Date of Award
12-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Digital Production Arts
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr.Eric Patterson
Committee Member
Dr.Matias Volonte
Committee Member
Prof. Rodney Da Costa
Abstract
Facial animation is one of the most important parts of bringing characters to life in video games and virtual experiences. This thesis explores a new approach to creating more expressive facial animations using procedural techniques and blended facial performance for more flexibility. The project uses FACS (Facial Action Coding System), which breaks down facial expressions into small, measurable muscle movements. By building a facial rig based on these muscle units, the character’s face can be animated in a way that reflects real human emotion. The animation in this work is not just pre-recorded, though it can respond in real-time to inputs or situations, making characters feel more alive. This work also uses Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), a method to match and compare signals of different temporal length, in this case facial animation data. DTW helps ensure that expressions are synchronized with real or expected performances, even if they are not played at the same speed or with the same intensity. This is especially useful when retargeting expressions from one character or performance to another, for example, taking a captured expression from a real person and applying it to a stylized 3D character. Procedural facial animation can benefit both realistic and stylized games. For realistic characters, subtle expressions may improve believability. For stylized or exaggerated characters, the same system can push expressions further while still being grounded in human facial movement. This flexibility makes the system ideal for a wide range of games and animation styles. The goal of this project is to make facial animation more realistic, flexible and expressive through customization of Live Link motion capture data and with DTW. This system also makes it easier to reuse animations across different characters or scenes, which is especially helpful for indie game developers
Recommended Citation
Varanasi, Abhijit, "Enhancing Facial Expressiveness for Games Through Procedural Animation" (2025). All Theses. 4649.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4649