Workflow Checklist
Here’s an example of how I generally approach facial animation. This is a “check-list” I use to complete a facial animation assignment.

Planning:

1. Listen to the sound track.
2. Write down the feelings of the character at certain moments. (Know what you want to say.)
3. Watch yourself saying it.
4. Look at body poses.
5. Sketch face poses that work for that feeling. (Know what words to use to say it.)
6. Plan eye direction to match emotion.

Technical Execution:

1. Keyframe eye direction.
2. Get open/close timing of jaw to match voice track.
3. Get other detailed lip-sync.

Emotion:

1. Pick key moments of emotion and key- frame the face as a whole to match the emotion (whole face keyframing).
2. Modify lip-sync with emotional modifiers (happy, sad, angry, nervous).
3. Offset the animation, revealing inner realities with the eyes first, then cascading the emotion down into the lower face and then the body.
4. Do the blinks.

By planning your work and working your plan, you can bring more thought and preparation to your animation. Good planning and good execution go hand in hand in helping to achieve successful facial animation. Always remember: Failing to plan is planning to fail.

To learn more about posing and staging, character animation, walks, tools of the trade and other topics of interest to animators, check out Inspired 3D Character Animation by Kyle Clark; series edited by Kyle Clark and Michael Ford: Premier Press, 2002. 268 pages with illustrations. ISBN 1-931841-48-9 ($59.99) Read more about all four titles in the Inspired series and check back to VFXWorld frequently to read new excerpts.

Keith Lango is the computer graphics supervisor of the feature film at Big Idea Prods. Inc. in Chicago, makers of the top-selling children’s video property VeggieTales and 3-2-1 Penguins! Keith got his start in CG in the early ‘90s and has held positions as an illustrator, a senior animator, an animation supervisor, an assistant director, a CG supervisor and a writer. Keith has also co-authored and co-illustrated a children’s book as well as personally developed several award-winning short animated films. He lives happily with Kim (his wife of 14 years) and his three children: Candice, Laura and John Mark.

Author and series editor Kyle Clark (left) and series editor Mike Ford (right).

Series editor Kyle Clark is a lead animator at Microsoft’s Digital Anvil Studios and co-founder of Animation Foundation. He majored in film, video and computer animation at USC and has since worked on a number of feature, commercial and game projects. He has also taught at various schools, including San Francisco Academy of Art College, San Francisco State University, UCLA School of Design and Texas A&M University.

Series editor and author Michael Ford is a senior technical animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks and co-founder of Animation Foundation. A graduate of UCLA’s School of Design, he has since worked on numerous feature and commercial projects at ILM, Centropolis FX and Digital Magic. He has lectured at the UCLA School of Design, USC, DeAnza College and San Francisco Academy of Art College.