Animating Facial Features & Expressions [Paperback]

B. Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1998

Creating realistic animated characters and creutures is a major challenge for computer artists, but getting the facial features and expressions right is probably the most difficult aspect. In this book, readers will find an in-depth resource to guide them through the entire process from the history of facial animation and anatomical structures, to expressing motions and speech visually. The text features comprehensive character studies showing detailed examples of 38 human and cartoon facial expressions through to timing charts and side-by-side comparisons. It also includes detailed instruction on how to recreate these expressions using weighted morph targets, providing the actual target percentages to achieve the expressions. A reference guide shows you how the weighted morph targets should appear so you can create perfect facial expression morphs. On the CD are front and side templates of each expression so you can recreate them with your characters. The book also covers comprehensive instruction on lip-synch technology and the products available. It explains how to create visual expressions for speech and sound under various conditions (for example, excited, sad, stuttering). The author covers his own techniques for determining proper facial expressions to use in your scene in order to to guarantee that the viewers are absorbed in your animation. He also reveals the truth behind the relationship between the eyes and mouth in facial expression. The book goes on to look at the human head, illustrating precise techniques for ensuring the proper proportions and placement of details. In addition, it reveals little know facts about the proper movement of the jaw and facial tissue during expression. Bill covers many elements of proper skeletal and tissue movement so your character's skin appears to be moving over the skeletal structure beneath, rather than the actual bones mo moving, which is a common problem with 3D facial animation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The challenges of modeling and animating realistic faces and emotions with computer software are confronted and easily worked through in Animating Facial Features & Expressions. If you have any interest in computer-based character animation, this book will be a valuable addition to your reference shelf. The book starts with an exploration of the anatomy of the head, including underlying facial muscles and proportions; continues with examples of displaying different emotions; and ends with a series of appendices that list different expressions and emotions for human faces, cartoon faces, and nonhuman (monster) faces.

Of all the material, the most important section discusses speech/lip sync animation. Imagine the difficulties not only in creating a realistic sculpture but animating it as well. While you will encounter the normal problems of modeling everything within proper proportions, you must also constantly alter the facial features and mouth shapes with very specific timing to achieve realistic-looking movement. If either the timing or proportions stray from the given norm, the illusion is shattered.

The author starts with an explanation of phonemes (defined as "the sounds we hear in speech patterns"), how they sound, and how they look (in terms of mouth/lips/tongue shapes). A timing chart is then created, also known as reading a sound track, where the specific frame numbers are noted for each phoneme. With this in hand, it then becomes a simple matter of producing the proper shapes at the proper times to create a talking character.

Good facial expression and lip-sync animation remain anything but "a simple matter." A practiced ear is required for reading a soundtrack, and a trained eye for creating the facial features that match those shapes. However, this book is an excellent way to start tackling the problems involved.

One more note: the book is completely nonsoftware-specific, to the point where not one software package is mentioned. This may keep the book generic and focused on important issues, but it also places the burden of properly modeling and manipulating any faces or heads (not to mention software) in the hands of the reader. If you are new to 3D character animation, you might want to better learn the features of the software application you will be using before tackling the complexities of facial animation. --Mike Caputo

From Library Journal

Building models is actually pretty easy compared to lip-synching them to speech or giving them believable expressions. Fleming and Darris do a great job of explaining facial features and muscles, visual phonemes, and animation morphing. Tutorial models are included, but access to 3-D software is assumed. At least the first half of the book could be read by someone who knows absolutely nothing specific about 3-D software; a lot about what facial modeling is and how it works could be learned this way. This very interesting book is best suited to larger collections with an interest in design.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (December 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886801819
• ISBN-13: 978-1886801813
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,428,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars essential for serious animators, June 20, 2000

By 

George Tsouris (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Animating Facial Features & Expressions (Paperback)

If you are serious about animating, then you need this book. Previous reviews have said that there are too many pictures and not enough tutorials.

This is true, however, pictures are what you need for a book on this subject! It illustrates over 40 facial expressions for realistic and cartoon humans, 40 more for cartoonish expressions (like getting wacked in the face with a pan), and illustrates each of the 16 visual phenomes (tongue and jaw included!) for real and cartoon humans. Furthermore, each of the expressions is described by moving 25 weighted morph targets through 4 essential regions. Because it describes, in detail, how much weight should be given to each morph target to yield a given expression, tutorials, in the traditional "step 1, step 2..." method, are not needed! All you need to do is get down the weighted morph targets, and it gives a thorough explaination as to how to get that done.

With all of these amazing illustrations, the price of the book is worth it, but the commentary he offers (you could probably read all the words of the whole 380 page book in 2-3 hours, even much less) gives valuable advice as to how to further make your animations more realistic.

This book offers a complete library of many facial expressions, AND, most importantly, how to get them!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book review, January 5, 2000

By 

Lisa Day, Animation Artist (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animating Facial Features & Expressions (Paperback)

I just bought this book and I find the content to be extremely useful and helpful. It focuses on a very specialized topic that almost all 3D artists focus upon at least once during a project.

My complaint, however, is that there should have been better editing of the book before going to print. I am running across many typos and grammatical errors -- way more than I would think would be acceptable for a published book with a retail price tag... There are also errors in some of the Figures -- discrepancies that show up between the text and the Figures they're referring to. I can see a couple of typos being acceptable, but as I keep reading, the errors make reading it difficult as they seem to stand out more than the valuable content.

In general, the content is very good, but try proof-reading the material first, okay?

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor modeling, February 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Animating Facial Features & Expressions (Paperback)

I've bought more than a few excellent books, and more than a few bad ones. For the price they are asking, it should belong to the former catagory. You would think they would have some "guest" artists featured in this book, some who have made great looking models. One look at the cover (something I failed to do before buying) shows a few uglies that would fit right in a horror story, but not most animation. The models don't get much better on the inside. If you want to learn the material inside, start with a traditional drawing book -- it's much cheaper than most books on 3D, and more thorough. For lip sinc, try Digital Character Animation 2, volume 1, by George Maestri. I'm not buying another book by Bill Fleming, he doesn't have his act together.