SKILL.md

blender-facial-shapekeys

Facial rigs and shape keys in Blender 5.2 - ARKit 52 blendshapes, visemes for lip-sync, sculpting expressions, splitting symmetric shapes into Left/Right, mirroring, corrective and combination shapes, drivers and control rigs, bone+blendshape hybrids, export to engines (Unity, Unreal, Roblox dynamic heads, VRM/web). Use for faces, expressions, lip-sync, or any shape-key work.

install blender-facial-shapekeys

# install the blender-skills pack with the skills CLI

npx skills add EL4CTEO/blender-skills

# or add only this skill to Claude Code: copy the folder

skills/blender-facial-shapekeys/

# into

~/.claude/skills/blender-facial-shapekeys/ (all projects)

.claude/skills/blender-facial-shapekeys/ (one project)

skills/blender-facial-shapekeys/SKILL.md

MITFull file

1# Facial Rig & Shape Keys
2 
3The execution model is in `blender-core`. The body rig is in `blender-character-rigging`.
4 
5## Choose the approach
6| Approach | Use | Notes |
7|---|---|---|
8| **Blendshapes (ARKit 52)** | games, VTubers, mocap (iPhone/Live Link Face), web/VRM | the industry interchange set; each shape is sculpted |
9| **Bones** (jaw, eyes, lids, brows, lips) | stylized, low memory, mobile | jaw + eyes as bones are almost always right |
10| **Hybrid** | most production game heads | jaw/eye/tongue bones + blendshapes for everything soft |
11| **Rigify face** (`human` metarig) | film-style keyframe animation inside Blender | 100+ face bones, heavy for engines |
12 
13## Procedure (blendshapes)
141. The head mesh needs clean loops around the eyes and mouth (`blender-retopology-uv`), with eyes, teeth and tongue as separate objects parented or weighted to bones.
152. `scripts/shapekeys.py -- --mesh Head --create arkit` (or `--create visemes` for the 15 Oculus visemes) creates empty, correctly named keys.
163. Sculpt each key (live: sculpt mode on the active key, `use_shape_key_edit_mode`). Symmetric expressions can be sculpted once, then `--split eyeBlink` gives `eyeBlinkLeft/Right` with a soft blend across X=0 (`--falloff` m).
174. `--mirror browDownLeft` builds `browDownRight` (topology-independent mirror).
185. `--report` lists unsculpted keys, the max offset per key, and missing ARKit names. A shape is done only when every key moves and nothing is left over.
19…

Excerpt shown under the repository's MIT license.

How to install blender-facial-shapekeys

skills/blender-facial-shapekeys/SKILL.md

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