Auto Facial Animation - Mouth
The Mouth node corresponds to all default facial morphs for CC3+ characters.
To create a Mouth node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Facial Animation > Facial Block > Mouth from the context menu.
You can adjust the frequency, strength, transition duration, position morph, and negative morph via the Value nodes to control the animation results.
Frequency
Defines the interval between each mouth animation execution.
It accepts values input from the Vector2 node.
To create a Vector2 node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Value > Vector2 from the context menu.
Specify the value range by defining a low and high value (in seconds) in the node.
For example, if the range is 2 to 4 seconds, the system will randomly select a value between 2 and 4 seconds as the time before executing the next mouth animation.
Connect the Vector2 node to the Frequency input of the Mouth node.
To create a Vector2 node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Value > Vector2 from the context menu.
Specify the value range by defining a low and high value (in seconds) in the node.
For example, if the range is 2 to 4 seconds, the system will randomly select a value between 2 and 4 seconds as the time before executing the next mouth animation.
Connect the Vector2 node to the Frequency input of the Mouth node.
Strength
Defines the intensity percentage for each mouth animation.
It accepts values input from the Vector2 node.
To create a Vector2 node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Value > Vector2 from the context menu.
There are two separately designed mouth shapes in the Mouth Block.
Specify the value range by defining a low and high value ranging from -1 to 1 (in percentages) with up to two decimal places in the node.
For example, if the range is set between -0.5 and 0.5, each mouth animation will randomly pick a value within this range to determine:
Connect the Vector2 node to the Strength input of the Mouth node.
To create a Vector2 node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Value > Vector2 from the context menu.
There are two separately designed mouth shapes in the Mouth Block.
- Blendshape set A (Strength = 1.0 ): The mouth shape of positive intensity values can be customized in the Positive Morph node.
- Blendshape set B (Strength = -1.0): The mouth shape of negative intensity values can be customized in the Negaitve Morph node.
Specify the value range by defining a low and high value ranging from -1 to 1 (in percentages) with up to two decimal places in the node.
For example, if the range is set between -0.5 and 0.5, each mouth animation will randomly pick a value within this range to determine:
- Which mouth shape (A or B) to use: If the random value is 0.3, the positive-strength mouth shape (Blendshape A) will be enabled for the mouth animation.
- The strength of that shape: If the random value is 0.3, the mouth shape will be applied at 30% intensity.
Connect the Vector2 node to the Strength input of the Mouth node.
Transition Duration
Defines the total transition time for morphing between two mouth shapes.
It accepts values input from the Vector2 node.
To create a Vector2 node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Value > Vector2 from the context menu.
Specify the value range by defining a low and high value (in seconds) in the node.
For example, if the range is 2 to 4 seconds, each mouth animation transition will take between 2 and 4 seconds to shift from the previous mouth shape to the next one.
Connect the Vector2 node to the Transition Duration input of the Mouth node.
To create a Vector2 node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Value > Vector2 from the context menu.
Specify the value range by defining a low and high value (in seconds) in the node.
For example, if the range is 2 to 4 seconds, each mouth animation transition will take between 2 and 4 seconds to shift from the previous mouth shape to the next one.
Connect the Vector2 node to the Transition Duration input of the Mouth node.
Positive Morph
Defines the target mouth shape (or facial shape) for Blendshape set A (Strength = 1.0 ).
It accepts values input from the Morph Key node.
To create a Morph Key node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Facial Animation > Morph Key > Morph Key from the context menu.
Select this node, and modify the available morph sliders from the currently selected character in the Parameters section.
* Supports importing / exporting Morph set as .json files for data transfer and storage. Before importing a file, ensure that it originates from the same character, as mismatched Morph Keys may cause visual issues.
* Mouth Morph Keys take precedence over Expression Morph Keys in the animation hierarchy.
Connect the Morph Key node to the Positive Morph input of the Mouth node.
To create a Morph Key node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Facial Animation > Morph Key > Morph Key from the context menu.
Select this node, and modify the available morph sliders from the currently selected character in the Parameters section.
* Supports importing / exporting Morph set as .json files for data transfer and storage. Before importing a file, ensure that it originates from the same character, as mismatched Morph Keys may cause visual issues.
* Mouth Morph Keys take precedence over Expression Morph Keys in the animation hierarchy.
Connect the Morph Key node to the Positive Morph input of the Mouth node.
Negative Morph
Defines the target mouth shape (or facial shape) for Blendshape set B (Strength = -1.0).
It accepts values input from the Morph Key node.
To create a Morph Key node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Facial Animation > Morph Key > Morph Key from the context menu.
Select this node, and modify the available morph sliders from the currently selected character in the Parameters section.
* Supports importing / exporting Morph set as .json files for data transfer and storage. Before importing a file, ensure that it originates from the same character, as mismatched Morph Keys may cause visual issues.
* Mouth Morph Keys take precedence over Expression Morph Keys in the animation hierarchy.
Connect the Morph Key node to the Negative Morph input of the Mouth node.
To create a Morph Key node, right-click on the empty area of the graph, and select Facial Animation > Morph Key > Morph Key from the context menu.
Select this node, and modify the available morph sliders from the currently selected character in the Parameters section.
* Supports importing / exporting Morph set as .json files for data transfer and storage. Before importing a file, ensure that it originates from the same character, as mismatched Morph Keys may cause visual issues.
* Mouth Morph Keys take precedence over Expression Morph Keys in the animation hierarchy.
Connect the Morph Key node to the Negative Morph input of the Mouth node.
Using Lerp
In additional to the values input from Vector2, you can use Lerp to design the range of random animations.
The Lerp (linear Interpolate) is a mathematical operation node to find an interpolated value between two inputs.
For example, create a 2 Stage Lerp node from the context menu Value > Lerp > 2 Stage Lerp to control the strength of mouth.
The 2 Stage Lerp node provides 3 input ports: min, mid and max for three different ranges, input from the Float or Vector2 node.
It requires a parameter node to control the weight for output. You can create one by right-clicking on the empty area of the graph, and selecting Parameter > Create New from the context menu.
Name the new parameter and choose the float type. Click on OK.
Select this node to set a value ranging from 0 to 1 in the Variables section, to perform linear interpolation between the values from min to max. Once executed, the interpolated result is computed and sent to the connected nodes.
For example, create a 2 Stage Lerp node from the context menu Value > Lerp > 2 Stage Lerp to control the strength of mouth.
The 2 Stage Lerp node provides 3 input ports: min, mid and max for three different ranges, input from the Float or Vector2 node.
It requires a parameter node to control the weight for output. You can create one by right-clicking on the empty area of the graph, and selecting Parameter > Create New from the context menu.
Name the new parameter and choose the float type. Click on OK.
Select this node to set a value ranging from 0 to 1 in the Variables section, to perform linear interpolation between the values from min to max. Once executed, the interpolated result is computed and sent to the connected nodes.
- If the value is set to 0, the result equals min.
- If the value is set to 0.5, the result equals mid.
- If the value is set to 1, the result equals max.
Make sure that the data are properly input in the Value nodes, before linking the Mouth node to the root Auto Facial Animation node.
