More realistic faces, Part II:
While this example uses Victoria and references her facial morphs, these principals will help you make more realistic expressions for any character.
Here's two more examples.
Small tweaks can make a difference.
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Uh huh. Sure. I'm listening. Like I care. Something is missing. First, the half-smile needs more emphasis. If I applied the SmileLeft, the lips would move farther towards the ear. I just want a subtle smile. FrownLeft set to a negative, around -.3, works well. Now, when a person smiles, their cheeks move upward. This causes the eyelids to crinkle. Since only the left side of the face is smiling, only the left eye's settings should change. EyeWince1L worked well for this. |
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Now Vicki is listening intently, or dreamily watching, take your pick. |
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Last one:
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Oh. Look. I'm scared. But I raised the eyebrows and opened the mouth in fear. Why isn't that enough? |
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Most horror books say, "So-and-so's eyes widened in horror." Guess what's missing? I also raised the eyebrows even more using Victoria's BrowFrown dials. Vicki can look a bit cross-eyed, so I moved her right eye slightly to the right so she's looking farther into the distance. Now she's properly surprised, with a bit of concern. |
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Horror requires more work. The face is strained. Adding cheek creases, widening the eyes more (including the lower lids by turning the EyeWince dials to negative numbers) and opening the mouth more will add to terror. Most people give an "O" in surprise, so I put the O mouth phenome to .279. I brought her other hand to her face, and shrunk the sleeves slightly to show off the hands better. |
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To finish off the look, I increased the O phenome, put the EyeWince values to a larger negative number, and used the EyesBaggy dial to put more strain on the face. More appropriate lighting also makes a big difference. Horror movies light from below to add shadows to the face. The red hints at blood or evil just off-screen. |
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To sum it up:
- Don't adjust only 1 part of the face when you're trying to create a facial expression. At best, the expression will look fake, more likely, your character will look fake. (If you want to have a character smile but not mean it, by all means, adjust the lips and checks only.)
- Subtle changes can make a big difference. There's a reason you can use decimals and negative numbers on the dials. (Double click on the dial to enter numerical values, positive or negative.)
- Faces are not symmetrical. Don't set all your left/right dials to the same exact values.
- Eyebrow position affects how open the eyelids are.
- Smiles push the cheeks up, this moves the lower eyelids up.
- Looking up will push the eyelids up, looking down will lower the eyelids accordingly.
- Adjust the body even if this is just a face shot. You don't have to be a perfectionist in the pose, but a rigidly straight body will subtract from your realism.
- Turning opposing dials in opposite directions can give good results. (Example: SmileLeft at a positive number, FrownLeft to a negative number.)