[lhasa_NIGHTS]

To preface: I'm an animator, so rigging/skinning is not my specialty! Haha, nevertheless I'm working on two character rigs right now, and I was wondering if anyone had links to some good tutorials about using blend shapes in Maya to create facial controls.

[Actually, I've already created all of my blend shapes. I'm just a little lost when it comes to setting up the controls.]

Thanks in advance!
-Lhasa

[sometimesusually]

Ummm, I don't have any tutorials, but I do have some advice I've picked up. When you make your blend shapes, make one for each part of the face: one for each eye, the nose, the mouth, and whatever else. It can help make things more subtle or exaggerated or give a slower reveal (can't think of a better word). Anything you might do in animation to make the character feel more expressive. And it gives you oodles of choices.

As for making it a part of a rig, I borrowed a book that was really helpful for general rigging, but I'd have to hunt around for the title. Other than that, I'm sorry. But good luck!

[mjross]

There are a few methods for creating blend shapes as well as for creating a interface for easy access and manipulation of those blend shapes. I'd highly recommend the book Stop Staring by Jason Osipa. I know some people have issues with his method because everything has to be properly named and arranged in order for the mel script to work properly. But once it is all set up, it is very easy to use and would benefit an animator like yourself.

[glossman10]

I'm a 3D generalist and blend shapes are not that difficult.

You say you have all the blend shapes created. The next step is to select all the blend shapes and then select the character head last. Go to menu Create Deformers--> Blendshapes option box. Reset the option and type blend shape name then apply. To view and control your blend shapes goto Windows--> Animation Editors--> Blend Shapes. From this window you can turn on each shape.

Once you create a GUI then you set driven key the blend shapes to the GUI and you have a working character.

If you have anymore questions contact me I can help with the GUI as well.

[crowhorn52]

Originally Posted by glossman10

Once you create a GUI then you set driven key the blend shapes to the GUI and you have a working character.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Gloss hands down has explained the most straight forward way to create an easy-to-use character for your animations. There was a tutorial I saw ages ago that was fantastic at explaining the set driven key GUI methods. If I find it, I will post it here