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Shape Keys, Drivers, and the face rig in Blender for Beginners — Transcript

by Poole · 9,985 words · 1,343 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00We've completed the body's rig, so now
  2. 0:01it's time to fully complete this guy and
  3. 0:03add rigging to the face. But since there
  4. 0:05are some important parts of character
  5. 0:06modeling that this specific character
  6. 0:08doesn't need, the video after this will
  7. 0:10be going over those things. But for now,
  8. 0:12let's learn about shape keys and
  9. 0:13drivers, which we'll use to rig the
  10. 0:15eyes. Things might get a bit
  11. 0:16complicated, but I'll try to introduce
  12. 0:18everything in as beginner friendly a way
  13. 0:20as I can think of. I feel like they're
  14. 0:21simpler than people make them out to be,
  15. 0:23but there is going to be a bit of math
  16. 0:24involved, so I don't know.
  17. 0:27Shape keys are basically a way of
  18. 0:29storing a different shape of a model
  19. 0:30where you can slide between the original
  20. 0:32shape of the model and the new shape.
  21. 0:34For example, here we have a cube and if
  22. 0:37you go into the green data tab and
  23. 0:38scroll down, you see the shape keys
  24. 0:40section. If we add one, it adds the
  25. 0:43basis shape key, which is the default
  26. 0:45state of the model. It's super important
  27. 0:47to keep this one around. Then we can add
  28. 0:49another one. And this is a shape key we
  29. 0:51can edit. In edit mode, with that new
  30. 0:53key selected, I can move the verts
  31. 0:55around. And then if we back out into
  32. 0:57object mode, we can move the slider on
  33. 0:59the shape key to shift between the
  34. 1:01normal shape of the model and the new
  35. 1:02shape. It's kind of like a slider in a
  36. 1:04video game character creator. You can
  37. 1:06also add as many shape keys as you want
  38. 1:08and edit any part of the model using
  39. 1:10them. So I can make a new one. And for
  40. 1:12this one, I'll move some different verts
  41. 1:13around. And now I can move out both sets
  42. 1:16of verts whenever I need to using the
  43. 1:18shape keys. Now, if you look at the
  44. 1:20shape key up menu on your side, you'll
  45. 1:22see that it looks a little different,
  46. 1:23which is just because they have a nice
  47. 1:25little add-on to make shape keys more
  48. 1:26organized called shape keys plus. All it
  49. 1:29does, at least as far as I care, is let
  50. 1:31you sort shape keys into folders, which
  51. 1:33is extremely handy because you can have
  52. 1:35dozens of shape keys on a model for
  53. 1:37multiple different purposes, which
  54. 1:38normally you have to have all in the
  55. 1:40same flat list. I definitely would
  56. 1:42recommend it to anyone who does anything
  57. 1:44with shape keys, but it is just a
  58. 1:46quality of life thing, so it isn't
  59. 1:47absolutely necessary. I honestly hope
  60. 1:49they make this function a part of
  61. 1:50Blender itself.
  62. 1:53To see shape keys in action on a more
  63. 1:55practical model, here's one of my own
  64. 1:56models and what shape keys she has. This
  65. 1:58is what we're going to do with our
  66. 2:00character's eyes, where I've created a
  67. 2:01shape key for her eyes being closed, so
  68. 2:04I can pose that part of her to make it
  69. 2:05look exactly how it should without
  70. 2:07having to deal with bones and weight
  71. 2:08painting them. Using shape keys, you can
  72. 2:10bend the face exactly how your character
  73. 2:12needs to be bent to make the most
  74. 2:13appealing shape. Whenever you see an
  75. 2:15ultra profofessional rig with a
  76. 2:17character whose face seems to bend
  77. 2:18perfectly with every facial expression,
  78. 2:20they're using shape keys to get it
  79. 2:21right. Although, we're only going to use
  80. 2:23them for the eyes since all the other
  81. 2:24parts are simple enough to be rigged
  82. 2:26normally. Other programs call them blend
  83. 2:28shapes. So, I guess it's kind of weird
  84. 2:30that Blender of all things doesn't call
  85. 2:31them that. But you can see the shape key
  86. 2:33has a purple background to its value.
  87. 2:35Why is that? That's because the shape
  88. 2:37key is being controlled by a driver.
  89. 2:39Drivers are the way you can connect a
  90. 2:41shape key to a bone. So you can animate
  91. 2:43a shape key like any other part of the
  92. 2:44model. You can add key frames to the
  93. 2:46shape key value itself. But it's way
  94. 2:48more practical to just use a bone to do
  95. 2:50that since you can use bones to save
  96. 2:51your pose. Also, if you use drivers
  97. 2:54right, you can make one bone trigger
  98. 2:56multiple shape keys in different ways.
  99. 2:58Meaning you can make way more natural
  100. 2:59feeling rig out of shape keys. For
  101. 3:01example, my Pomny's eyes are actually
  102. 3:03just a flat plane shrink wrapped to the
  103. 3:05base eye just like our character. And it
  104. 3:07has shape keys for moving in each of the
  105. 3:09cardinal directions. Each of which has a
  106. 3:11driver attached to this eyebone. So I
  107. 3:13can just move this bone around to move
  108. 3:15her iris in every direction. I even have
  109. 3:17shape keys for size. So I can scale the
  110. 3:19bone up or down to change her iris size.
  111. 3:23Basically how drivers work is that you
  112. 3:25can take any of these numbers in the
  113. 3:26data of any object, bone, or whatever
  114. 3:28and apply that number to wherever we put
  115. 3:30the driver like a shape keys value or
  116. 3:32literally any number. Even the numbers
  117. 3:34you see in node editors or modifiers.
  118. 3:36You just add the driver to the thing you
  119. 3:38want to be controlled by something else
  120. 3:40and then tell it which specific number
  121. 3:41in that thing you want to use like its
  122. 3:43location, rotation or scale values and
  123. 3:46then it applies it. You can even change
  124. 3:48that number by making a math equation
  125. 3:49using it, which I'll explain in a
  126. 3:51second. You won't be able to change that
  127. 3:53number manually while there's a driver,
  128. 3:55but you usually don't need to once you
  129. 3:56set it up right. [music] Back in our
  130. 3:58cube example, here's how to add a driver
  131. 4:00and make it work. First, add an armature
  132. 4:02so we can use the bone to drive our
  133. 4:04shape keys. Now, right click the value
  134. 4:06next to the shape key or it's slider at
  135. 4:08the bottom and click add driver. It'll
  136. 4:10pop out this little window where we can
  137. 4:12choose what number in the program we
  138. 4:14want to use to change the number we just
  139. 4:15added the driver to. If the pop-up went
  140. 4:17away, just rightclick the driver and
  141. 4:19press edit driver to get it back. This
  142. 4:22little section here is where we tell it
  143. 4:23what number to use. So, if we want to
  144. 4:25use the bone we added, we add the
  145. 4:27armature object to the first section.
  146. 4:29And then, since it's an armature, it'll
  147. 4:31ask for what bone to use, which is the
  148. 4:32only bone there. So, select that. Then
  149. 4:34below that, since every object has a ton
  150. 4:36of different values for its location,
  151. 4:38rotation, and scale, we need to specify
  152. 4:40which one of its numbers we want. So,
  153. 4:42let's think about how we want to change
  154. 4:44the bone to trigger the shape key. I'll
  155. 4:46make it so if we move the bone down,
  156. 4:47it'll trigger it. A bone's up and down
  157. 4:49is its Y-axis. So, we need to use its Y
  158. 4:52location, but the part below that is
  159. 4:54also super important. It says world
  160. 4:56space, meaning it'll use the bone's Y
  161. 4:58location in the whole world as a
  162. 5:00reference for what number is being added
  163. 5:02to the shape key. But we don't want
  164. 5:03that. We want the shape key to be off
  165. 5:05when the bone is in its default
  166. 5:07position, but turn on when we move the
  167. 5:08bone down. So, we need to switch this to
  168. 5:11local space. This uses the bone's
  169. 5:13position relative to its default
  170. 5:14position. So, it'll only add a number if
  171. 5:16it's been moved or changed in any way in
  172. 5:18pose mode. Now, let's see what happens.
