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I have been scratching my head around this rig. A lot of work has been put into trying to figure out what I'm really trying to do - burning hours. I have had to rebuild my theory a couple of times - oh the pleasures of personal projects and experiments. But my self-imposed deadline is creeping up on me, very fast. I am now pushing myself to get this going as soon as possible. Atleast I have the majority of the mouth working. It is easy to get demotivated with so many bones - but "chunking" the tasks really help. I chop it up and work in sections, for sure I know the hard work will pay off with a very dynamic character.

Progress

I have resorted to using less cross hatch deformer bones for now. I have figured out how to get good pivoting in the facial influences and jaw, used SplineIK curve hooks to control the mouth shape, created quiet a dynamic mouth drawing system. The mouth is practically working - ready to assign the lattice deformations and get the squash/stretch of the head going. For now the ribs on the mouth pull and squash and stretch quite nicely - with some tuning. What I'm liking about this rig already is the full control I have for creating new shapes and forms in a non-destructive way. I can deform his head, and still keep the main controls working normally. Meaning, I can make a myriad of emotion forms without needing to rebuild the animation library for lipsyncing or general acting.

PS. Oh! I found a fix for Animation layers in Blender, finally. NLA animation now works like it should - nothing will stop us now!

TL:DR

I have the majority of the mouth working. It is easy to get demotivated with so many bones - but "chunking" the tasks helps. I know the hard work will pay off with a very dynamic character.

PS. I found a fix for Animation layers in Blender, finally. NLA animation now works like it should.

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