Mira Facial Rig

Here is a facial rig created in Maya that I used to practice new rigging technics and experiments on how to integrate ribbon system within a facial rig. I've also had some fun doing the lighting and rendering in Arnold.

I have used real lynx references to better understand their anatomy and ways of moving even though this is a stylized model. It was a challenge to create a system that allowed for a wide range of movement for the ears since lynx can rotate them in a range of 180 degree.

I've also taken liberty to stylized the rig to allow for more human/cartoony deformation especially in the eyes area so we can more easily relate to the character.

This rig includes features such as:
- Ribbon system
- Lip/eyes seal (zipper motion)
- No blenshapes
- Controllers interacting with each others for natural deformation
- Multiple parenting options for the eyeLookAt controller
- Wide range of motions for overall facial features
- Rotation range for the ears similar to those of real feline (180 degree)
- Game/engine ready
- Fk/Dynamic switch for facial fur

I want to thank and credit Edgar Iacob for the model of Mira and it's texturing. Link to his page bellow:
https://www.artstation.com/search?sort_by=relevance&query=edgar%20iacob