  173. 5:20We move the bone down in pose mode, but
  174. 5:22it's not doing anything. What if we move
  175. 5:24it up instead? Now, it's changing. How
  176. 5:26do we make it work when it goes the
  177. 5:28other way? Back in the driver editor pop
  178. 5:30out at the top of the settings we mess
  179. 5:32with. There's this little equation that
  180. 5:33we can add things to to change the
  181. 5:35bone's y location value as it's coming
  182. 5:37through. When you add a driver to
  183. 5:38something, it'll try adding the value it
  184. 5:40had before you added the driver to the
  185. 5:42equation. So you'll have to delete that
  186. 5:44first. If you move the bone back down
  187. 5:46and check the driver, you can see what
  188. 5:48value it's getting here. Its y-value is
  189. 5:50negative since it moved below the
  190. 5:52default point and shape keys can't go
  191. 5:53into the negative, so it doesn't do
  192. 5:55anything. But if we go into the equation
  193. 5:56and put a minus or negative in front of
  194. 5:58the var, which is the variable being put
  195. 6:00out by the bone, it'll cancel out the
  196. 6:02negative y value and make it positive
  197. 6:04again. So now moving it down does
  198. 6:06trigger the shape key since its negative
  199. 6:08value is being flipped. And since the
  200. 6:11positive value from it being moved up
  201. 6:13will become negative, it doesn't change
  202. 6:14the shape key at all in that case. But
  203. 6:17we can add even more too. You can see
  204. 6:18it's moving a bit slow. So if you want
  205. 6:20to make it move faster, we can multiply
  206. 6:22the value coming through with an
  207. 6:24asterisk to make the number increase
  208. 6:26faster. Meaning we don't have to move
  209. 6:27the bone as far to trigger the shape
  210. 6:29key. In a similar way, you can divide
  211. 6:31the number to make it change slower. But
  212. 6:33I usually need to make it faster
  213. 6:34instead. There are a lot of different
  214. 6:36ways you can sort out this equation to
  215. 6:38edit the bar coming through. And you can
  216. 6:39even add different inputs to act as a
  217. 6:41second editable number in the equation,
  218. 6:43but we don't need those as much. That's
  219. 6:45all you need to know to get started with
  220. 6:46the shape keys and drivers. So let's
  221. 6:48start using these in our model.
  222. 6:51So I want to do it like I showed with my
  223. 6:53own model where the different eye shapes
  224. 6:54are different shape keys. So we have to
  225. 6:56do some special things since making
  226. 6:58shape keys is a pretty big checkpoint in
  227. 7:00the modeling process. When you add a
  228. 7:01shape key program will tell you that you
  229. 7:04can't apply any modifiers for the model.
  230. 7:06So now is the time to apply the mirror
  231. 7:07modifier. You have to apply it because
  232. 7:09we won't be able to make shape keys for
  233. 7:11only one side of the face if we don't. I
  234. 7:13don't usually save my model
  235. 7:15incrementally, but I do always have a
  236. 7:16separate file just before I apply the
  237. 7:18mirror modifier since that's usually the
  238. 7:20point you have to go back to when
  239. 7:22something screws up. So, do that just in
  240. 7:23case. I don't need it that much, but
  241. 7:25when I do, I'm always glad to have it.
  242. 7:27But if you forget, you can actually
  243. 7:29download an add-on called SK Keeper to
  244. 7:31forcefully apply modifiers to a mesh
  245. 7:33with shape keys. With it, instead of
  246. 7:35going to the modifiers panel, go to the
  247. 7:37object drop-down on this bar and you'll
  248. 7:39see the options to apply modifiers. It's
  249. 7:41still better to apply modifiers first
  250. 7:43anyway, but that's nice to have just as
  251. 7:45a backup. It does screw up with shape
  252. 7:47keys plus a bit though, where it turns
  253. 7:48shape key folders into normal shape
  254. 7:50keys, but it's not that big of a deal.
  255. 7:52Now, since we want to deal with the
  256. 7:53eyelash shapes as well as the eyelid
  257. 7:55shapes, I usually just keep them as a
  258. 7:57separate object and give them separate
  259. 7:58shape keys. But if you want, you can
  260. 8:00apply their solidify modifier and join
  261. 8:02them to the head. So, you can use only
  262. 8:03one shape key for both. I like keeping
  263. 8:05the solidify on it, though, so I'll keep
  264. 8:07them separate, but you have to apply the
  265. 8:08mirror modifier anyway. Also apply that
  266. 8:11for the iris since that needs shape keys
  267. 8:13too. Keep the shrink wrap modifier on it
  268. 8:15though so it'll always stick to the
  269. 8:17face. You can also do shape keys for the
  270. 8:19eyebrows, but I actually want to rig
  271. 8:20those with bones like normal. So we can
  272. 8:22leave the mirror on them. Everything
  273. 8:24else should be good the way it is. So
  274. 8:26we're applying the mirror modifier of
  275. 8:28the body, iris, and eyelashes. Just to
  276. 8:31recap. So the easiest shape keys to do
  277. 8:34are for the iris. All we need is a shape
  278. 8:36key for each cardinal direction and two
  279. 8:38for getting it bigger and smaller. Press
  280. 8:40the plus to add the bases shape key. And
  281. 8:42now with shape keys plus, you can hold
  282. 8:44down the plus so you can press add
  283. 8:46folder. If you don't want the add-on,
  284. 8:48just ignore the parts about the folders.
  285. 8:49It's just for making stuff more
  286. 8:50organized. Double click on the folder
  287. 8:52and rename it to movement.l. Then with
  288. 8:55it selected, just click the plus four
  289. 8:57times to add four keys. And then name
  290. 9:00them up.L, downl.
  291. 9:06So for one, we put L at the end of each
  292. 9:09because that's the way that Blender
  293. 9:11knows that these shape keys should be
  294. 9:12mirrored. And of course, the L stands
  295. 9:15for left. So for those shape keys, make
  296. 9:17sure to only change things on your
  297. 9:18character's left. You can also do R and
  298. 9:20do it all on his right, but I just do
  299. 9:22the left and mirror to the right. Then I
  300. 9:24called them in and out instead of right
  301. 9:26and left because when we mirror them,
  302. 9:28we'd have to rename the mirrored keys
  303. 9:30left and right since they'd be going in
  304. 9:32the opposite direction, which can get
  305. 9:33confusing. But if we call them in and
  306. 9:35out, their names will still make sense
  307. 9:36when they're mirrored. Also, really
  308. 9:38quick, if you have a shape key that
  309. 9:40isn't in a folder, you can add it to a
  310. 9:42folder by going under this dropdown and
  311. 9:44selecting set parent and then selecting
  312. 9:46the folder you want it to be under. Now,
  313. 9:48let's actually create the shape keys. In
  314. 9:50edit mode, pay attention to the top left
  315. 9:52of the screen because it will tell you
  316. 9:53what shape key you have selected. You
  317. 9:55want to be extra sure you have the right
  318. 9:57shape key selected. For example, if you
  319. 9:59have the basis selected, but you move
  320. 10:01the iris up because you thought you had
  321. 10:03the up key selected, you'll ruin the
  322. 10:05original placement of the iris, which
  323. 10:06will screw everything up. Just be extra
  324. 10:08careful, especially with the body. Since
  325. 10:10you might do the opposite where you edit
  326. 10:12the base mesh, but you have a shape key
  327. 10:14selected, meaning your edits will only
  328. 10:15appear when the shape key is active. And
  329. 10:17there's one last possible mistake you
  330. 10:19can make. In edit mode, there's a
  331. 10:21setting in the tool menu that lets you
  332. 10:23mirror your edits even without a mirror
  333. 10:24modifier, which can be handy, but in
  334. 10:26this case, you want to make sure it's
  335. 10:28off. We'll do one side shape key and
  336. 10:30then mirror the shape key itself. So,
  337. 10:32you don't want to edit both sides with
  338. 10:34only one shape key selected. There are a
  339. 10:36lot of ways to screw things up when
  340. 10:37dealing with shape keys. So, I needed to
  341. 10:39make sure you knew what could happen.
