Facial Motion and Controls - Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish - page 163

the original shape of the mesh. Figure 10.2 shows the result
of pressing Add Shape Key for the fi rst time.
● Create and name a new shape by clicking Add Shape
Key again, assigning a name to it in the title fi eld. Nothing
changes in the 3D view because any new shapes added in
this way begin their lives as duplicates of the previously
selected shape. In Figure 10.3, a new shape key has been
added and named “smile.”
● Directly alter the mesh, using either the standard transform
tools in Edit mode or the Sculpt tools. Whatever changes
you make to the mesh are used for the currently selected
shape. In the case of Figure 10.4, the expression seen in the
3D view has been created and automatically stored under the
“smile” shape.

Figure 10.2 Enabling Shape Keys by creating
the “Basis” shape

That's it! You can continue to add, name, and construct shape keys
until the needs of your animation are met.

You may recall from the previous chapter that only a single ani-
mation control structure can effectively be shown in Blender
while animating. For that reason, it makes sense to build the con-
trols for these shapes directly into the armature object that will be
driving the animation for the rest of the character.

Figure 10.3 A new shape key has been created

and named “smile”

Figure 10.5 shows the Beast with his controlling armature. The
bones fl oating in front of the face control shape keys that allow

Figure 10.4 The mesh is altered in either Edit or Sculpt mode

Figure 10.5 The Beast with his controls