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Course

Stylized Character Workflow

insert_drive_file Course Overview
Intro keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Introduction

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Introduction Update

    lock_open
1 - Preparation & Head Sculpting keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Defining Goals

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Research

  3. 03

    Blender Setup

  4. 04

    Sculpting a Primitive Head Shape

  5. 05

    Sculpting a complete Planar Head

  6. 06

    Smoothing the Planar Head

  7. 07

    Stylising the Head Sculpt

  8. 08

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rain's Head

    lock_open
  9. 09

    Timelapse: Vertex Painting

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Sculpting Hair

  11. 11

    Timelapse: Head Design Variations

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Finishing Rain's Head Design

2 - Full Body & Outfit Sculpting keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Creating a Primitive Body

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Sculpting the Planar Torso

  3. 03

    Sculpting the Planar Arms & Legs

  4. 04

    Sculpting the Planar Hands & Feet

  5. 05

    Smoothing & Stylising the Body

  6. 06

    Creating Clothing Basemeshes

  7. 07

    Update: Optimal Clothing Basemesh

  8. 08

    Modelling additional Basemeshes

  9. 09

    Stretching vs Compression

  10. 10

    Sculpting Wrinkles & Folds

  11. 11

    Polishing the Surfaces

  12. 12

    Finishing the additional Elements

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains Body

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Rains Autumn Outfit

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Adjusting Proportions and the Outfit

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Rains Summer Outfit

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  17. 17

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains final Outfit

3 - Expression Testing keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Fast & rough Retopology for the Head

  2. 02

    Modelling the inner Head & transferring Details

  3. 03

    Adding the teeth, gums & tongue

  4. 04

    Basic Expression Shapekeys

    lock_open
  5. 05

    Sculpting an Expression

  6. 06

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 1

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  7. 07

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 2

  8. 08

    Breakdown: Design Adjustments

  9. 09

    Breakdown: Adding extra Appeal

4 - Clean Retopology keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Retopology Introduction

  2. 02

    Creating & Guiding Topology

  3. 03

    Planning the Facial Retopology

    lock_open
  4. 04

    Retopology Setup

  5. 05

    Facial Retopology - Edge Flow & Articulation

  6. 06

    Update: Strategic 2-Poles

  7. 07

    Facial Retopology - Patches & Poles

  8. 08

    Facial Retopology - Creases & Tweaking

  9. 09

    Timelapse: Head Retopology

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Body Retopology

    lock_open
  11. 11

    Timelapse: Inner Body & Transfering Volume

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Head Objects & Tweaking

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Hair Retopology

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.1

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.2

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Shoe modeling & additional Tweaking

  17. 17

    Timelapse: Scarf Retopology & Finishing Touches

Bonus Videos keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Youtube Version: Stylized Character Workflow in Blender 2.81

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Sculpting Fundamentals

    lock_open
  3. 04

    Preventing/Fixing Boolean Errors

Assets keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Final Render

    lock_open
  2. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Turnaround

    lock_open
  3. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Turnaround (Clay)

    lock_open
  4. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Turnaround (Wire)

    lock_open
  5. 05

    Rain - Turntables

    lock_open
Course Resources keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Matcap: Gradient

    lock_open
Course Lesson .blend files keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    File 1: Head Sculpting Lessons

  2. insert_drive_file

    File 2: Body Sculpting Lessons

  3. insert_drive_file

    File 3: Topology Examples

  4. insert_drive_file

    File 4: Facial Topology & Planning

Cheat Sheets keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Killing/Directing Loops

  2. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Poles & Edge Flow

    lock_open
  3. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Stretching & Pinching

  4. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Hiding Stretching

  5. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Strategic 2-Poles

  6. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Hard-Modeling Creases

  7. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Edge Flow

  8. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Landmarks

  9. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Articulation

    lock_open
  10. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Patches & Poles

