The Process

Now let�s go through the process for binding a head using our rigging system. The basic steps are:

1. bind head to base joints
2. draw faceCurves
3. convert curves to control curves using FS_faceCurves.zip (mel script)
4. parent curves and resulting clusters to skull
5. parent control hulls to appropriate joints
6. add curves as influences to head using FS_addInfluences.zip (mel script)
7. add eye influences
8. edit weighting
9. add eye rigging
10. add mouth rigging
11. add hair/eyebrow/eyelash rigging
12. setup muscle and phoneme poses
13. simplify rig appearance
14. Extra

1. bind head: All you have to do is select the jaw and skull joints and bind the head to them using smooth binding. Since all the additional weighting will come from curves, you only need a couple of joints bound initially- one for the jaw rotation and another for the stationary areas of the head.


There may be exceptions to this- if you have a character that requires ear or other such articulation, you will want to bind those joints as well. Some of our characters had a single mesh from their head down to their torso and fingers- the process is the same, you just have to include those joints in your bind.


2. draw face curves: This might be intimidating the first time, but it is really surprisingly forgiving. You just want to make the surface live and then draw curves on the face that follow the natural contours of the various muscles using the CV curve tool. We used upper and lower cheeks, the laugh lines, the lips, the nose, and the eyebrows.


One quick tip- Since making the surface live also makes it a green wireframe, I like to make a duplicate of the geometry and put it on a layer temporarily so when I make the surface live I can see the duplicate object and get a sense of the volume as I am drawing on it. Most curves should need only 4 CVs, but if you think you need more explicit control over deformations of a region you might need more- for example, on the mouth I use at least 5 CVs. When you are finished, make sure you name the curves logically. We use nose, upperLip, lowerLip, L_laughLine, L_cheek, L_squint, L_brow and R_ versions of the curves on the right side of the face.