This workshop provides a professional, industry-standard approach to creating facial blendshapes in Maya. By focusing on the FACS system and proper model preparation, artists learn the underlying anatomical principles that drive believable facial movements. Preparation and proper topology reflect real studio workflows, making this workshop valuable for anyone pursuing professional character animation work.

Duration: 12m 50s

This lesson sets out the foundation for facial blendshape work: establishing proper topology, scale, and anatomical structure. Mastering these preparation techniques is essential before proceeding to blendshape creation, as these elements directly impact how facial expressions will deform.

Duration: 45m 5s

This lesson sets out the preparatory work necessary to establish a proper viewport visualization setup. By implementing proper shaders with realistic specular highlights, bump mapping, and a well-balanced lighting rig, artists can effectively identify skin sliding, volume changes, and facial deformations during the sculpting process. The detailed eye shader setup is particularly important for tracking where the character is looking during facial animation work.

Duration: 15m 30s

This lesson sets up a foundational workflow for creating high-quality eye blendshapes. By understanding eyelid anatomy, using multiple clusters for volume control, and carefully painting cluster weights with proper falloffs, artists can achieve believable eye movements. Derrick Sesson explains that hands-on practice is the best learning method, encouraging artists to work through the process themselves using the start file provided, referencing the completed example for guidance.

Duration: 33m 32s

This lesson demonstrates a professional workflow for creating a functional eye rig, following industry-standard practices like extracting, mirroring, splitting, and reconnecting shapes. By the end, artists will have a complete eye rig system where simple sliders control complex combinations of lid deformation and eyeball rotation, with correctives to maintain proper anatomy.

Duration: 34m 57s

This lesson covers facial rigging techniques for creating believable brow movements. Combining an understanding of anatomy with technical tools like Cluster, Shrinkwrap and Delta Mush deformers, and corrective blendshapes, artists can achieve natural skin movement. The demonstration provides a repeatable workflow for building high-quality facial rigs that offer animators intuitive control over character expressions.

Duration: 33m 32s

This lesson explores how to set up successful nose and cheek deformation. The key lies in understanding fat volume preservation and using cluster-based blocking followed by detailed sculpting. By implementing in-between shapes and constantly testing shape combinations, artists can achieve natural, believable facial animation that avoids the artificial ‘popping’ effect common in less-refined rigs.

Duration: 27m 55s

This lesson demonstrates that effective facial rigging requires an understanding of both anatomical motion and technical deformation strategies. Blocking in shapes with clusters and deformers enables artists to quickly establish motion patterns that can be refined later. Layering multiple deformers and creating Delta Mush combinations provides a flexible, artist-friendly system for achieving believable facial expressions.

Duration: 42m 42s

This lesson demonstrates that facial rigging requires both technical skills and artistic sensibility. Creating production-quality mouth shapes lies not just in making individual shapes look good, but in ensuring they interact naturally, reducing the need for hundreds of corrective shapes. By investing time early to make primary shapes work together, artists can create efficient facial rigs suitable for professional animation.

Duration: 36m 34s

This lesson demonstrates techniques for jaw rigging that balance efficiency with quality. The use of deformer-based workflows, delta extraction for correctives, and combo shapes reflects industry-standard practices involved in creating flexible facial rigs. Derrick’s approach of using existing shapes and deltas rather than pure sculpting provides a fast, maintainable pipeline for facial rigging.

Duration: 26m 20s

This final demonstration shows the functional facial rig, proving that good results are achievable even without professional-level resources like expression scans or extensive shape libraries. Derrick encourages artists to continue experimenting and refining their techniques, stressing that dedication and investment of time are key to creating high-quality facial rigs.

Duration: 2m 9s