  11. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Creases

  12. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Deformations

  13. insert_drive_file

    Retopology Setup

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  14. insert_drive_file

    Body Topology - Seperate Limbs

  15. insert_drive_file

    Body Topology - Joint Loops

  16. insert_drive_file

    Body Topology - Finishing Touches

Addons keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Screencast Keys

    lock_open
  2. insert_drive_file

    Magic UV

    lock_open
Rain - Character Development keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    1 - Head Exploration

    lock_open
  2. insert_drive_file

    1 - Head Polish

    lock_open
  3. insert_drive_file

    2 - Body Iterations

    lock_open
  4. insert_drive_file

    2 - Outfit Variations

    lock_open
  5. 05

    3 - Expression Tests

    lock_open
  6. insert_drive_file

    4 - Retopology

    lock_open
  7. insert_drive_file

    4 - UV unwrapping

    lock_open
  8. 08

    5 - Turntable Renders

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  9. insert_drive_file

    6 - Pose Exploration

    lock_open
  10. 10

    6 - Pose Polishing

    lock_open
Rain .blend files keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 1: Head Sculpting

  2. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 2: Body & Outfit Sculpting

  3. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 3: Expression Tests

  4. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping

  5. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 5: Shading & Texturing

  6. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 6: Posing

  7. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 7: Lighting & Composition

Course

Stylized Character Workflow

insert_drive_file Course Overview
Intro keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Introduction

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Introduction Update

    lock_open
1 - Preparation & Head Sculpting keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Defining Goals

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Research

  3. 03

    Blender Setup

  4. 04

    Sculpting a Primitive Head Shape

  5. 05

    Sculpting a complete Planar Head

  6. 06

    Smoothing the Planar Head

  7. 07

    Stylising the Head Sculpt

  8. 08

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rain's Head

    lock_open
  9. 09

    Timelapse: Vertex Painting

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Sculpting Hair

  11. 11

    Timelapse: Head Design Variations

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Finishing Rain's Head Design

2 - Full Body & Outfit Sculpting keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Creating a Primitive Body

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Sculpting the Planar Torso

  3. 03

    Sculpting the Planar Arms & Legs

  4. 04

    Sculpting the Planar Hands & Feet

  5. 05

    Smoothing & Stylising the Body

  6. 06

    Creating Clothing Basemeshes

  7. 07

    Update: Optimal Clothing Basemesh

  8. 08

    Modelling additional Basemeshes

  9. 09

    Stretching vs Compression

  10. 10

    Sculpting Wrinkles & Folds

  11. 11

    Polishing the Surfaces

  12. 12

    Finishing the additional Elements

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains Body

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Rains Autumn Outfit

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Adjusting Proportions and the Outfit

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Rains Summer Outfit

    lock_open
  17. 17

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains final Outfit

3 - Expression Testing keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Fast & rough Retopology for the Head

  2. 02

    Modelling the inner Head & transferring Details

  3. 03

    Adding the teeth, gums & tongue

  4. 04

    Basic Expression Shapekeys

    lock_open
  5. 05

    Sculpting an Expression

  6. 06

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 1

    lock_open
  7. 07

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 2

  8. 08

    Breakdown: Design Adjustments

  9. 09

    Breakdown: Adding extra Appeal

4 - Clean Retopology keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Retopology Introduction

  2. 02

    Creating & Guiding Topology

  3. 03

    Planning the Facial Retopology

    lock_open
  4. 04

    Retopology Setup

  5. 05

    Facial Retopology - Edge Flow & Articulation

  6. 06

    Update: Strategic 2-Poles

  7. 07

    Facial Retopology - Patches & Poles

  8. 08

    Facial Retopology - Creases & Tweaking

  9. 09

    Timelapse: Head Retopology

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Body Retopology

    lock_open
  11. 11

    Timelapse: Inner Body & Transfering Volume

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Head Objects & Tweaking

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Hair Retopology

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.1

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.2

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Shoe modeling & additional Tweaking

