More Realistic Faces, Pt I

Create a default face - meaning, what does the character look like when they are expressionless. This does NOT mean putting all the dials to 0.

All people have slight differences in expression. Many have small discrepancies between their left and right sides. (One eyebrow may arch slightly more than the other, one eye might be a tad more open than the other, etc.) The purpose here is to create a character that can be used with different expressions later on. For this character, I gave a slight curve to the mouth using smile2 at a positive value and part lips at a negative value. The eyebrows have a slight arch while the eyes are slightly less open (EyeBlinkL and EyeBlinkR set to .1). This helps give the character some personality even without a strong expression.

Few facial expressions involve just one part of the face. One of the biggest reasons Poser people look so wooden is that the artist did not manipulate the entire face. When I create an expression, I mimic it on myself, concentrating on what muscles moved.

Moving the smile1 to a setting of 1 creates an artificial look. Smile, keeping your lips closed. Besides the checks moving, do you feel anything else move? (If necessary, look in a mirror.) You should notice your lower eyelids move upward as the checks move. You may also feel your eyebrows shift. You'll want to change those dials as well.

To narrow the eyes, I used EyeBlinkL and EyeblinkR at low settings, (approximately .075.), and set EyeWinceL and EyeWinceR as low settings (approximately .1).

Again, faces are rarely completely symmetrical. To make this slightly amused face, I raised the right eyebrow while lowering the left eyebrow. When an eyebrow is raised, the corresponding eyelid will raise as well. To simulate this, I took down the EyeBlinkR down to about .05 while keeping the EyeBlinkL the same value. I also put SmileR to .2.

To add more emphasis, I pushed the SmileR to .5, then tweaked the eyebrows: BrowArchR went to .65 while the BrowUpR changed to -.3. The BrowDownL was moved to .2. I also opened up the right eye a bit more (after all, the brow arched up farther) by setting the EyeBlinkR to .05 and closed the left eye a tad (.1) since I moved the left eyebrow down. Now my character is definitely amused, perhaps trying to hide a laugh, or slowly going from angry to forgiving.

Lowering the left eyebrow a bit more, adding a touch of WorryL, and giving a small FrownLeft (.08) along with this body pose creates the "You didn't ... please tell me you didn't just do that!" expression.

The most common elements to an upset look are furrowed brows and a frown. I cranked the BrowWorryR and BrowWorryL to 1. It gets the point across, but doesn't look realistic.

Soften the frown. Not many people drag their lips that far down. I cut it down to .4. I also added a bit of Snarl Right and Snarl Left so the upper lips are raised up slightly without adding a happy curl to the lips.

Remember, if the brows are lowered, the eyelids would be lowered as well. (I put the EyelbinkL and EyeBlinkR at .152 and .169 respectively.) I then narrowed the eyes by setting the EyeWince2R and EyeWince2L to .150. (EyeWince1 and EyeWince2 give subtle differences. Play with both sets to see what works best for each project. I mix and match them a lot.)

As a finishing touch, I spread the lips out a bit more, to give her a grimmer look. (Smile1 at .3 and raising the Frown to .5 makes for good, grimly stretched lips.)