WIP Facial Shape Network
This a very WIP facial shape network for the boxer character. It’s main purpose is to provide some data to work with as I continue to develop my own custom blendshape deformer and shape authoring toolset around it.This shape network is running on this custom blendshape deformer, with a 150k vert mesh on the GPU.All […]
More WIP stuff
New character WIP renders, currently playing around with the head/copy concept, skin quality and look, no costume or bigger silhouette exploration yet.
Neanderthal Head
A Neanderthal-like head design I worked on for an internal project during some short-lived downtime during the strikes in 2023. These captures were at a stage after I had spent a week or so exploring some basic ideas of what a neanderthal character could look like.Heavily inspired by the works of Adrie and Alfons Kennis.
Camera Focal Length Deformer
https://jakeharrell.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/jhFovDeformTests_01.mp4.mov Playing with an idea that could help when modelling heads/characters: deforming objects by the change in a cameras focal length. When sculpting/modelling a character head, I often find that that the model “feels” better when viewed through a longer or shorter lens, so I wanted to attempt to turn that idea into a viable […]
Lip Intersection + Lip Sticky Nodes
https://jakeharrell.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/lipIntersection_02.mp4 A problem I’ve wanted to tackle for a while, lip meet intersections. This is my first take on a possible solution. A custom C++ deformer written to dynamically resolve intersections between the upper and lower lips by pushing and flattening the contact area.This Lip Intersection deformer will first solve the intersection, and then do […]
Cornea Push Node
https://jakeharrell.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/corneaPush_02.mp4 A custom C++ Maya deformer to handle cornea displacement along the lid line and surrounding mesh.Running on the GPU to make it puppet friendly. The deformer does both cornea displacement and automatic snapping of the eyelid to the input eyeball geometry.The radius, strength and shape of the displacement can be adjusted via attributes and […]
Workflow Tools
A long running set of tools I’ve been building up over the years to aid my personal workflow in Facial Modelling and Modelling in general. Constantly evolving as I add and adjust tools. The core of the this specific UI and tool set is to be a crude plugin system that allows me to quickly […]
Weight Builder Node
https://jakeharrell.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/weightBuilder.mkv A custom C++ node to build and populate a weights array based on the input mesh’s shape.I found the need for something like this for a while, useful when plugged directly into deformer weights attributes. Current modes: Mesh Convexity Mesh Concavity Mesh Smoothness Mesh Roughness Mesh Tension Mesh Compression Axis X Axis Y Axis […]
Shape Splitter
https://jakeharrell.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/shapeSplitter.mp4 I’ve been working on a Shape Splitting tool on/off over the years.With a major re-write for a recent project. That latest iteration has been re-worked to have the following core features: Unlimited Split Directions Allowing users to add as many custom splits as required for the character A Split Direction defines how a shape […]
Old Boxer Character Renders
A short practice project before starting a show at work. Texture/lookdev done in two weeks, so very rough with a lot of room for improvement.