  17. 17

    Timelapse: Scarf Retopology & Finishing Touches

Bonus Videos keyboard_arrow_down
  1. 01

    Youtube Version: Stylized Character Workflow in Blender 2.81

    lock_open
  2. 02

    Sculpting Fundamentals

    lock_open
  3. 04

    Preventing/Fixing Boolean Errors

Assets keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Final Render

    lock_open
  2. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Turnaround

    lock_open
  3. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Turnaround (Clay)

    lock_open
  4. insert_drive_file

    Rain - Turnaround (Wire)

    lock_open
  5. 05

    Rain - Turntables

    lock_open
Course Resources keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Matcap: Gradient

    lock_open
Course Lesson .blend files keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    File 1: Head Sculpting Lessons

  2. insert_drive_file

    File 2: Body Sculpting Lessons

  3. insert_drive_file

    File 3: Topology Examples

  4. insert_drive_file

    File 4: Facial Topology & Planning

Cheat Sheets keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Killing/Directing Loops

  2. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Poles & Edge Flow

    lock_open
  3. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Stretching & Pinching

  4. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Hiding Stretching

  5. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Strategic 2-Poles

  6. insert_drive_file

    Topology Guides - Hard-Modeling Creases

  7. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Edge Flow

  8. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Landmarks

  9. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Articulation

    lock_open
  10. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Patches & Poles

  11. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Creases

  12. insert_drive_file

    Facial Topology - Deformations

  13. insert_drive_file

    Retopology Setup

    lock_open
  14. insert_drive_file

    Body Topology - Seperate Limbs

  15. insert_drive_file

    Body Topology - Joint Loops

  16. insert_drive_file

    Body Topology - Finishing Touches

Addons keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Screencast Keys

    lock_open
  2. insert_drive_file

    Magic UV

    lock_open
Rain - Character Development keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    1 - Head Exploration

    lock_open
  2. insert_drive_file

    1 - Head Polish

    lock_open
  3. insert_drive_file

    2 - Body Iterations

    lock_open
  4. insert_drive_file

    2 - Outfit Variations

    lock_open
  5. 05

    3 - Expression Tests

    lock_open
  6. insert_drive_file

    4 - Retopology

    lock_open
  7. insert_drive_file

    4 - UV unwrapping

    lock_open
  8. 08

    5 - Turntable Renders

    lock_open
  9. insert_drive_file

    6 - Pose Exploration

    lock_open
  10. 10

    6 - Pose Polishing

    lock_open
Rain .blend files keyboard_arrow_down
  1. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 1: Head Sculpting

  2. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 2: Body & Outfit Sculpting

  3. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 3: Expression Tests

  4. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping

  5. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 5: Shading & Texturing

  6. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 6: Posing

  7. insert_drive_file

    Rain - File 7: Lighting & Composition

3 - Expression Testing

Basic Expression Shapekeys

2nd December 2019

info License: CC-BY

lock_open Free

Download (155.3 MB)
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Author

Julien Kaspar

In this video I am showing the general shapekey centric workflow to create the different expression tests and expression test building blocks. I'll demonstrate this with simple closed eyes and open mouth shapes. Afterwards we will be setting up drivers to bring them together.

Other links:
  • Rain - File 3: Expression Tests: The file of the expression tests made for the character Rain.

26 Comments

Join to comment publicly.

godpp23

14th January 2020 - 05:31

This is just amazing and so well-explained!

Artur Machura

3rd May 2020 - 21:59

Hi @Julien Kaspar. I am stuck here. Something doesn't work and I can't figure out where I am making something wrong. I use 2.81a version. I don`t have in multires sculpt button. I set up everything on 0 in multires and then I open mouth in edit mode. As in your example, weird things happening under the chin so I go to sculpt mode without changing anything and I smooth everything but it looks like I sculpt on multires even if everything is set up on 0. when I go back to object mode it looks like before without my sculpting but when I change multires to higher value it looks as I sculpted. So I close mouth by setting shape key to 0 and now new crazy thing is happening, when I have multires high but fine when I have multires on 0. I don't know is it a bug or me doing something wrong.

