Software Used:

After Effects, Maya and MatchMover

The purpose of this tutorial is to show that even a small studio can afford to use facial motion capture. As an animator in the computer games industry I have, on numerous occasions, been approached by the creative producer regarding the possibility of producing minutes upon minutes of lip-sync animation. Sadly the time frame has always been too tight to deliver a quality that I can personally be proud of. The technique presented in this tutorial is an attempt to bridge the gap between large quantities of lip-syncing and a tight time budget. You can download an example video from this URL to get started on your own project: http://www.ericthelander.com/tutorial/cheapFacialMotionCapture.zip This tutorial requires knowledge of character rigging, skin binding, and skin painting in Maya.

Video Tutorial - Intro:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Related Tutorials

If you liked reading this tutorial, you may also be interested in the following. "Creating Next-Gen Environment Textures - Total Textures Tutorial" by Danile Vijoi Hello, my name is Daniel Vijoi and I have been working in the gaming industry for 7 years. My current job is Lead Texture Artist at AMC Studio, a Romanian game development company based in Bucharest. During this time I have worked on many projects, like Test Drive Unlimited (Atari), Mercenaries 2, Saboteur (Pandemic Studios/EA), Pure (Blackrock Studios/DISNEY), Rise of Nations & Rise of Legends (Big Huge Games/THQ), and other exciting titles yet to be announced. "VRay for Maya Demo" by Dennis Holmboe My name is Dennis and I just got my hands on the “VRay For Maya” demo! A friend asked if I could explain the basics, so here is a very simple tutorial.