  342. 10:40[clears throat] If anything goes wrong,
  343. 10:41there are some ways to fix things. Like
  344. 10:43in this section, you can make the shape
  345. 10:45key only affect what's in a vertex
  346. 10:46group. So, you can limit where the shape
  347. 10:48key is being applied. Usually though,
  348. 10:50it's best to just delete the messed up
  349. 10:51shape keys and start from scratch. So,
  350. 10:53it's good to learn how things screw up
  351. 10:55when we have easy shape keys like the
  352. 10:56irises. Okay, so we're in edit mode with
  353. 10:59the iris. So, you can just select the
  354. 11:01shape key to edit them specifically. It
  355. 11:03shows its name in the top left. So,
  356. 11:05we're good to go. Hover over the left
  357. 11:07iris. Press L to select it all. And now,
  358. 11:10we just move it up to make the upshape
  359. 11:12key. You can see it shrink wrap to the
  360. 11:13eye as we move it. Just move it straight
  361. 11:15up and stop once the iris just barely
  362. 11:18goes beyond the eyelid. That should be
  363. 11:19good. So, let's confirm it worked in
  364. 11:21object mode. Turn on the up key and the
  365. 11:23iris goes up. So, it works. Now, we can
  366. 11:25stay in edit mode to do the rest. For
  367. 11:27down, just move it down until it goes
  368. 11:29out of the eye. For in, just move it
  369. 11:31inward towards the nose. For out, move
  370. 11:34it towards the far end of the eye. For
  371. 11:36this one, we might want to rotate it a
  372. 11:38bit so it stays level with the scara
  373. 11:40plane behind it. If we don't, the iris
  374. 11:42might warp a bit. Now that should be
  375. 11:44good. We can confirm they worked in
  376. 11:46object mode. The out key made it clip
  377. 11:48into the eye a bit. So I'll fix that by
  378. 11:50pulling it away from the scare more.
  379. 11:52Shape keys make verts travel in a
  380. 11:54straight line to their new position. So
  381. 11:56that can happen sometimes. Now those are
  382. 11:58all ready for drivers.
  383. 12:02But let's add the size changing shapes
  384. 12:03first. Select the basis so we don't add
  385. 12:06things to the movement folder and add a
  386. 12:07folder for size. L. Then select that
  387. 12:10folder and add two keys each named big.l
  388. 12:13L and small L. Obviously, in edit mode,
  389. 12:16just scale the iris up for big and down
  390. 12:18for small. We can mirror them now, but
  391. 12:21if we mirror them after adding the
  392. 12:23drivers, it'll copy the drivers over, so
  393. 12:25we have less work to do. So, let's add
  394. 12:26the drivers first. You can copy drivers
  395. 12:28over, too, but this is less work. Before
  396. 12:31we add the driver, we need to add a bone
  397. 12:33to the rig that the driver can
  398. 12:34reference. You can add a separate
  399. 12:36armature object and mess with the face
  400. 12:37rig separately, but I like adding those
  401. 12:39bones right to the full rigify rig,
  402. 12:41which we set up in the last video. It
  403. 12:43doesn't have to be a rigify rig, though.
  404. 12:44Any rig will work. I like doing this
  405. 12:46because you have to specify what
  406. 12:48armature group the bone is a part of in
  407. 12:50the driver. So, if you change what
  408. 12:51armature group it's a part of, you'll
  409. 12:53have to change that part of every
  410. 12:54driver, which can get annoying. But, if
  411. 12:56it's a rigify rig, I'll have to warn you
  412. 12:58to not regenerate the rig if you added
  413. 13:01bones that are not in the meta rig.
  414. 13:02Regenerating will erase all bones that
  415. 13:04aren't in the meta rig, meaning all your
  416. 13:06special shape key bones will be gone.
  417. 13:08I've done this more than once, so be
  418. 13:10warned. If you want to add them to the
  419. 13:11meta rig, you can give them the rigify
  420. 13:13type of raw copy, which will just
  421. 13:15plainly copy the bone over to the full
  422. 13:17rig. It's probably a better idea to do
  423. 13:19that, but I never bother. In edit mode
  424. 13:21with the full rig, select the face bone
  425. 13:23collection, so all bones we add will be
  426. 13:25in that group. So, you can use the face
  427. 13:26button on the rigified rig layers to
  428. 13:28toggle these bones we're going to add.
  429. 13:30You can press shift A to add a single
  430. 13:32bone that's not connected to anything.
  431. 13:34Move that bone to the center of the
  432. 13:35iris. Shrink it down so it's easier to
  433. 13:37look at, but it doesn't have to be
  434. 13:39exact. You do want it to be in front of
  435. 13:41the iris, though, like around where he
  436. 13:43would wear glasses, so it's a bit easier
  437. 13:45to use. Since bones rotate at their base
  438. 13:47joint, which is called their head, I
  439. 13:49like putting the base in the center, but
  440. 13:50it doesn't matter too much. Now, in the
  441. 13:52bone tab, call it iris.l, L, then select
  442. 13:55the iris bone, then the headbone, and
  443. 13:57then Ctrl + P to parent it, and press
  444. 13:59keep offset. That'll make sure the bone
  445. 14:01follows the head when we move it. Now we
  446. 14:03can mirror the bone, which is easy
  447. 14:05because we put a L at the end of its
  448. 14:07name. Just click it, rightclick, and
  449. 14:09then click symmetriize. That'll put a
  450. 14:11bone on the opposite side of the head,
  451. 14:13which is mirrored across the rig's
  452. 14:14origin point, and even rename the bone
  453. 14:16to iris.R for us since it's on the right
  454. 14:18side. This also means in pose mode, we
  455. 14:20can mirror a pose to that side as well.
  456. 14:22So, it's a really good idea to make sure
  457. 14:24bones on your rig are mirrored right.
  458. 14:25The bones only need to have the same
  459. 14:27name aside from having a L and R at the
  460. 14:29end. They don't even need to actually be
  461. 14:31mirrored into position, but it's usually
  462. 14:33better if they are. If it's not
  463. 14:34perfectly in the middle of the iris,
  464. 14:36that just means your rig's origin point
  465. 14:38and your iris's origin point aren't in
  466. 14:40the same place. Now that it's mirrored
  467. 14:42in edit mode, toggle on the X-axis
  468. 14:44mirror option to edit the placement of
  469. 14:46both bones if you ever need to in the
  470. 14:48future. Now that we have the bone, let's
  471. 14:50add the driver. In the iris's shape
  472. 14:52keys, right click the value next to the
  473. 14:54shape key and add driver. Select rig or
  474. 14:57whatever armature group the bone is a
  475. 14:59part of and then the iris.lb bone. Since
  476. 15:02this is the up value, we have to think
  477. 15:04about what axis is up for the bone. As I
  478. 15:06mentioned in the example, the bones up
  479. 15:08and down is its Y location. If you want
  480. 15:10to see them yourself, in the data tab
  481. 15:12with the rig selected, you can turn on
  482. 15:14axes to see what axis is what for each
  483. 15:17bone. I don't really know why a bone's
  484. 15:19axes are different from the global axes,
  485. 15:21but whatever. In the driver, select the
  486. 15:24Y location and then also like the
  487. 15:26example, select a local space. So, it'll
  488. 15:28give us a zero when it's in its default
  489. 15:30position. Now, if you go into pose mode
  490. 15:32and move that bone up, you can see the
  491. 15:34iris following along a bit. It's
  492. 15:36definitely slow. So, let's multiply it.
  493. 15:39This changes a lot depending on the size
  494. 15:41of your eye and the overall size of your
  495. 15:43character, meaning your shape key has to
  496. 15:44move farther to get out of the eye. Just
  497. 15:46keep changing the number you multiply by
  498. 15:48until it's how you want it. Ideally,
  499. 15:50where the center of the eye matches the
  500. 15:52location of the bone perfectly, but it
  501. 15:54can be whatever you want it to be. I
  502. 15:55[clears throat] landed on time 8 for
  503. 15:57myself, so we can see it follow pretty
  504. 15:58close to where the iris bone is. That
  505. 16:00looks good. So, we can copy this driver
  506. 16:02to the other values, so we don't have to
  507. 16:04constantly change every setting. Right
  508. 16:05click the value with the driver and then
  509. 16:07click copy driver. Then, right click a
  510. 16:10different value and press paste driver.