Another thing is how do you keep your hidden part in edit mode still hidden in sculpt mode (~5:40)? When I change from edit to sculpt it doesn't keep it hidden.

Capture11.JPG
Capture12.JPG

Julien Kaspar

4th May 2020 - 11:25

*@Artur Machura* The reason why the base resolution is not changing and hidden geometry in edit mode is not hidden in sculpt mode is because you are sculpting on the subdivided version of the object.
The "Sculpt" slider is there to define on which subdivision level you are sculpting when entering sculpt mode.
Sculpting on subdivsions will not translate to the lowest resolution automatically. I'm sorry, I forgot to add additional info to the chapter description. In Blender 2.81-2.83 the multires modifier lost the "Sculpt" slider.
So when entering sculpt mode you will always sculpt on the highest subdivision and if you want to sculpt on the base resolution of the object you need to disable the modifier temporarily. Adding the button to quick favourites will help to make this easier.
It's still inconvenient but if you download the experimental version of 2.90, the multires modifier is finally fixed.

Artur Machura

4th May 2020 - 11:33

*@Julien Kaspar* Thank you. So obvious, why haven't I thought about it. Thank you for the quick reply.

Julien Kaspar

4th May 2020 - 11:39

*@Artur Machura* It's obvious once you know it ^^
I will do my best to update some of these videos soon to have this info already in the tutorials.

Artur Machura

4th May 2020 - 11:56

*@Julien Kaspar* I don't think a lot needs to be updated and it that fix would get its way to 2.83 than probably it could stay as it is. This is the first time I get to the point I didn't know what to do but at this same time, I am not a total beginner so as you put it I may know things that for me are obvious now and I overcome other problems that could be difficult for others.

Any new chapter soon on the horizon?

Julien Kaspar

4th May 2020 - 12:14

*@Artur Machura* No new chapter yet. Other projects got more priority and I don't know when I can return to the other chapters.

JacoFourienwu

13th May 2020 - 14:42

Hi there i combined my shapekeys together with my eyelids and eyes exactly the way you explained it in the video, but it's not working, when i go into the driver properties of my eye lids the bar where i pasted the path is still highlighted in red and i don't know why, could you maybe help with this?

JacoFourienwu

13th May 2020 - 14:47

*@JacoFourienwu* Nevermind i figured it out the 2 values of my shapekeys were different values when i tried to combine it

Show more replies

Julien Kaspar

13th May 2020 - 14:49

*@JacoFourienwu* Make sure to use key data blocks and not object or mesh data blocks. Also be sure that the key data block is the right one.

andreanselmo100

17th June 2020 - 15:10

Hey! I'm loving the videos and really enjoying this whole experience!

I'm just stuck in one little part, my character's head doesnt have the right X symmetry, so I did what you suggested and deleted half and applied the mirror modifier again. However, because I cant move the modifier above the multires when I apply the mirror modifier the mirror half looks very patchy:

face 2.JPG

I've also tried deleting the multi res, applying the mirror modifier and adding the multi res again, however it doesnt have the same high quality as the original multi res:

face 3.JPG

Is there anything you can suggest i can do?

Julien Kaspar

17th June 2020 - 17:09

*@andreanselmo100* That is actually a really good question. If you delete one side, mirror the other and flip the normals manually, then the details from the multires modifier will be broken.
I found a workaround that I should include in this video soon:
In edit mode press F3 and search for "Symmetrize". You can then define which side get's mirrored and it will not break the multires details.
it will still break all Shapekeys though if you have any.

andreanselmo100

18th June 2020 - 20:38

*@Julien Kaspar* Thank you!

