Fixed file link

fixed the link should work now :)

Share and Share alike.

Hey guys I'm sure a lot of you are interested in character animation, however there isn't a lot of free facial models rigged for use. For those interested in facial animation, I'm posted a head of mine, rigged. It includes blendshapes. To be honest this is an old version of a head I completed a while back, This is kinda the raw file with the blendshapes pretty much done just in need of tweaking. I recently completed the file and was about to delete this version of it, but figured that I did put some work into it and maybe you guys could get some use out of it. I just did it to teach myself facial animation by using techniques from Jason Ospia's "Stop Staring", and though the final file differs greatly from this one, you can still probably crank out a semi decent lip sync with it, So you may use this as you need just not for commercial work.

Enjoy, really rip it apart. try making an interface for it, I have and am not posting that one haha, thats for personal use :) so enjoy and happy maya-ing

new file

included are:

Head model
eye model
eyelid weights for eye rotation
expression driven blendweights for teeth and neck fat
18 blendshapes for the teeth(tounge) and face

P.S: to open this file in maya 2009 or earlier go to file>open and click on the box next to it. click the check box that says "ignore version" so open fine:) Also, the eyes are currently constrained to empties. So by rotating the head the eyes stay straight on, Kinda a cool effect. delete if you want or just rotate the empty (though this file doesn't have the eyelid expressions I made)

Oh well run with it!

Fall 2009: ARIL 360

This blog is now entering its second year with the return of ARIL 360: MOTION, LIGHT, TEXTURE, MAPPING. I would like to welcome to this blog annex digital workbook the students taking this class with me this fall. Looking forward to seeing your brilliant renders!

MetroCAF 2009 Call for Participation video

Music: "Wake up" by bluebottle (ccMixter.org)

Wolf and Pig

Another great example of a creative person with too much time on his (her?) hands: "At first I photographed stop motion　animation. And I displayed the photographs in my room and photographed it again.　Enjoy a connection with the world of the room and the world in the photograph" (via BoingBoing)

World Build with Lightwave

My sister pointed me to this video:

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

It is a wee bit lengthy. But the 3D was created with Lightwave.

Drew Tip of The Day

Tip: Holding the ALT or OPTION key while already dragging an object, such as a null or bone will allow you to snap it to the location of another object. I assume this means the origins are snapping, so I would check pivots just in case. I also do not believe it aligns the origin to the snap target, which presents both benefits and drawbacks.

Work fast and prosper.