There Are No Shortcuts in Facial Animation

Facial animation can often feel like an enigma. As an animator, if you've done your job right, it's as if you've done nothing at all. If anything is even slightly off, your audience can be completely removed from an essential emotional beat. Because of how uniquely this discipline straddles the worlds of art and science, 'getting it right' can feel impossible. This session aims to discuss the fundamental question of why that's the case, while delving into discussions on the use of automated tools and the pitfalls of existing generative methods, as well as speculations about technology moving forward. Despite the difficulties, 'shortcuts' do exist in a way, and experienced animators can analyze and identify patterns and techniques with practice. We'll take a look at some of my favorite tricks that I've picked up from my time in the game development industry, with time for questions/discussion at the end.