Sosa

23rd July 2020 - 13:27

Hello there! This course is great! All of it is gold and i am excited working through every chapter of it. How do i upload images of what i have made from this course?

Julien Kaspar

23rd July 2020 - 15:01

*@Sosa* Hopefully it will soon get simpler but so far you have to do it like this: https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet#images

You essentially just embed an image that is already uploaded somewhere on the internet.

joanneseale

9th March 2021 - 00:37

Hey Julien, i imported my model into Blender 2.91 to make use of the sculpt in multi res, however when i add the jaw smoothing and clay it stays present on the model when the mouth is closed, is this supposed to happen? If so I will try a work around and try to shape the vertexes instead??

joanneseale

9th March 2021 - 00:47

additionally i actually read more of the comments below and clicked on 'sculpt base mesh' and also reduced all subdivisions to zero whilst sculpting... i think this may have resolved the issue!!

Julien Kaspar

9th March 2021 - 11:24

@joanneseale Yes you need to sculpt on the lowest resolution. The toggle for "Sculpt Base Mesh" sadly doesn't work with shapekeys. What that toggle does is it lets you sculpt on the lowest resolution while seeing the higher ones.

joanneseale

9th March 2021 - 22:31

Hello, I am stuck again, I am using Blender 2.91 when I right click on the eyelash, closed eye, shape key I do not have all the menu choices and there is no Add Driver menu selection.

joanneseale

9th March 2021 - 22:45

ok sorry i once again read a bit further down through the comments and saw that i needed to click on the value of the shape key not the name...

Nly Arivony

29th March 2020 - 20:19

hello, I'm a bit confused, why doing the expression shapekeys before the clean retopology? does it mean we can't really use the animation in production? I'm really looking for a rigging and animation tutoriel. thanks in advance

Julien Kaspar

30th March 2020 - 11:32

*@Nly Arivony* I think I did a poor job explaining this in the introduction of the chapter.
To reiterate on the reasons why this step exists in the character creation:
In past movie productions it happened that we designed, modeled and rigged a character before even figuring out the exact animation style. This caused huge problems during the animation, since the model was not fully supporting all the deformations that needed to happen.
Doing some early expression tests for sculpting has 3 purposes.

  • You end up with a set of sculpted expressions that will be a style reference for rigging and later the pose library in the animation.
  • Any facial proportions that are not working well can still be tweaked so that they won't become an issue later (Like misplaced eyebrows or too small teeth)
  • The amount of compression, stretching and creases will help to later retopologize a more optimal model for rigging to capture not just the shapes of the resting pose but all possible and planned shapes of the animation.

Unfortunately there won't be a rigging tutorial attached to this character but the animation fundamentals course might still add some videos using the Rain rig :)

Nly Arivony

30th March 2020 - 12:58

*@Julien Kaspar* thanks a lot

Koji Mizuno

20th June 2020 - 17:00

Hi, I wanted to add Driver but RMB context menu does not show like below picture. I followed process so I do not know why it is not displayed on my blender 2.83. I suspected to changed "Add Driver" from 2.83 then went to the manual below but it seems not changed. I also tried to Ctrl + D but nothing showed up. Could you please help me why it is not shown to me?

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/animation/drivers/usage.html#add-driver

addDriver.png

Julien Kaspar

22nd June 2020 - 12:10

*@madonna* Perhaps you right clicked on the name instead of the value of the shapekey?
I'm also going to make an update video on this but as a tip: Use the "Copy as New Driver" and then just paste the driver on the other shapekeys instead of going through all the steps manually.
This will save a lot of time.

Koji Mizuno

22nd June 2020 - 16:37

*@Julien Kaspar* Hi Julien, you are right!. Thank you very much to your response. I also tried to downgrade Blender but nothing change. it is very much aha! Once you told me it is very much easy... I can keep going on the tutorial now. Thank you very much again!

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