Festival's Film Discussion Forum

See Sintel's Face Rigging

By Bill Anderton on 3/7/2015 10:02 AM

I just posted a video that shows a demonstration of Sintel's face rigging. The video is an early version of the Sintel 3-D model with its initial face rigging.

When an animation modeler finishes building a character it is a static 3-D mesh, very much like a statue (and just about as easy to pose.) It isn't ready yet to turn over to the animators as just a 3-D mesh. The next step is required is to "rig" the model so the animator and control the detailed movements of the model. "Rigging" in a 3-D animated character is a system of joints and control handles that the animation modeler programs into the finished model that allows the animators can pose the model in life-like and realistic ways. Sintel's face rigging is very good and an excellent example of how rigging works. Sintel's face rigging is one of the key elements that makes her "come alive" on screen. Below, see a demonstration of Sintel's face rigging. It is also an example of the open source Blender software used to make Sintel.

See https://www.transformingthechurch.org/ifs-ttc-sintel-background