Progress Report/Process Preview - Xiao Qiao (Patreon)

This is how I make my face morphs. I use every bone that is affected by a specific expression. The eye bones are hidden because this preview focuses on the closed mouth only.

I'll only show the ones for the smiling morphs to get the summary of my workflow. The numbers enclosed after each expression I mention are their listing in the Studio/NEO.

As shown above, the cheeks will be pushed apart and expand, depending on the intensity; e.g. from lowest to highest, first yorokobi/joy[01], then egao/smile[05], and finally niyake/wide grin[14]. Notice each bone moving away from the center as the expression intensifies. The cl suffix means closed. These bones will get dragged down and pulled slightly to the center when transitioning to open (op suffix) mode.

Most morphs have a closed and open mode to allow for speaking animations. The few that don't have the suffix are unique (e.g., ahe/ahegao [29-31]) and are likely the ones you end up seeing in the dialogues after the H-session in main game. Some like name and fera have their own purpose for licking and fellatio respectively.