Escape Studios Head of Animation Michael Davies has recorded a series of videos on facial rigging for our Vimeo channel.
The Facial Rigging tutorial builds on the existing character rigging tutorials, and is designed to help students develop their skills in character rigging.
You can find the facial rigging tutorial here, along with hundreds of other video tutorials, available to our students and recent Escapees.
 |
| Michael rigged Smaug on The Hobbit |
Facial Rigging
The facial rigging tutorials build on the existing character rigging tutorials (basic rigging and advanced rigging) at our Vimeo channel, and covers advanced methods of facial rigging, allowing our animators to create their own custom rigs – with a wide range of facial expressions.
Facial rigging allows our students to create their own characters, and animate facial expressions and lipsync.
The tutorials demonstrate the geometry needed for facial rigging, how to create a head rig, as well as how to add deformers and driven controls.
Python scripting
Also included is an example of how scripting in Python can speed up your workflow, by automating tasks that would otherwise have to be done manually.
Introduction to character rigging
Students are advised to watch the tutorial “Introduction to Character Rigging” before tackling facial rigging.
Assets
Rigging assets for Michael’s tutorials can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IIPlrfnjY-UBnSG80SUKla0_jEXnR3qP
Michael Davies
Michael joined the animation team at Escape Studios just over a year ago; he has worked on many VFX blockbusters such as Batman vs Superman, Doctor Strange and Thor Ragnarok. Michael’s rigging credits are impressive: he rigged Smaug (The Hobbit) and also The Minions for the Illumination-McGuff studio.
Michael is also an Accredited Trainer for Maya at Autodesk, and for Unreal Engine.
To read an interview with Michael Davies, and find out more about his work, follow this link.
The Escape Studios VFX Blog offers a personal view on the art of visual effects.
THE ART OF VISUAL EFFECTS AT ESCAPE STUDIOS 