Hi, I've been working with 3D Max for a week now & I'm modelling human heads which worked pretty well so far. I wanted to animate this face and that's the point where I'm stuck. I've read many guides on animation in 3dMax but I'm afraid they've confused me even more. :( Does anyone now a good tutorial which explains in detail how to create facial animation? I wanted to use "pose animation". As far as I understood it I set a 'start expression' and a 'target expression' of my mesh and the animation between these expressions is handled/generated. Is this correct? Does such a tutorial exists which covers the topic of pose animation on faces? That would be an enormous help. Thank you very much!

>>I've been working with 3D Max for a week
>>I'm modelling human heads
>>I wanted to animate this face

This isn't what you want to hear, but I suggest you make sure you have a solid foundation on modelling before you try to animate... unless your heads are properly set up, they're never going to animate well.
What you want to do, though, is called Blendshapes. Check your 3DS documentation, or sites like www.3dtotal.com. This involves taking a model, then adjusting vertices to span the range of expressions on a dozen of so duplicate heads. So one head is a neutral mouth, one smile, one frown, one open eyes, one mid eyes, one closed eyes, etc., for all the nuances of human expression. Then you normally combine them together via a modifier or tool that allows you to 'morph' the initial, neutral head into the various expressions, and various degrees and combinations of the expressions. You animate that blendshape/morph modifier (no idea whats its called in Max) to create your facial animation.

Alternatively, depending on your engine, you can use bones to drive the animation, which is much easier but not as good.

Quote: Original post by Professor420
>>I've been working with 3D Max for a week
>>I'm modelling human heads
>>I wanted to animate this face

This isn't what you want to hear, but I suggest you make sure you have a solid foundation on modelling before you try to animate... unless your heads are properly set up, they're never going to animate well.
What you want to do, though, is called Blendshapes. Check your 3DS documentation, or sites like www.3dtotal.com. This involves taking a model, then adjusting vertices to span the range of expressions on a dozen of so duplicate heads. So one head is a neutral mouth, one smile, one frown, one open eyes, one mid eyes, one closed eyes, etc., for all the nuances of human expression. Then you normally combine them together via a modifier or tool that allows you to 'morph' the initial, neutral head into the various expressions, and various degrees and combinations of the expressions. You animate that blendshape/morph modifier (no idea whats its called in Max) to create your facial animation.

Alternatively, depending on your engine, you can use bones to drive the animation, which is much easier but not as good.

actually, the more common terminology for what you call "blendshape" is morph target animation.
i aninmated the one head i showed you using it, he now is singing to "turn the page" by bob seger :-)

Thanks.

Maybe "modelling human heads" was a bit exaggerated. I'm more of a "plugin conductor" :) I'm using among other things a facial generator plugin -> with that, every expression is just an issue of adjusting a few buttons.

I figured when using a generator like this, I better use "morph target animation" since I don't have any bones on my faces but instead a easy way to adjust the facial expression.

On 3dTotal I found this tutorial: http://67.15.36.49/team/Tutorials/linking_vertex/vertex_01.asp
Its close, but doesn't really covers what I'm looking for.

Quote: Original post by quasty
Thanks.

Maybe "modelling human heads" was a bit exaggerated. I'm more of a "plugin conductor" :) I'm using among other things a facial generator plugin -> with that, every expression is just an issue of adjusting a few buttons.

I figured when using a generator like this, I better use "morph target animation" since I don't have any bones on my faces but instead a easy way to adjust the facial expression.

On 3dTotal I found this tutorial: http://67.15.36.49/team/Tutorials/linking_vertex/vertex_01.asp
Its close, but doesn't really covers what I'm looking for.

well in 3ds max you just need to have a few copies of your face model, each one for each type of animation. then you must edit the verts on each one so that they represet the facial expression you're going for (Ex. smiling). however keep in mind that morph targets (the other faces) must have the same vertex count in all models. after you have created all of your expressions, apply a 'morpher' modifier to your original face mesh. right click on the each box that says 'empty' and pick each expression from your scene (it is best to name each mesh with its corresponding expression), do this for all of your expressions in the other boxes.
Now, simply use the slider to 'morph' by percentage into that particular expression. from here you can now animate your face.

Thank you. I got it working and it looks nice :)

One additional question: can I somehow store and name multiple animations for one 3D max object? Or just the current one (on the timeline)?

yeah i believe its in the utilty tab just click add/more and there should be something to add a name there should another way but i have used it so can some enlight us on the other way

I can barely afford silo, I work full time as a (2d) graphics designer. Sometimes I dont understand where kids get the money to buy a full version of Max, maya or whatever (aside from student liscenses).

Kinda pisses me off; anyways, dont worry about learning animation yet, get down topology first. A firm grasp on modeling will be a benefit when you get ready to start doing more complicated stuff.

buy Stop Staring. If you want to learn about facial animation, this book is top notch. The author uses maya, but the concepts are solid and applicable to any software.

Quote: Original post by quasty
Hi,

I've been working with 3D Max for a week now & I'm modelling human heads which worked pretty well so far.

I wanted to animate this face and that's the point where I'm stuck. I've read many guides on animation in 3dMax but I'm afraid they've confused me even more. :(

Does anyone now a good tutorial which explains in detail how to create facial animation? I wanted to use "pose animation". As far as I understood it I set a 'start expression' and a 'target expression' of my mesh and the animation between these expressions is handled/generated.

Is this correct? Does such a tutorial exists which covers the topic of pose animation on faces?

That would be an enormous help. Thank you very much!

Well man if in ur case..i guess u should be using morpher modifier...use it to create facial animations with setting the start and target expression...