your blendshape targets (Deform>EditBlendShape>Add). Rename it in the Blend
Shape control window noting (R or Right in the name). Then repeat this step for
the left side. 3) If you
have a lot of blendshape targets to break up into left and right side blendshape
targets, I recommend making a right and left weighted template which you can import
in and out of the PaintBlendShapeWeight Tool.
3a) Select one of your Targets in the PaintBlendShapeWeight Tool to create your
templates from. Choose Paint Operation of Replace and select a Paint weight value
of 0. Click on the Flood button. 3b)
Next paint in the Right Side of the face with a weight value of 1. Make sure to
get all the nooks and crannies. This leaves your morphing only active on the Right
side of your face. To avoid inbetween weights values, set your brush to the "Solid"
profile. ( If you have
an edge going down the dead center of your face, leave those points weighted as
0, it will be helpful to use as a blend between the 1 and 0 points running down
the face.) 3c) In the Export
section, click the export, leaving the export options at their default setting.
And, Viola! You now have a template to help you quickly paint the weights only
for the right side. Now, repeat these steps to create a template for the left
side. 4)
Now take the copied blendshape object created in step one and add it twice more
into your blendshape creating two more blendsahpe targets(Deform>EditBlendShape>Add).
Make sure to rename them in the BlendShape Control window as you create them or
you will get a duplicate name error. 5)
Now use your weighting templates to quickly weight new blendshapes for right and
left side expressions of the face. 6)
When you import these weight templates, set Paint Operation to Replace. Afterwards,
set the paint operation to smooth and flood the face a couple of times. This maintatins
a natural deformation between the morphing side and the non-morphed side during
animation. |