  511. 16:12Now, that value has the exact same
  512. 16:14driver, but this is for the down key.
  513. 16:16So, we don't want it to be exactly the
  514. 16:17same. Like I said in the example, we can
  515. 16:19make the driver work when the bone moves
  516. 16:21down by adding a negative to the
  517. 16:23equation. You can make the var negative
  518. 16:24or the multiplied number negative since
  519. 16:26that's how multiplication works. Now,
  520. 16:28just tweak the number so it works there,
  521. 16:30but the copied number should be pretty
  522. 16:31close. Now, to do the in and out keys,
  523. 16:34copy and paste the driver over to them,
  524. 16:36but we have more to change. As you can
  525. 16:38see with the visible axes, if we want to
  526. 16:40make the driver activate when moving the
  527. 16:42bone left and right, we need to switch
  528. 16:43it to its X location.
  529. 16:46The axis is pointing out in the positive
  530. 16:48direction. So the out key will be using
  531. 16:49a positive number in the equation and
  532. 16:51the in key is going to use a negative
  533. 16:53number. So make sure all that is set
  534. 16:55right.
  535. 16:59And now we just need to tweak the number
  536. 17:01so it feels good to use. The keys are
  537. 17:03going to get drastically different
  538. 17:04numbers since it only has to move a
  539. 17:06small distance for the in key but a long
  540. 17:07distance for the out key. It's hard to
  541. 17:09put into words, but when a shape key
  542. 17:11doesn't move the stuff that far from its
  543. 17:13basis, its driver will need a much
  544. 17:14higher number since the bone ends up
  545. 17:16moving a much smaller amount and vice
  546. 17:18versa. So, my in key ended up needing a
  547. 17:21x 10 while my out key only needed a time
  548. 17:24six. Now, in pose mode, you can just
  549. 17:26move the iris bone to move the whole
  550. 17:28iris wherever you want it. Since there's
  551. 17:30a key for each cardinal direction, it'll
  552. 17:32apply the shape key for two different
  553. 17:34directions if you want to move it
  554. 17:35diagonally, so it can be moved anywhere.
  555. 17:37Before we do the size drivers, let's
  556. 17:39mirror the movement section. If you
  557. 17:41select the folder, then click and hold
  558. 17:43this clipboard with an arrow icon, it'll
  559. 17:45give you the option to copy and mirror
  560. 17:46the shape keys at the same time, which
  561. 17:48will apply to the whole folder. Now,
  562. 17:50it's both mirrored and even renamed each
  563. 17:52key for the right side since they each
  564. 17:54had L. You can also just click it once
  565. 17:57and then under this arrow, press mirror.
  566. 18:00But that won't change the names of the
  567. 18:01shape keys. So, it's better to do it the
  568. 18:03first way. But this won't mirror the
  569. 18:05drivers. It will keep them there though,
  570. 18:07so we just need to change each one. So
  571. 18:09it uses the iris dot rone instead. And
  572. 18:12that should be good for most of them.
  573. 18:14But since the in-n-out drivers are going
  574. 18:16in opposite ways now, just switch their
  575. 18:18negatives. So the in equation will be
  576. 18:20positive now and the out will be
  577. 18:21negative. That should be perfectly
  578. 18:23flipped. And you can make them look
  579. 18:25wherever you want. Now, if you don't use
  580. 18:27folders, you can just repeat the steps
  581. 18:28with each key individually. One common
  582. 18:31thing that rigs have is a singular bone
  583. 18:33that both eyes follow. But I won't tell
  584. 18:35you to make that here since it's a bit
  585. 18:37more advanced. But I will quickly
  586. 18:38explain how it works if you want to try
  587. 18:40anyway. Basically, add a new variable to
  588. 18:43each driver, which is the X or Y
  589. 18:45location of a new bone that is the
  590. 18:47parent of both iris bones. Then in the
  591. 18:50driver equation, just add that new
  592. 18:52variable to the original variable with
  593. 18:54parentheses around them. And then put
  594. 18:56the negative on the outside of the
  595. 18:58parenthesis. That'll add on the
  596. 18:59placement to the other iris bones. I
  597. 19:02explained the process in a bit more
  598. 19:03detail in my 2D eye tutorial at around 9
  599. 19:06minutes and 22 seconds. Although I use
  600. 19:08it in a different place. Don't worry
  601. 19:10about adding it though. You can just
  602. 19:11move each individual iris bone as well.
  603. 19:13For the size keys, let's just add a new
  604. 19:16driver since we're going to use much
  605. 19:17more different settings. We do still
  606. 19:19want to use the left iris bone, but with
  607. 19:21any one of its scales in local space.
  608. 19:23We're going to scale it out in all
  609. 19:24directions when resizing it anyway. So,
  610. 19:27it doesn't matter which scale it is. Now
  611. 19:29the problem with scale is that its
  612. 19:31default state is one, not zero. So you
  613. 19:33can see the shape key already turned on
  614. 19:35since one is 100% activated. But we want
  615. 19:37it to have a value of zero when the
  616. 19:39scale is at one since that's the
  617. 19:41default. So since this is the big key,
  618. 19:43we can just add a minus one. So when the
  619. 19:45value it's getting is one, it'll reduce
  620. 19:47it to zero. But if it goes above one
  621. 19:49when we scale it up, it'll still add on
  622. 19:51that extra bit of additional scale on
  623. 19:53top of the one. If you want to multiply
  624. 19:54it though, add parentheses around it and
  625. 19:57add the multiplier outside of M. Now,
  626. 19:59[clears throat] copy that to the small
  627. 20:00key. This one is much weirder and it's
  628. 20:02harder to explain in easy terms. We want
  629. 20:04this one to say negative bar + one. So,
  630. 20:08if it's getting a one, it'll turn into a
  631. 20:10negative one, which will then have one
  632. 20:11added to it, making it zero. Then, if
  633. 20:14it's getting scaled up, it'll be a
  634. 20:16higher negative number. So, the plus one
  635. 20:17can't fight against it. But if we scale
  636. 20:19it down, meaning the negative number is
  637. 20:21below one, the plus one will add on an
  638. 20:24extra positive value, meaning it'll turn
  639. 20:26on the shape key. If you didn't get
  640. 20:28that, don't worry. Just copy negative
  641. 20:30var + one. Also, since that equation
  642. 20:32means that we won't be able to max out
  643. 20:34the shape key unless we scale it all the
  644. 20:35way down to zero, which is really hard
  645. 20:37to do. Let's add some parenthesis around
  646. 20:39the whole thing and multiply it by two.
  647. 20:41The parenthesis mean everything inside
  648. 20:43of them will be completed first, then
  649. 20:45it'll be multiplied, which is how you
  650. 20:46get it to work right. If you remember
  651. 20:48PEMDAS and the order of operations from
  652. 20:51school, that's why. Now, if you copy and
  653. 20:53mirror that like before, all you have to
  654. 20:56do is switch the bone in the new drivers
  655. 20:58to the right iris bone, and it all works
  656. 21:00perfectly. You now have perfect controls
  657. 21:01for this kind of eye.
  658. 21:04If you're staring at your screen
  659. 21:05horrified because you just don't get
  660. 21:06shape keys, you can technically just map
  661. 21:09the iris to the iris bone one to one by
  662. 21:11parenting the iris to the rig with empty
  663. 21:13weights, then just applying a one to
  664. 21:16each iris's bone group and it'll work a
  665. 21:18similar way, but it's way more unwieldy,
  666. 21:20so I don't recommend it. This is a great
  667. 21:22place to get started with the shape keys
  668. 21:23anyway. So, try to learn them. There are
  669. 21:25plenty of other tutorials on this stuff
  670. 21:27elsewhere on YouTube. So, if my
  671. 21:28explanation didn't work, someone else's
  672. 21:30might, or just try again with the
  673. 21:32eyelids, which could be even easier. I
  674. 21:34don't know. Now, let's deal with the
  675. 21:36eyelids. Since I've got in detail about
  676. 21:38what to do twice, I'm going to go a bit
  677. 21:40faster since we're just doing the same
  678. 21:42overall process over again. The first
  679. 21:44thing we need is to decide how many
  680. 21:46expressions we want because we'll need a
  681. 21:48shape key for each expression. The good
  682. 21:49news is that we can just add more later.
