blendshapes or joint controlled facial rigs?
 

so guys, i saw a showreel of a guy called Joe Sandstrom at joesandstrom.com. he has used the method of achieving facial deformations with the help of joints.
i thought that was indeed a nice idea, as the results i have been getting with blendshapes hasn't satisfied me all that much.
it seems that using blendshapes is always a bit limiting; as there are only a number of expressions that you can model beforehand. whereas joint controlled facial rig might give more control to the animators. but i think the setup would be very tough...
how about you guys out there? what sort of rig do you like to use? which one do you think is a better option?

Facial animation based on joints is pritty hard to control-Imagine how complex should mounth joint chain be,how many bones to achive all the facial exprssions?

Blend shape will not satisfy your needs if you dont create enough blend shape targets to achive complex therefor realistic facial animation.

Problem that comes with blend shapes is that it is deforming linear in animation but you can add more blends in between to get more looking curve type deform(eyelid example).

Joints should be more accurate,but setting them up and skining is quite long and complex process.

Its not bad idea to explore joint based facial animation since I dont think that blends will hold on for a long time...

that's what seemed likely to me too. i did some research, and it seems that quite a few people are doing it as well. all of them have upgraded from blendshapes to joint-controlled rigs. and they recommend it, rather than blendshapes.
i like the idea, and will try to make my next rig with this method. but, i couldn't find any tutorials on how to...
i know jason osipa explains this rig in his book "stop staring...", but, that book is not available in india... :headbang:
if you know some links, please let me know...

http://www.simplymaya.com/movie_page...html?tut_id=88

look also on the authors site for free one

http://www.dirtyoldtoon.com/tutorial...utorial_01.htm

hey vlad,
thanks a lot for that. i can't download the video tut, as don't have points... but the text tutorial is also quite informative.
i will check and see how it works for me...
if you know any more tuts, i will really appreciate that:beer: