Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right

Chapter 13. Squash and Stretch and Squoosh

All the animation we've done so far, whether it has a photorealistic or a toon-style "look" to it, has been bound for the most part by the physical limits of what real human bodies can do. But this is animation, people. We can make characters turn themselves into parachutes (like Elastigirl in The Incredibles) if we want to. Animation where character deformations are bound only by the imagination is known as squash and stretch, and that's what we'll cover here, using my character Squoosh.

Fair warning: this chapter is more for the TDs than the animators. I've simplified the Squash and Stretch the best I can, but some of it is just a few too many steps into TD land to pull back out. That said, there are ...