  683. 21:51So, I'm going to add four keys. One for
  684. 21:53a closed eye or a blink, one for a happy
  685. 21:56closed eye, one opening both eyelids
  686. 21:58further for a surprised expression, and
  687. 22:00one for bringing the lower lid up. So,
  688. 22:03we can make a squint alongside the blink
  689. 22:05expression used halfway since these will
  690. 22:07work for each eye individually. It'll
  691. 22:09also count for expressions like a wink.
  692. 22:11So, I'll add a folder and call it Il.
  693. 22:14And with it selected, I'll add four keys
  694. 22:16and call them blinkl, happy, L,
  695. 22:20surprised. L and bottomup L. Now to
  696. 22:24actually edit the keys, first hide the
  697. 22:26eyelash with H. We're going to add the
  698. 22:28same keys to it later, but for now, just
  699. 22:30get rid of it. If you joined it to the
  700. 22:31main mesh, you can hide it in edit mode.
  701. 22:33Then with blink selected now, we just
  702. 22:35have to pull the verts at the top of the
  703. 22:37eyelid down to the bottom and edit them
  704. 22:39so it looks nice. It's usually a good
  705. 22:41idea to bring down the inside parts of
  706. 22:43the eyelid, too, so you aren't fighting
  707. 22:45against the subdive modifier.
  708. 22:48Just move things around until it looks
  709. 22:50pretty and you're good. The eyelash will
  710. 22:52cover some of this though, so don't
  711. 22:53worry about it too much.
  712. 23:05Onto the happy blink. But why would I do
  713. 23:06all that again when the blink shape key
  714. 23:08is pretty close to what I want? Delete
  715. 23:10the happy shape key. Then just copy the
  716. 23:12blink key by clicking the clipboard
  717. 23:14icon. Then rename the copied to happy.l.
  718. 23:16Now it's just like the blink. So we can
  719. 23:18just move up the middle vert with
  720. 23:20proportional editing to make the happy
  721. 23:21blink expression. That's all you need.
  722. 23:32The last two are easy. Just move the
  723. 23:33eyelids up and down respectively with
  724. 23:35proportional editing and that should be
  725. 23:37good enough. If your scara plane isn't
  726. 23:39big enough, just make it bigger. Then
  727. 23:41for the last one, just move the bottom
  728. 23:43lid up a bit. You can tweak everything
  729. 23:45later, even after you've added the
  730. 23:47drivers. So, let's just get it all set
  731. 23:49up for now. Before we do the bones,
  732. 23:51let's set up the eyelashes shape keys.
  733. 23:53It's pretty simple. Just add a folder
  734. 23:55and keys named the same things as the
  735. 23:57eye so they're easier to keep track of.
  736. 23:59Now, when you're editing each key, just
  737. 24:01turn each similar key on the body up to
  738. 24:03one, so you know exactly where to place
  739. 24:05the eyelash so it looks perfect with
  740. 24:07everything else. You can follow the
  741. 24:09exact same process. I'll make it flop
  742. 24:11downwards since that's how the lashes
  743. 24:13usually work.
  744. 24:25[music]
  745. 24:27Since I realize I don't want the happy
  746. 24:29lashes to plop down, I don't want to
  747. 24:30copy the blink key. So, I'll just make
  748. 24:32it from scratch. The eyelash verts are
  749. 24:34much easier to move anyway.
  750. 24:43The surprised one is pretty easy,
  751. 24:50and the bottom up one barely needs any
  752. 24:52changes. We'll set up the drivers so
  753. 24:54both the bodies and eyelashes keys
  754. 24:56activate at the same time, so it'll look
  755. 24:58exactly how you'd expect it to. Now,
  756. 25:00let's figure out what bones we want to
  757. 25:02create these shapes. You can just have
  758. 25:03individual bones for each off to the
  759. 25:05side to trigger each one. But it feels
  760. 25:07way more natural to set them up in a way
  761. 25:09that makes visual sense and where you
  762. 25:11can make multiple keys work with one
  763. 25:13bone. I like setting it up where there's
  764. 25:15just one bone at the top lid, one at the
  765. 25:17bottom, and then just one off to the
  766. 25:19side for the happy expression since that
  767. 25:21one's harder to work into everything
  768. 25:23else.
  769. 25:24I'll call them top lid, bot lid. L, and
  770. 25:28happy L. Don't forget to parent them to
  771. 25:31the head. We'll make the blink and
  772. 25:33surprise work with the top lid and then
  773. 25:35the bottom up key will work with the bot
  774. 25:37lid. I usually split the surprise
  775. 25:39expression into a top up and a bottom
  776. 25:41down key too, but it's not necessary.
  777. 25:43It's just nice to have the option to use
  778. 25:45them individually sometimes. Select each
  779. 25:47bone, right click, and press
  780. 25:49symmetriize. If symmetriize ever fails,
  781. 25:51it's because you need to have L at the
  782. 25:53end of the name. Add a driver to the
  783. 25:55blink key and make it use top lids Y
  784. 25:57location in local space and make it
  785. 26:00negative since blinking is a downward
  786. 26:02motion. Mess with the multiplication
  787. 26:04until the bone and the upper eyelid
  788. 26:06basically move in unison. Seven worked
  789. 26:08for me. For the happy key, just copy
  790. 26:11over that driver, but switch it to the
  791. 26:13happy bone. That's basically good
  792. 26:14enough. For surprise, copy over the
  793. 26:17blink driver and make it positive again
  794. 26:20since we'll be moving that bone up to
  795. 26:21activate surprise. Then mess with the
  796. 26:24multiplied number again until moving it
  797. 26:25up moves it in unison. That
  798. 26:27[clears throat] number will probably be
  799. 26:28higher since it's moving a shorter
  800. 26:30distance. I went up to 25. Then finally
  801. 26:33copy that driver to the bottom up key
  802. 26:36and just change it to the bot lid bone.
  803. 26:38And then again mess with the multiplied
  804. 26:39number. Since there's nothing strange
  805. 26:41going on here, we can do a lot of
  806. 26:42copying. Now each of the bones can be
  807. 26:45used to move around the eye as you need.
  808. 26:47Let's get the eyelash set up too since
  809. 26:49it's super easy. Just copy each driver
  810. 26:51from the body shape keys to the eyelash
  811. 26:52shape keys, making sure they're in the
  812. 26:54same spot as they were on the body.
  813. 26:56That's it. Now, since the drivers are
  814. 26:58identical, the eyelash should move in
  815. 27:00the exact same way with the same bones.
  816. 27:03So now we just need to copy and mirror
  817. 27:05everything and then change each bone to
  818. 27:07their right version. And it's all set up
  819. 27:09perfectly. Both eyes can be posed and
  820. 27:12the iris can be moved and scaled. If you
  821. 27:14can think of more expressions to add,
  822. 27:16just add another shape key and maybe a
  823. 27:18bone to create that expression. You can
  824. 27:20have as many as you want. Things might
  825. 27:21not work so well depending on what your
  826. 27:23face is like, but in this case, it does
  827. 27:24work.
  828. 27:27We're done with the eyes, so let's get
  829. 27:29the rest of the face done, which should
  830. 27:31be the last part of making this
  831. 27:32character. We aren't going to use shape
  832. 27:34keys, but I do want to remind you that
  833. 27:36you can use shape keys if you want. If
  834. 27:38you want a ton of usability, you can
  835. 27:39make a shape key for moving each point
  836. 27:41on the mouth in all cardinal directions.
