Modelling Process

To model the faces I started with a sphere and moulded it into the general shape of the face, and I then deleted the back half and left hand side. I also deleted the faces covering the mouth area, then after making the mouth loop I bridged the back of the face and modelled it so that it will slot into the head easily. I deleted a face where each eye hole would be on both the back and front, I then joined them together by combining the vertexes instead of bridging so the area around the eye would be thin and not get in the way of the eye.

When making the eye I created a 8mm ball (same size as my eyes) to position in the eye hole to make sure it is the right shape and circular enough for the eye to fit through without falling out. 

 These images are also submitted in the expressions post.

Once I had a basic shape to work on I split the face at the eyes (which will make it easier to animate) and both combined vertexes as well as bridging them, so both the top and bottom of the faces will slide together. To form detail I moved around the edges and faces in the smoothed version of the model (I know it is better to work in the low poly mode for modelling normally) but for these faces I smoothed them to look like the smoothed version after modelling so it seems pointless to model in the low poly mode.

For the nostrils I simply grabbed 2 faces under the nose and extruded them then pulled the faces up inside the nose.

To make the teeth I used a cube then added an edge loop around the top before smoothing them to keep the top angular but have the bottom of the teeth curved.

Finally I mirrored the face and attached both half before combining and smoothing all the objects.

Research: 3D Modelling

Because I haven't used Maya much over the last year I decided to watch some tutorials to revise the skills I already have and learn new tips for modelling faces. 

I couldn't find any good tutorials for modelling especially for face replacement, but I watched multiple videos on modelling heads which show how to better construct the shape of the head and face. I already have prior experience modelling faces for facial replacement animation so already know how to construct the back of the face so it attaches easily to the characters head.

I didn't have time to re find all the tutorials I watched but they mostly all showed similar skills displayed in the tutorial above which was the one of the more helpful ones.

Modelling Sketches

The faces will be modelled in two sections with a split at the eyes so that when animating the face one section will hold the eye in place while the other is replaced. I have decided the backs of the faces will have a small lump on each side that will slot into position when attached to the head, to stop the face falling off while also making the faces easy to replace so that the character doesn't move when I am changing them. 

Because the faces I will be producing are going to be bigger than the faces I created last year I have modelled them to be thinner and hopefully reduce printing costs.

Below are the sketches I did to help me understand the layout of the face and where it will need to be split to make it easier to animate.

For a modelling reference I used an enlarged version of the side view image below and the face from my final sketch of the character done in the pre production module. Because I had to model the inside of the mouth I ended up changing the facial expression.

This last image is from the pre-production module and was just a reference for modelling.

Boy Development From Pre Production Module

All the images in this post are from the pre production module so please do not mark.

This is the development for the character I am digitally modelling the face for, I have included it in this blog to show how I came to the conclusion of what the boy will look like.

As soon as I had an idea of what the story would be like I knew I wanted the main character as a teenage boy but didn't know how I wanted him to look or act. After a while I was torn between a school boy approach or a hooded more mysterious character but as the story developed I decided that the hooded boy was more suited to the story.

Final Sketch of boy is in the 'Modelling Sketches' post.

Research: Howard S. Moss

"The earliest known use of replacement faces appears to be from the MoToy Comedies by American filmmaker Howard S. Moss in 1917." 
http://www.awn.com/animationworld/advanced-art-stop-motion-animation-building-puppets-part-4

As Howard S. Moss was one of the first people to experiment with face replacement animation, the facial animation in 'Mary & Gretel' (his first face replacement animation) is very simple. The faces are replaced to change the expressions on the characters faces for different shots but as far as I could see the faces were never changed mid shot, this leads me to believe that Moss struggled to replace the faces without moving the character. Because of this I will play around with the layout of the back of my faces as well as experiment with different ways to attach the faces. 

By 1930 Moss had greatly improved his face replacement skills as he was replacing the faces multiple times in each shot to show a range of emotions as well as speech (even though there was no dialogue).  In the animation below 'Dolly Daisy in Hearts and Flowers' we see a woman who has the choice of two guys; she picks the richer of the two until his car breaks, then leaves him for the other man before flying off holding a balloon. Throughout this animation face replacement is used to show the expressions and moods of the characters. Even though the facial animation could of been made smoother with a few more in betweens, the animation was really good for its time and should be an inspiration for anyone exploring face replacement animation. 

Change of Brief

While developing the story for my animation I have come to the conclusion that the main demon (Envy) doesn't need to have replaceable faces, as its facial expression won't change that much throughout the film. I will now be hand modelling the main demons head in the pre production module, and using this module to focus just on the boys facial expression to allow me more time to add detail and perfect them.

I have now decided that I will need 8 facial expressions for the boy with in-betweens for some of the more extreme expressions.

Presentation

Here is the link to my presentation from the start of the semester.

https://prezi.com/fqj2_tdfeqqr/extended-module-anim3005/