FACS

Concept – Overview

” the mouth has a hint of a smile with a bit of sigh in the middle of saying something on a tired face with a burden of melancholy.. the mind is racing with thoughts with the eyes starting into nothingness with an intense emotion.. “

How can anyone arrive at this? Let alone animating if one were to emote this in a performance, it is quite an intense and challenging task.

This is what you may encounter in the field of animation/ gaming/ vfx to recreate on a digital puppet. Worry not! For Animation, FACS is here for rescue!

We all know that the expressions we see on the face are a result of the pushing and pulling off muscles under the skin. Intimidating as it may seem the thought of studying facial anatomy, we can decode and reproduce complex facial performances if we break it down part by part and pay attention to what is happening. This is where FACS comes in providing a clear path to achieve it.

” In a nutshell, FACS is an approach to investigate how a certain facial expression is formed “

All the actions naturally possible by the human face are coded/named with specific terms. You can then virtually reconstruct any facial expression with a combination of these codes in various proportions and hence the name – FACS or Facial Action Coding System.

Great minds in the field of Animation and Visual Effects have adopted this approach to create mind-blowing realistic facial performances we have seen over the decades.