  837. 27:44So, you can drive them just like we did
  838. 27:46with the iris. Or if you just want
  839. 27:48something quick, you can make a single
  840. 27:49shape key for the whole mouth or brow
  841. 27:51shape and then just activate it whenever
  842. 27:53you need to. For me though, I prefer
  843. 27:55having solid control points for a bunch
  844. 27:57of different parts of the mouth so I can
  845. 27:59make any expression I want on the fly so
  846. 28:01I don't have to stick to a couple
  847. 28:02predetermined shapes. So, I'll tell you
  848. 28:04how to make that. I think it's both
  849. 28:05easier than shape keys and way more
  850. 28:07versatile. The eyebrows will be super
  851. 28:10quick, so let's do them now. First,
  852. 28:12select them and turn on wireframe and
  853. 28:14all edges. If you can't see the
  854. 28:15wireframe that well, make sure to make
  855. 28:17the black materials viewport display
  856. 28:19color a little lighter. What we want to
  857. 28:21do is just map each vertical edge on the
  858. 28:23brow to one bone so it's super easy to
  859. 28:26move around. If you added a ton of edges
  860. 28:28to it, I'd recommend deleting some, but
  861. 28:30you can also just rig it however you
  862. 28:32want. It's not the end of the world. In
  863. 28:34edit mode with the rig, if we copy one
  864. 28:36of the eyebones with X mirror turned on,
  865. 28:38it'll automatically be mirrored. Let's
  866. 28:40add a bone to the inner tip of the brow
  867. 28:42and call it brow.l. We'll need to
  868. 28:44manually rename the right side in this
  869. 28:46case, so call it brow. R, and it'll stay
  870. 28:49symmetriized. Then, if we copy it, it'll
  871. 28:51copy its name, too. I only have four
  872. 28:53total loops on my brow. So, I only need
  873. 28:56four bones. They also don't need to be
  874. 28:58exactly on top of each edge, just close
  875. 29:00enough. parent them with keep offset to
  876. 29:02the headbone, but since the eyebones
  877. 29:04were already parented, these are too.
  878. 29:06Now, parent the eyebrow to the rig with
  879. 29:08empty groups. This will add a vertex
  880. 29:10group for every single bone in the rig,
  881. 29:12and we definitely don't need them. So,
  882. 29:14find the brow vertex groups and press
  883. 29:16this lock symbol on the right. You can
  884. 29:18click and drag across to select them
  885. 29:20all. Now, we can go to the drop down on
  886. 29:22the right and click delete unlocked
  887. 29:24groups. It'll get rid of every other
  888. 29:26group, which is way easier to look at.
  889. 29:27You can also sort by name so they aren't
  890. 29:30alternating back and forth. Now in edit
  891. 29:32mode, apply a value of one to each edge,
  892. 29:35switching to match their nearest bone.
  893. 29:37Since I copied them in order from left
  894. 29:38to right, it'll be brow.l brow.l.001
  895. 29:42and so on. So we can just do it in that
  896. 29:45order. Since it still has the mirror
  897. 29:47modifier, it'll automatically mirror the
  898. 29:49weights to the mirrored side. Just
  899. 29:50remember to put the armature modifier
  900. 29:52below the mirror but above the shrink
  901. 29:54wrap. Then we can just move the bone to
  902. 29:56change the shape of the eyebrow whenever
  903. 29:58we want. When posing, you might want to
  904. 30:00rotate them, too, so the edges are at a
  905. 30:01good angle for forming the shape. You
  906. 30:04don't have to add this, but you can even
  907. 30:06add a shrink wrap to the bones, too,
  908. 30:08since we're going to want them to stick
  909. 30:09to the head anyway. Just go to the bone
  910. 30:11constraints tab when you're in pose mode
  911. 30:13and add a shrink wrap and make it use
  912. 30:15the head as a shrink wrap. Constraints
  913. 30:17are kind of organized like modifiers,
  914. 30:19but mostly just work for other purposes,
  915. 30:21like limiting their location or making a
  916. 30:23bone point at an object. Now, you can't
  917. 30:25pull it away from the head, which would
  918. 30:27make the brows look a bit weird. To
  919. 30:29apply it to all of them, select them all
  920. 30:31and then select the one with the
  921. 30:32constraint and then press copy to
  922. 30:34selected in this drop down. Now, they
  923. 30:36all have it, but again, you don't need
  924. 30:38it. We want to do a similar thing for
  925. 30:40each part of the lips. So, let's add all
  926. 30:42the bones we need first. Turn on
  927. 30:44wireframe and all edges, but there's way
  928. 30:46too much detail visible because of our
  929. 30:48outline solidify modifier, so just turn
  930. 30:50it off for now. Add one bone for each
  931. 30:52edge around the mouth. There are a
  932. 30:54couple more edges than I usually aim
  933. 30:56for, but it'll technically work. It'll
  934. 30:58just give us an annoying amount of bones
  935. 30:59to pose. You can map two edges to one
  936. 31:02bone instead if you don't want as many
  937. 31:04bones. They're overlapping each other,
  938. 31:06so I'm going to rotate the ones on the
  939. 31:08bottom lip down. If you change the pivot
  940. 31:10point to individual origins, you can do
  941. 31:12them all at once. Medium point won't
  942. 31:14rotate them at their base in edit mode.
  943. 31:23I'm going to name them from the top to
  944. 31:24the edge of the mouth like mouth T,
  945. 31:27mouth T. L mouth T. L. That but with two
  946. 31:32and then mouth E.L. then at the bottom
  947. 31:35it's mouth B and so on. Remember the
  948. 31:39order you added the numbered bones in,
  949. 31:41so you don't have to constantly check
  950. 31:43back. Then symmetriize. The middle bones
  951. 31:46obviously don't need to be symmetriized.
  952. 31:48Don't parent the head yet. We still want
  953. 31:50some more bones. It's way more natural
  954. 31:52looking in animation to use a jawbone,
  955. 31:54too. So, we need to add one. Place it so
  956. 31:57its head or its base joint is just
  957. 31:59around this area relative to the ear.
  958. 32:01And its tail or its top joint is near
  959. 32:03where the front of the chin is. You can
  960. 32:05change this X location to zero over here
  961. 32:08to get it to the center. Just do it for
  962. 32:10both the head and tail.
  963. 32:13The last bones we need to add are for
  964. 32:15the teeth and tongue. To keep things
  965. 32:17simple, just add one bone for the top
  966. 32:18teeth, bottom teeth, and tongue. You
  967. 32:21usually want to add multiple bones for
  968. 32:22the tongue, but it's only really
  969. 32:24necessary if you plan on posing it a lot
  970. 32:25more. So, for now, I just give it one.
  971. 32:27For [clears throat] the teeth, I usually
  972. 32:29like having the bones head be in the
  973. 32:30middle of the teeth, but it doesn't
  974. 32:32matter too much. I'll call them teeth. T
  975. 32:34teeth.b and tongue. Now we need to
  976. 32:37parent everything to these bones. Let's
  977. 32:39do it with the teeth and tongue first
  978. 32:41since it's super easy. Just select both
  979. 32:43shift select the rig parent with empty
  980. 32:45groupoups and like with the eyebrows,
  981. 32:47find the teeth groups on the teeth and
  982. 32:49the tongue group on the tongue and lock
  983. 32:51them. And then on the right, delete
  984. 32:53unlocked groups. Now in edit mode, just
  985. 32:55select the top teeth with L and apply a
  986. 32:58value of one to the top vertex group.
  987. 33:00And then do the same for the bottom
  988. 33:01group. Then do the same with the tongue.
  989. 33:04They're all sorted. So, let's deal with
  990. 33:06the jaw now. Parent the body to the rig
  991. 33:09again, but make sure to only parent with
  992. 33:11empty groups. Now, since the body
  993. 33:12already has a ton of vertex groups for
  994. 33:14the rest of the rig, what empty groups
  995. 33:16actually does is just add groups we
  996. 33:18didn't have before, but keep all the
  997. 33:19groups we already had the exact same.
  998. 33:21This is partially important since we
  999. 33:23don't want to make the hairbones affect
  1000. 33:24the head at all. We're going to have to
  1001. 33:26use weight paint mode for real this
  1002. 33:28time. So find that jaw vertex group so
  1003. 33:30we can add to it. Before we do anything,
  1004. 33:32we need to select some options in our
  1005. 33:34weight paint tool. I mentioned these in
  1006. 33:36the last video, but I'm going to mention
  1007. 33:38them again. First, make sure mirror is
  1008. 33:40on and mirror vertex groups. So it'll,
  1009. 33:42you know, mirror the changes. So we only
  1010. 33:44have to do half of the work. Mirror
  1011. 33:45vertex group specifically will find the
  1012. 33:47mirrored group and match the weights
  1013. 33:49there. So it's obviously important. But
  1014. 33:51even more important than that, in
  1015. 33:52options, select autonormalize. This is
  1016. 33:55probably the most necessary button to
  1017. 33:56push in this whole process. Basically,
  1018. 33:58it makes sure each weight group will max
  1019. 34:00out at one, and it'll replace weights
  1020. 34:02from other vertex groups to make sure of
  1021. 34:05it. We're going to be painting on top of
  1022. 34:06the spine six group, which is the head.
