Facial Emotional Expressions In Scripts & Creation Kit
Part 1 - Types Of Expressions
To begin with there are three types of expressions
Dialogue
Mood
Combat
However we're only going to cover the first two with a focus on the first as combat facial expressions are a different topic entirely and for the most part aren't really worth covering.
Dialogue - These are the facial expressions a NPC will pull during you guessed it Dialogue.
Mood - These are the facial expressions a NPC will pull while observing, walking around, etc. E.g Nazeem's resting bitch face.
For both of these categories the following facial expressions can be shown...
Dialogue
Mood
Combat
However we're only going to cover the first two with a focus on the first as combat facial expressions are a different topic entirely and for the most part aren't really worth covering.
Dialogue - These are the facial expressions a NPC will pull during you guessed it Dialogue.
Mood - These are the facial expressions a NPC will pull while observing, walking around, etc. E.g Nazeem's resting bitch face.
For both of these categories the following facial expressions can be shown...
Please note that in regards to dialogue facial expressions they'll be talking while expression their facial emotions so they'll tend to portray their emotions better as they talk compared to their resting face.
Part 2 - Neutral Facial Expression
Neutral is neutral, zero signs of expression or emotion as you can see below
Part 3 - Anger Facial Expression
Anger is simply anger, this is an expression of 100% anger on the scale of 0-100. As you can see there's little difference between dialogue anger and mood anger, just a slight difference in the lips. At 100% anger its a facial expression of absolute disgust. This is a great example as to why you shouldn't always go full out with facial expression and go with a value of 50 instead of 100.
Part 4 - Disgusted Facial Expression
Once again this is another example of the marginal difference between dialogue and mood disgust. The differences are much more comparable at lower values but at a value of 100% they blend together. Mood disgust has a slightly more upturned lip as seen below.
Part 5 - Fear Facial Expression
Fear is a facial expression that is rarely used but is one of the most effective at displaying it expression. Fear at a level of 15 can be subtle but noticeable, at 100 its very noticeable and borders on cowering. The differences between dialogue and mood fear are a bit more evident here.
Part 6 - Happy Facial Expression
Once again this is a case where dialogue happy is slightly different to mood happy however it needs to be taken into account this is at 100%. 100% dialogue should be used rarely as its meant to show an absolute jubilant expression such as when seeing your lover/partner/spouse.
Part 7 - Puzzled Facial Expression
Look at the Happy facial expression now look at this facial expression. The differences are extremely subtle and this expression more than all the others relies on dialogue facial expressions (the fact actually moving and contorting) to properly display the intended emotion).
Part 8 - Sad Facial Expression
The sad facial expression is a good example of not capping out with your expression modifer and trying to keep it at something reasonable such as 50-80. Using a value of 100 should be limited to dialogue in which the NPC is crying.
Part 9 - Surprise Facial Expression
The surprise facial expression is once again one of those dialogue expression that truly manages to portray itself without issue. A value of 100 would represent absolute shock compared to 50 which would be just surprised.
Part 10 - Conclusion
In conclusion the usage of putting your facial expression value at 100 should be limited where possible and more reasonable values of 50-80 should be used. Below 50 is more subtle forms of expression while anything below 10 isn't really noticeable. Dialogue facial expression while similar to mood facial expressions are slightly different and you have to remember that during dialogue that face won't be a constant, their muscles will be moving their mouth, cheeks, etc.
Don't be afraid to max out the facial expression value but use it rarely.
Don't be afraid to max out the facial expression value but use it rarely.
Written By Charles