Over the past few years, 3D animation has become increasingly sophisticated. Done right, facial animation can now breathe life into inanimate 3D objects. As a result, industry and consumer demand for believable facial modeling and animation has grown dramatically.
Stop Staring is the first book to focus on this tricky yet satisfying art. Here, author and professional animator Jason Osipa shares what he's learned through several years of firsthand professional experience, offering a practical, heavily illustrated guide to one of the most challenging aspects of 3D animation.
In the course of the book, Osipa takes models in a variety of styles all the way from design and modeling to proper rigging and animation. His humorous, engaging approach combined with the book's professional-quality examples and depth of discussion make Stop Staring accessible to a wide audience while still invaluable to even advanced animators.
We're proud to announce that this book is an "Alias-Wavefront Approved" title. Although much of its content applies broadly to 3D work in a variety of software packages, Maya is the focus for all software-specific examples.
Stop Staring is printed on quality coated paper for crisp image reproduction throughout. It features a color insert showcasing the subtleties that color and shading provide in creating realistic facial features, plus a CD with models, textures, lip-synching samples, completed animations, and other related files to help readers complete their own facial animations.
Chapter 1 Learning the Basics of Lip Sync
Chapter 2 What the Eyes and Brows Tell Us
Chapter 3 Facial Landmarking
Chapter 4 Visimes and Lip Sync Technique
Chapter 5 Constructing a Mouth and Nose
Chapter 6 Mouth Keys
Chapter 7 Building Emotion: The Basics of the Eyes
Chapter 8 Constructing Eyes and Brows
Chapter 9 Eye and Brow Keys
Chapter 10 Connecting the Features
Chapter 11 Skeletal Setup, Weighting, and Rigging
Chapter 12 Interfaces for Your Faces
Chapter 13 Squash and Stretch and Squoosh
Chapter 14 A Shot in Production