  1023. 34:08So, we'll need to make sure we replace
  1024. 34:10some of that as we paint. When using
  1025. 34:12vertex groups for non-rigg things, it's
  1026. 34:14completely fine to have them add up to
  1027. 34:15more than one. But, when it comes to
  1028. 34:17rigging, it's much more necessary that
  1029. 34:19it only adds up to one. I learned while
  1030. 34:21making this tutorial that it actually
  1031. 34:22safeguards against most things going
  1032. 34:24wrong, but you should still try and keep
  1033. 34:25all the weights at one. Anyway, if we
  1034. 34:28paint on now, it'll take away from other
  1035. 34:30groups to let the jaw group go up to
  1036. 34:31one. So, paint it so that the bottom of
  1037. 34:33the head is all red, which means the
  1038. 34:35jawbone is influencing those areas 100%.
  1039. 34:38We want to blur it out to the side so it
  1040. 34:40pulls along the head smoothly.
  1041. 34:45You might want to rotate the jawbone
  1042. 34:47down in pose mode so the vertices will
  1043. 34:49move when we paint them so we can know
  1044. 34:51if it looks all right. This is also a
  1045. 34:53situation where you might want to turn
  1046. 34:54off the subdiv modifier because the
  1047. 34:56weight painting tools are way more
  1048. 34:58reliable when you know exactly where
  1049. 35:00each vertex is.
  1050. 35:03You'll probably have to hide the teeth
  1051. 35:05and tongue while painting the inside of
  1052. 35:06the mouth. There. We need to make the
  1053. 35:08bottom part follow the jaw, too. So,
  1054. 35:10paint that red. We also want the bottom
  1055. 35:12lip to be red, but we'll be changing
  1056. 35:13that later. So, just get it started with
  1057. 35:15the jaw first.
  1058. 35:21Since our lips are intersecting, you
  1059. 35:24might want to apply the weights in edit
  1060. 35:25mode so it's more precise. I'll
  1061. 35:28control-click on the other side so it'll
  1062. 35:30select this whole grid from here to
  1063. 35:31there.
  1064. 35:34You can set the weight in the tool
  1065. 35:36settings to zero [music] to erase
  1066. 35:38weights.
  1067. 35:42Now just blur the sides until it looks
  1068. 35:44all right. So the sides of the mouth are
  1069. 35:46blending along nicely.
  1070. 35:52Also make sure that the back of the jaw
  1071. 35:54is very blurred out so it doesn't bunch
  1072. 35:56up back there. Don't forget you can
  1073. 35:57change the strength of the blur in the
  1074. 35:59tool settings. We can tweak this all
  1075. 36:01later, so don't worry about getting it
  1076. 36:03perfect right away. Let's do the lips.
  1077. 36:05Let's actually start off in edit mode. I
  1078. 36:07want to apply a weight of one to each
  1079. 36:09part of the lip so each bone pulls along
  1080. 36:11that edge 100%. It'll be easier to see
  1081. 36:14if we toggle on something on the
  1082. 36:15armature modifier like the triangular on
  1083. 36:18cage button. There's also the square
  1084. 36:19button which actually lets us see what
  1085. 36:21it's changing in edit mode. So if we
  1086. 36:23toggle that on for the armature
  1087. 36:24modifier, we can use the jaw to open up
  1088. 36:26the mouth and edit the lips easier. We
  1089. 36:29just want to select the verts around
  1090. 36:30each part of the lip.
  1091. 36:34Make sure autonormalize is turned on
  1092. 36:36here and apply one to each related bones
  1093. 36:38vertex group. This button was added in
  1094. 36:40version 4.5 so you won't have it if you
  1095. 36:42have an earlier version. If that's the
  1096. 36:44case, just do it with weight painting
  1097. 36:46instead. You need a normalizing anyway.
  1098. 36:48Now you just need to remember which bone
  1099. 36:50is which so you can apply them easily.
  1100. 36:57If it returns to its original spot, you
  1101. 36:59can tell it erased the jaw weights and
  1102. 37:01replaced them with the lip weights,
  1103. 37:02which is what we want. We'll parent the
  1104. 37:04bones in a second.
  1105. 37:09Once it's all done, make sure you test
  1106. 37:11each bone to make sure you did it right.
  1107. 37:13It's agonizing work, so don't assume you
  1108. 37:15did it perfectly.
  1109. 37:20If that's all in place, we should just
  1110. 37:22be able to blur each of the mouth
  1111. 37:23weights to make them look a bit nicer.
  1112. 37:25It won't be perfect, but it'll
  1113. 37:27definitely be good enough. Also, with
  1114. 37:28mirror vertex groups on, it'll perform
  1115. 37:30each action on the mirrored vertex
  1116. 37:32group, so you only have to blur one
  1117. 37:34side. Just keep blurring each group
  1118. 37:36until it looks right.
  1119. 37:39You don't want the gradient to be
  1120. 37:40blobbing off to the side. So, just blur
  1121. 37:42it until it looks somewhat like this.
  1122. 37:45I'll also blur the jaw weights a bit,
  1123. 37:46too.
  1124. 37:55Now we just need to parent the bones to
  1125. 37:57each other. We want the lower parts of
  1126. 37:59the mouth to all be parented to the jaw
  1127. 38:01and the top parts to be parented to the
  1128. 38:03head so it mimics real life. So select
  1129. 38:05all the bones of the top lip and the
  1130. 38:06edges of the mouth and also the top
  1131. 38:08teeth and parent those to the headbone
  1132. 38:10since those parts are more locked onto
  1133. 38:12our skull. Then parent the jawbone to
  1134. 38:15the head too. But now select all the
  1135. 38:17bottom lip bones, the bottom teeth and
  1136. 38:19the tongue and parent those to the
  1137. 38:21jawbone.
  1138. 38:23Now we can just rotate the jawbone to
  1139. 38:25move the whole lower portion of his
  1140. 38:26face, which is so much quicker than
  1141. 38:28moving each bone individually. And on
  1142. 38:30top of that, you can still pose these
  1143. 38:31bones on top of where the jaw moved
  1144. 38:33them. There are ways to use constraints
  1145. 38:36and other bones to make the mouth more
  1146. 38:38round as you move the jawbone, but since
  1147. 38:40this is a beginner tutorial, I'll just
  1148. 38:42say that this is really all you need.
  1149. 38:44Also, they should all be hidable using
  1150. 38:45the face button in our rig layers. If
  1151. 38:47they're all a part of the same face bone
  1152. 38:49collection, if they aren't, then just
  1153. 38:51remove them from any bone collection
  1154. 38:52they're a part of and then add them to
  1155. 38:54the face collection. Then the button
  1156. 38:56will work.
  1157. 38:58You're in the final stretch. We're
  1158. 39:00almost done. Technically, the last thing
  1159. 39:01we need to do is just cosmetic, but I
  1160. 39:03think you'll want to know about it. If
  1161. 39:05you look at the rigify rig, it has all
  1162. 39:06these different wiry shapes to separate
  1163. 39:08each bone from each other. We can add
  1164. 39:10them to our new bones too super easily,
  1165. 39:12especially since the rigify rig made so
  1166. 39:14many we can use. If you find this
  1167. 39:16WGTS_rigs
  1168. 39:18collection, these are all the shapes
  1169. 39:20that the rig uses. And we can use these,
  1170. 39:21too. WGTS is short for widget. Here's
  1171. 39:24how you change a bone shape. Let's say
  1172. 39:26we want to make these mouthbones little
  1173. 39:28cubes. If you select the bone in pose
  1174. 39:30mode, then in the bone tab, go down to
  1175. 39:32viewport display. This is where you add
  1176. 39:34bone shapes. In the custom object part,
  1177. 39:37just select whatever object you want to
  1178. 39:38be that shape and then it'll turn into
  1179. 39:40it. If you look at the rig, you can see
  1180. 39:42that the torso bone in the rigify rig is
  1181. 39:45also a cube. So if you type torso into
  1182. 39:47this section, you can use the same
  1183. 39:48widget that the rigify rig uses. Now you
  1184. 39:51can edit location called its translation
  1185. 39:53for some reason, rotation and scale to
  1186. 39:55make it exactly how you want. This won't
  1187. 39:57change the placement of the bone itself,
  1188. 39:59just where the visible part of the bone
  1189. 40:01is. The custom object is placed where
  1190. 40:03the head or base of the bone is. So, if
  1191. 40:05it's a bit out of place, that's why.
