An Artist Recreates Herself in 3D With ZBrush & Maya
Freelance Artist April showcased the finished version of her digital avatar.
April, a Freelance Artist who specializes primarily in creating realistic digital characters, has recently shared an absolutely mind-blowing facial animation showcasing the finished version of her personal 3D avatar.
First revealed seven months ago, April's 3D portrait boasts a high level of detail and was created using Maya and ZBrush, as well as XGen, which was used to set up the character's gorgeous hairstyle. According to the artist, the final animation was created using 400+ blendshapes "to ensure the quality of the expression".
In case you're not familiar with Blendshapes, it's a clever technique also known as morph targets or shape keys. The Blendshapes lets you create and control different facial expressions, poses, or deformations of a 3D model.
To put it simply, you have a set of predefined shapes or poses that can be smoothly transitioned between to create lifelike animations. This technique is used in character animation, especially when it comes to facial expressions and lip-syncing. Artists can just mix different shapes to get a wide range of realistic movements and emotions.
To create Blendshapes, you'd have to sculpt different versions of a face or body, representing various expressions or deformations. Then, these versions become targets or morphs which are then smoothly transitioning from one shape to another.
Why would you use the trick? Instead of animating every frame manually, you can simply define the desired expressions or poses and then just tweak intensity or timing to save time.
What is more, the technique can be used for body movements, such as muscle bulging, clothing deformation, or even environmental effects like wind-blown hair.
And here are some WiP shots shared by the creator:
If you would like to learn more about setting up facial animations in Maya, here are some great tutorials that would serve as a great starting point:
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