Adding Face expressions for custom models

[Pamster]

Greetings,

I'm playing around a lot and wanted to test some things out. Had no problems with TF2 Models yet. I got myself some custom Models from the workshop that I want to play around with.

They got a lot in it but posing a face is not possible. Turning the head, neck, hair, lifting the jaw and stuff is great but no possibility to close its eyes or make it smile or something - no way to fill it with emotions.

I dont want to beg the creator for adding it afterwards, nor that somebody else to do this. This knowledge could be very useful for other stuff. Give someone a fish to feed him one day - teach him to fish etc.

I googled, youtubed and looked here for possibilities, but I might not found the right keywords yet.

How I can I manually add some expression points into a model? Should I crowbar it and add it via Blender or is there a quicker way to solve it? Or did I completely miss the feature without greeting it?

I await your advices, master.

- just another padawan with ambitions

[Zappy]

Firstly, make sure to check in the "Unknown" group for flexes, as well as all other groups.
If you then don't find it, give https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Flex_animation a read. Also, yes, you'll have to de-compile the model first, and Crowbar is recommended for that.

A short guide is to import the SMD (or DMX if you have a DMX of the model), then use a program to add blend shapes or something (in Blender they are called Shape Keys, I think).
Then if you export as SMD, you'll get the SMD and a VTA (so make sure to keep the original SMD backed up), and then you can use the VTA with both SMD and DMX models, if you use $FlexFile in the $Model statement (the link covers it).
If you export as DMX, however, the flexes will already be embedded in the DMX model, ready for use with $Model, $Body and even $BodyGroup. Just try not to have under-scores in the shape key names for DMX flexes, as that'll cause problems if you don't know what that does.