Check Out This Expressive Bone-Based, Blender-Made 3D Facial Rig

3D Animator and one of 80 Level's favorite Digital Artists Nicholas Roth has wowed us once again by offering a look at the astonishing facial rig he made for Zola, the author's latest 3D character model created as a submission for Agora's recent Mini AnimChallenge, which tasks creators to convey emotion through their characters' walk cycles.

After spending over 13 hours on rigging alone, Nicholas tested the rig's flexibility by setting up several exaggerated expressions, noting that Zola's lips were particularly tricky to rig. According to the creator, the setup is primarily bone-based, featuring only two blendshapes for smoothing the mouth corners and puffing the lips. To handle the rigging process, Nicholas utilized Blender and its Rigify add-on.

Previously, Nicholas also showcased a heartwrenching animation depicting a crying girl sitting alone in a cold room, made in Blender for Inlusio Interactive's Peace Untold, a "VR film about the struggle for peace that affects each and every one of us today."

And prior to that, we absolutely fell in love with the artist's STARTAFIGHT, a high-octane animation sequence featuring a combination of 2D and 3D animation techniques and a unique art style achieved by using hand-painted Normal and Texture Maps.

Click here to see more of Nicholas' works and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.