I was wondering if there are any programs out there that specialise in facial expressions? I've heard of Poser but I don't know if it can do the same thing with human heads. If any one knows can you give me some names of some good ones? Thanks.

Hello David,

Depends what you are looking for. If you want to render stills of people with face expressions (as spires) then poser may be a possibility. Poser also lets you animate its models but in the end it may be not exacly what you are after - people can tell its poser( looks a bit cheap) and freedom it gives isnt all that great. It is also questionable about importing other models than what originally come with poser. If so, you will still need to "rig" them up, It would probably still take more time than in other 3d appilications.

If you are after facial expressions for your own custom made models in 3ds max or maya there are a few tehniques. In 3dsmax Morphing and in maya Blend shapes - you basicly make an instance(or many) of your object ( face/ whole model), adjust the model - give it the expression you want and use the modifiers to blend/morph from 1 model state (expression) to another.

Faces can also be rigged up with bones which in you'r case would probably be the fastest - sprites ?

There are programs out, something to do with Lip Sync*, put a search on google. Some let you animate your model's face by tracking real life video. What must be mentioned - a simple cheap webcamera won't do the trick and it involves some manual reading. Its probably the most realistic effect yet most time consuming.

Good luck !