  1192. 40:07Just change its translation, so it's
  1193. 40:09where it should be. Now, we can change
  1194. 40:11its color, too, in the area above it.
  1195. 40:13It's set to default colors, but we can
  1196. 40:15change it to any of these color sets. Or
  1197. 40:17select custom to make it any color you
  1198. 40:19want.
  1199. 40:21These three slots are for when it's not
  1200. 40:23selected, when it's selected, but not
  1201. 40:25the active selection, and when it's the
  1202. 40:27active selection. What I like to do is
  1203. 40:30copy the colors from a rigify bone and
  1204. 40:32just change its unselected color. You do
  1205. 40:34that by selecting it, shift selecting a
  1206. 40:36rigify bone, and then pressing these
  1207. 40:38arrows on the right. That'll apply that
  1208. 40:40color to every selected bone. So now it
  1209. 40:42matches the style of all the other
  1210. 40:43bones. You might want to copy over both
  1211. 40:45the bone color and the pose bone color.
  1212. 40:48Or just set the ladder to default
  1213. 40:49colors. Now you can copy all of this
  1214. 40:52customization to the other bones by
  1215. 40:54selecting them all, selecting the bone
  1216. 40:55with the special shapes, and then on
  1217. 40:57each of these parts here, just right
  1218. 40:58click and press copy to selected or copy
  1219. 41:01all to selected. That'll make each bone
  1220. 41:03identical. I'll adjust each rotation
  1221. 41:06manually and copy that around.
  1222. 41:11Also, you can copy the colors like
  1223. 41:13before. I want to use the style for the
  1224. 41:15brow bones and the main eyelid bones,
  1225. 41:17too. So, I'll copy them from there, too.
  1226. 41:21For the eyebrows, I'll actually rotate
  1227. 41:22them a bit and scale it up on its Y-axis
  1228. 41:25so it mimics the edges they're attached
  1229. 41:26to a bit more. For the happy expression,
  1230. 41:30I'll actually take the chest shape since
  1231. 41:31it's close enough to the upturned shape
  1232. 41:33of the eye. I'll make it smaller and
  1233. 41:35flip it around, scaling it down on the
  1234. 41:37Z-axis so it's flatter.
  1235. 41:39I'll also use that one for the jaw since
  1236. 41:41it looks kind of similar to the bone
  1237. 41:43shape that the rigify face rig uses. I
  1238. 41:45want it to just be around the chin since
  1239. 41:47I don't want this giant bone to always
  1240. 41:48be visible inside of the head. For the
  1241. 41:51iris bones, I just want them to be the
  1242. 41:53same shape as the irises, so I need a
  1243. 41:55circle. The toe and breast bones are
  1244. 41:57circles, so use those. And then scale it
  1245. 42:00up on the Y-axis so they fit the shape.
  1246. 42:03The hair bones actually don't have a
  1247. 42:05special color either, so I'll give them
  1248. 42:06one, too. For some reason, I like making
  1249. 42:08the hair bones orange, so you can copy
  1250. 42:10over the finger bones color. You can
  1251. 42:12also edit their shapes and any of the
  1252. 42:14rigify shapes, too.
  1253. 42:17If you ever want to make your own
  1254. 42:18shapes, you can just add a curved
  1255. 42:20circle, edit that to be whatever shape
  1256. 42:22you want, and then select it for the
  1257. 42:24bone. You can also use a normal mesh,
  1258. 42:26but it's generally nicer to have a
  1259. 42:28wireframe for these bone shapes than a
  1260. 42:30full mesh. So, if you select all these
  1261. 42:31verts, X to delete, but then delete only
  1262. 42:34faces, so we'll be left with a wireframe
  1263. 42:37cube, which should be much nicer. Also,
  1264. 42:39you can even add a text object to use
  1265. 42:41for bone shapes. If you go into edit
  1266. 42:43mode with it, you can just type whatever
  1267. 42:45you want. Change the fill mode on its
  1268. 42:47data tab to none, and then just select
  1269. 42:49it for the bone.
  1270. 42:51There are also these objects called
  1271. 42:52empties, which are just empty wire
  1272. 42:54objects, which you can also use for bone
  1273. 42:56shapes. There's tons of customizability
  1274. 42:58here, so do what you want. You'll figure
  1275. 42:59out what you want in the rig the more
  1276. 43:01you use it.
  1277. 43:25And we are finally done. As far as this
  1278. 43:28character design is concerned, there's
  1279. 43:29nothing else to really do. But I am
  1280. 43:31going to make another video after this
  1281. 43:32to add some things that this specific
  1282. 43:34character wouldn't need, like textures
  1283. 43:36and clothes, since whatever character
  1284. 43:37you want to make will surely want that
  1285. 43:39stuff. As for what to do until then,
  1286. 43:42feel free to post whatever character you
  1287. 43:43made in the art channel of my Discord
  1288. 43:45server. I'd love to see what you made
  1289. 43:46out of the series. It makes all this
  1290. 43:48effort feel worth it. Or as usual, if
  1291. 43:50you're having any problems related to
  1292. 43:52this video, this process overall, or
  1293. 43:54anything going wrong in Blender, you can
  1294. 43:56comment them below or go to the help
  1295. 43:58channel of my Discord server to ask
  1296. 44:00about it. I'll try to answer as much as
  1297. 44:01I can for as long as I can. I'm sure I
  1298. 44:03missed some important part of this
  1299. 44:05tutorial that beginners would totally
  1300. 44:06get lost in, so there's a solid chance
  1301. 44:08that that's not even your fault. If I
  1302. 44:10miss anything major, I'll add it to a
  1303. 44:11pin comment or something. Also, don't
  1304. 44:14forget if you want to look back on any
  1305. 44:15piece of info in this character modeling
  1306. 44:17series, I have the whole script in one
  1307. 44:19big dock where you can use Ctrl+F to
  1308. 44:21search for keywords in it, so you can
  1309. 44:22find specific pieces of info in this
  1310. 44:24giant wall of text. I decided to cut
  1311. 44:26some parts from the videos that I left
  1312. 44:28in the script, so there is some more
  1313. 44:29info there, too. There are also tons of
  1314. 44:31ways of making a character, so
  1315. 44:33definitely still look up other tutorials
  1316. 44:34about character modeling to learn even
  1317. 44:36more things you can use. If you got
  1318. 44:37through this whole series, I'll say that
  1319. 44:39you're confidently no longer a beginner
  1320. 44:41in Blender anymore. So, any tutorial
  1321. 44:43will do. I mean, some are probably still
  1322. 44:44too much, even for me, but I guess you
  1323. 44:46don't need to use beginner in your
  1324. 44:48search anymore. Anyway, thanks for
  1325. 44:50sticking through all these tutorials.
  1326. 44:51There are still more to come, so stay
  1327. 44:53tuned. Making this series definitely
  1328. 44:55took a lot out of me. So, after the
  1329. 44:56textures and clothes one, I won't make
  1330. 44:58more tutorials for a while, but I have a
  1331. 45:00few in mind. Some of them are how you'd
  1332. 45:02port a character like this into VR Chat,
  1333. 45:04which I know people would want to know.
  1334. 45:05How to do sculpting and rettopology, how
  1335. 45:07to 3D print character models like this,
  1336. 45:09and more. Let me know if you really want
  1337. 45:11one of those or something else. Since
  1338. 45:13videos take a long time, I might try to
  1339. 45:15make text tutorials out of them first.
  1340. 45:17We'll see though. I still have one video
  1341. 45:19to make. See my link tree for a link to
  1342. 45:21all the other sites I post art on. See
  1343. 45:23you later, and thanks for watching.

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