Start by selecting, and deleting the right eyelid. Yes, delete it.

Now, with the Object Info Palette open, select, then lock each eyeball, and the head mesh. This makes it impossible for us to accidentally select or modify these objects while we work on the eyelid.

Select the last UColumn of the eyelid.

Choose Reshape>Insert, and insert a UColumn at 0.000.

Using the Point Info Palette (or Cmd + Left/Right Arrow ), Select the 11th UColumn.

Select the first UColumn ( 1 of 11 )

Choose Reshape>Insert, and insert a UColumn at 0.000. U Column 1 of 12 should be selected.

With the eyelid selected, open MorphMaker™ ( Cmd + M )

Click the Set Reference button. This tells Pixels to remember this shape as the basis for all new gestures.

We're going to use one of the most vital features of Pixels3D - Tag Mode.

Enable Point, Z Axis, and Tag in the Constraints Palette.

Command + Drag a Rectangle that encloses the CVs of the top of the eyelid.

When you release the mouse button, the CVs will be blue, showing they are now selected for modification via the Control Tools.

Choose Control>Rotate.

In the Right View, slowly drag upward until the edge of the top lid comes to rest halfway between it's original position, and the lower lid.

Don't worry about the distortion of the back of the eyelid. It is inside the head, and will not be seen by the camera.

Now, we'll do the same for the lower lid.

Command + Drag a Rectangle that encloses the CVs of the bottom of the eyelid.

With the Rotate Tool still selected, slowly drag downward in the Right view until the black surface lines meet. You may find it easier to watch the shaded preview.

In the MorphMaker window, click the Save Gesture... button. Name the Gesture 'Blink'.

Now move the slider back and forth. Our eyelid is blinking. MorphMaker™ is fun!

We'll leave the back of the eyelid as-is. What the camera doesn't see can't hurt you!

With the eyelid selected, choose Duplicate from the Edit Menu ( Cmd + D ). We now have two identical eyelids sharing the same space.

Since the eyelids are essentially spheres, we can simply invert the sign of the x Position to flip it

In the Object Info Palette, change the x Position Coordinate from a positive to a negative. In this case, I changed from 3.833 to -3.833.

Notice the duplicate eye has retained all of the MorphMaker™ information, and is fully animatable.

We're done with the eyelids, so lock them.

Unlock the Head mesh.

We need precise access to the CVs around the mouth, so let's use a view clipping plane. Open the Front View Options by clicking the word Front in the Front View.

Check the Clipping checkbox, the Absolute Radio Button, and set the Far Plane to about -8.000.

Click OK.

With the Head selected, click the Set Reference button in MorphMaker™. This is the default shape of the head.

Option + Drag in the Front view until it looks something like this. Notice that we now have access to only the visible CVs. This allows us to manipulate only the mouth without a chance of accidentally distorting the back of the head.

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With Tag Mode on, select just the corners of the mouth in the front view.

Choose Control > Move, and drag upwards in the front view to create a semi-smile. Then Select this group of CVs.

Move it down slightly until the shaded preview looks something like this.

In the MorphMaker window, click the Save Gesture... button. Name the Gesture 'Smile'.

Moving the slider back and forth shows the motion of the smile gesture. Note that you can enter a value greater than 1, or a negative value for the gesture. Experiment.

When you're done, set the slider to 0, or simply hit the Zero Gestures Button. This is an important step, as it ensures the next gesture we add will be in relation to a pristine reference pose.

Set the Constraints Palette to reflect the one on the right.

Select just the CVs defining the mouth.

Choose Control>Scale, and slowly drag in the front view until the mouth is closed. Don't worry about the position of the mouth, as that is easy to fix.

Choose Control>Move, and slowly drag in the front view until the mouth is back where you want it.

Adjust the shape of the mouth to taste.

In the MorphMaker window, click the Save Gesture... button. Name the Gesture 'Closed'.

When you're done, set the slider to 0, or simply click the Zero Gestures Button.

Use the same procedures as above to model several gestures of your own. MorphMaker™ is not limited to only mouth & eyes - Any part of the geometry can be morphed and animated.

Some ideas:

• A Nose Wiggle
• A Brow Furl
• A Pucker
• A Frown

Don't forget to Zero Gestures in between modeling sessions.

I'll show you how to animate these in the next part, so the more gestures you have done by then, the more possibilities you'll have to animate.