by Ellie Copper

Created on: August 03, 2009

In the animation world, 3D has come a long way. It is important, however, before you dive into 3D facial animation, to have a strong grasp on what makes the face convincing in 2D. Literally drawing every visual sound the mouth makes is going to make an animation look robotic and a little scary. This applies to 3D in many respects.

When animating, in 2D or 3D, it is important to know what on the face makes an emotion so pronounced. You might raise an eyebrow if you are confused. Your eyes may widen when fearful. You might squint or your brow may straighten if your angry. These are all things to consider and every character may have a different way of convey these emotions.

A simple tool is a mirror. Most animators have mirrors right next to their desks. Its the best reference you can get. You are your greatest asset. A great way to find your characters expressions is to draw a neutral face. Then make a face and look at yourself in the mirror. Now make a whole page of different emotions. Try translating that to your character. It'll be easier for you to make that happen in 3D because you've now made your own reference of your character. Besides that, there are tons of animation books that have chapters on facial expression and lip sync. The Animators Survival Kit by Richard Williams is always close to my desk.

Once you have a basic understanding of the face and how you can manipulate it, it is alot easier to understand what needs to be done in 3D. There are many different 3D packages out there and they all have their pros and cons. Every animator has their preferences, but if you truly are a good animator, it shouldn't matter which software you use. If you are new with 3D, you should stick to one package and learn off of that, and then play around with other packages until you find the one you like best. Learning 3D is hard enough, you don't need to confuse yourself more by jumping around.

In each different 3D package, there is a similar way to model a head. I find polygonal modeling easiest, but you should model whichever way you like best. The main objective it to get a clean model that can be manipulated easily. This means that all your polygons are 4 sided. It is 'ok' to have some 3 sided polygons hidden in the hair or inside the mouth. Anything with 5 or more sides should be reduced. Things to take into account are: how realistic do you want your character to be; are they very expressive; do they have an abnormal shaped face or head? You're the judge

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