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Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Morph target animation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( April 2008 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) In this example from the open source project Sintel , four facial expressions have been defined as deformations of the face geometry. The mouth is then animated by morphing between these deformations. Dozens of similar controllers are used to animate the rest of the face. An arbitrary object deformed by morphing between defined vertex positions Morph target animation , per-vertex animation , shape interpolation , shape keys , or blend shapes [ 1 ] is a method of 3D computer animation used together with techniques such as skeletal animation . In a morph target animation, a "deformed" version of a mesh is stored as a series of vertex positions. In each key frame of an animation, the vertices are then interpolated between these stored positions. Technique [ edit ] The "morph target" is a deformed version of a shape. When applied to a human face, for example, the head is first modelled with a neutral expression and a "target deformation" is then created for each other expression. When the face is being animated, the animator can then smoothly morph (or "blend") between the base shape and one or several morph targets. [ 2 ] Typical examples of morph targets used in facial animation are a smiling mouth, a closed eye, and a raised eyebrow. Early 3D videogames, such as Quake [ 3 ] and Crash Bandicoot use per-vertex animation for all character animations. When used for facial animation , these morph targets are often referred to as "key poses". The interpolations between key poses when an animation is being rendered, are typically small and simple transformations of movement, rotation, and scale performed by the 3D software. [ 1 ] Not all morph target animation has to be done by actually editing vertex positions. It is also possible to take vertex positions found in skeletal animation and then use those rendered as morph target animation. An animation composed in one 3D application suite sometimes needs to be transferred to another, as for rendering. Because different 3D applications tend to implement bones and other special effects differently, the morph target technique is sometimes used to transfer animations between 3D applications to avoid export issues. Benefits and drawbacks [ edit ] There are advantages to using morph target animation over skeletal animation . The artist has more control over the movements because they can define the individual positions of the vertices within a keyframe, rather than being constrained by skeletons. This can be useful for animating cloth, skin, and facial expressions because it can be difficult to conform those things to the bones that are required for skeletal animation. However, there are also disadvantages. Vertex animation is usually a lot more labor-intensive than skeletal animation because every vertex position must be manually manipulated and, for this reason, the number of pre-made target morphs is typically limited. [ 1 ] Also, in methods of rendering where vertices move from position to position in-between frames , a distortion is created that does not happen when using skeletal animation. This is described by critics of the technique as looking "shaky". [ citation needed ] On the other hand, this distortion may be part of the desired "look". For large models, vertex animation requires significant memory and storage as the position of each modified vertex must be stored for each frame. In contrast, skeletal animation requires only the storage of bone transformations for each frame. See also [ edit ] Morphing Skeletal animation Machinima 3D computer graphics References [ edit ] 1 2 3 Liu, Chen (2006). "An Analysis of the Current and Future State of 3D Facial Animation Techniques and Systems" (PDF) . pp. 12– 14 . Retrieved January 30, 2011 . ↑ Glanville, Steven (2006). "Anim8or Manual, Chapter 3 Object Editor" . Anim8or . Retrieved January 30, 2011 . ↑ Henry, David (December 20, 2004). "MDL file format" . Retrieved June 16, 2019 . v t e Animation topics By country Azerbaijan Bangladesh Bhutan Brazil Bulgaria Canada China history Czechia Estonia France Hungary India history Indonesia Iran Italy Japan history Korea North South history Latvia Lithuania Malaysia Mexico Philippines Portugal Romania Russia South Africa Spain Taiwan Thailand Ukraine United Kingdom United States Silent Era The Golden Age World War II Early TV broadcast era Modern TV cable and streaming era Vietnam Industry Animator List Animation department Animation director Story artist Animation studios List Animation database Art pipeline Biologist simulators Animation film festivals international regional Highest-grossing films ( Opening weekends ) Outsourcing International Animation Day Works Films Computer-animated Feature-length Lost or unfinished Package Short Short series Stop-motion Adult animated films Children's animated films Series Adult animated Children's animated Computer-animated Direct-to-video Flash Traditional Internet Television ( list of years in animation · years in animation ) Techniques Traditional Barrier-grid and stereography Flip book Limited animation Masking Rotoscoping Exposure sheet Stop motion Claymation clay painting , strata-cut Cutout ( silhouette ) Graphic Model go motion Object Brickfilm Pixilation Puppetoons Computer 2D 2.5D Flash PowerPoint SVG CSS Multi-sketch Onion skinning 3D T-pose Cel shading CGI Crowd Facial animation Morph target Motion capture facial hand tracking eye tracking Non-photorealistic rendering Physically based animation Procedural Skeletal Virtual cinematography Puppetry Traditional puppetry Digital puppetry Machinima Aniforms Virtual human Live2D Supermarionation Mechanical Animatronics Audio-Animatronics Linear Animation Generator Direct manipulation animation Humanoid animation Idle animation Ink-wash animation Magic Lantern Scanimate Shadowmation Squigglevision Whiteboard animation Other methods Blocking Character animation model sheet walk cycle lip sync off-model Chuckimation Drawn-on-film Erasure animation Hydrotechnics Inbetweening Morphing Paint-on-glass Pinscreen Pixel art Pose to pose Straight ahead Rubber hose Special effects Sand Syncro-Vox Zoetrope Variants Abstract animation ( visual music ) Adult animation Animated cartoon Animated sitcom Animated documentary Educational animation Erotic animation Independent animation Instructional animation Virtual newscaster History Early history History of computer animation List of years in animation Related topics Animation music Bouncing ball Mickey Mousing Key frame Cel Character animation model sheet walk cycle lip sync off-model Creature animation Twelve basic principles Motion comic Films with live action and animation highest grossing Cartoon physics violence Most expensive animated films List of animated films by box office admissions List of animated television series by episode count Category Portal Outline Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Morph_target_animation&oldid=1355176925 " Categories : 3D computer graphics 3D imaging Visual effects 3D graphics software Computer graphic techniques Animation techniques Computer animation Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Articles needing additional references from April 2008 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018 This page was last edited on 20 May 2026, at 09:37  (UTC) . Page was rendered with Parsoid . Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Legal & safety contacts Code of Conduct Developers Statistics Cookie statement Mobile view Search Search Toggle the table of contents Morph target animation 4 languages Add topic