Blend Shapes

More Is Better (Push the Shapes Further)

One of the biggest takeaways was that subtlety doesn't always read well, especially in stylised or exaggerated characters. Initially, I was cautious with how far I pushed the shapes, but after setting up the controls and discovering I could use values beyond the standard 0–1 range, I realised I could have exaggerated them even more. In the future, I’ll start by over-exaggerating my shapes and then refine as needed, rather than playing it safe too early.

Double and Triple Check Before Moving On

A costly mistake (multiple times) I made was forgetting to duplicate the base mesh before sculpting one of the blendshapes. This resulted in a broken mirror effect with my blendshape ended up deforming the left cheek instead of the intended right. This experience taught me the importance of consistently checking that each blendshape functions correctly before progressing to rigging or control setup.

Unique Characters Require Custom Solutions

My character was more abstract and stylised compared to the examples used in the assignment. This made it harder to directly apply the techniques demonstrated in class. I had to spend extra time adapting those techniques to suit the unique design and proportions of my character, which ultimately deepened my understanding but also lead to a lot of trial and error.

Creating Expressions with a Beak Is Hard

Working with a solid beak presented unique challenges in creating readable facial expressions. Unlike flexible mouths or lips, a beak has limited movement and expression potential, which required more creativity in using subtle shifts in surrounding features (like the eyes, cheeks, and brows) to sell expressions.

Managing Extra Features  Fluff, Feathers, and Complexity

Additional elements like feathers and fluff added both character and complexity. These features needed to be considered in each blendshape to maintain consistency and believability, which increased the overall effort required for each shape.

Understanding How Blend Shapes Work

One key technical insight was understanding that blend shapes are based on the movement of vertices relative to their transfomr position not based on moving objects or mesh components. Simply shifting the object without considering vertex transformation didn’t produce usable results. This helped me focus on sculpting within the mesh rather than relying on repositioning elements.

Inspiration and references

• I was unsure what how to adapt the fixed beak of my character design to facial expressions. After some trial and error,  I instead found inspiration from eye shapes and eybrow movement to convey expressions.