How to Face Pose TF2 Hardware Morphs

This guide will teach you how to face pose those frustrating faces. HWM are much more rewarding when it comes to posing, so let's just dive in!

(This is my first guide, so there will be some mistakes. Let me know in the comments how you feel about it!)

The Basics of Face Posing

Before you learn how to face pose Hardware Morphs, you'll learn how to face pose standard faces.

(Skip this section if you know the basics)

To access your TF2 ragdolls, you first need to make sure you have TF2 installed. The ragdolls, along with all of TF2's other assets will be non-existent without it. So download it, and let's keep going.

Once you're in the game, hold "Q". (Or whatever key you have bound to the spawn menu). On the left, under Your Spawnlists, you will find the TF2 assets. To locate the ragdolls, click on Team Fortress 2, then Characters. Here, you will find the standard ragdolls, along with the Hardware morphs. Pick any standard ragdoll (except Pyro, who can't be Face Posed), and spawn him by left clicking.

After your character is spawned, hold "C", right click on the ragdoll and hit Stand Pose. This will make the face posing easier to see.

Now, hold "Q" again and click on the Face Poser tool, located under Tools, which is to the right of your spawn menu.

Right click the face with the Face Poser tool equipped, and hold "C" to access the face settings. Whew! Now you're ready to Face Pose.
When you look at the face settings, you'll see a bunch of sliders. These are what control what the face looks like. Pick any slider and move it around.

You will notice that the farther you move the slider to the right, the more visible the expression gets. Keep playing around with the sliders to get the feel of it, and when you're ready, let's move on.

The next slider that you should look at is the one labeled "Flex Scale". When you drag this one to the right, the face will seem to "amplify". It basically takes the current face settings, and amplifies them.
Usually this slider will be set before the rest of them are changed, but for the sake of experimenting, just mess around with it.

Well, did you make it all the way here? Congrats! You now know the basics of Face Posing!

Understanding Hardware Morphs

A short explanation on how much different these ragdolls are than the standard ones.

Hardware Morphs are just more detailed versions of regular models. There are more sliders to work with, and they can produce some hilarious expressions. An example of one of these would be this:
Notice how the facial expression is highly exaggerated and there are multiple places where his mouth is stretched to the point where it looks like it's being ripped off his face. This is where the humour lies.

Hardware Morphs can also create more realistic expressions, like this one.
You might ask, why not use the standard models if I'm going to make realistic expressions? Well, the standard models are actually more limited when it comes to customization. You can't move eyebrows or lips individually; there are only sliders defining set expressions like "angry" or "happy". Using the Hardware Morphs instead will give you more options for the facial expressions, which is what we want.

Just a note, you will learn how to make both kinds of expressions in this guide.

Making Exaggerated Expressions

Even though these expressions are really weird looking, they still take time, so don't drag around sliders randomly.

Okay. Now it's time to learn how to make a masterpiece of a face.

Grab a Hardware Morph, stand him up, and have the Face Poser tool ready. DO NOT click on the already made preset labelled Default. It will mess up the face.
If you did, you will have to spawn in a new model.

In order to make these faces, you're going to want to slide the Flex Scale to the maximum. This will make the face look a bit like this:
This ensures the face will be easy to exaggerate.

To fix the eyes, slide Right Close Lid and Left Close Lid all the way to the left. The eyes will now be open.

Of course, the eyes will look better if they are even wider. You'll need to use Right Inner Squint and Left Inner Squint to change this. In the text box where you can manually type in a number, type in -0.20. You should now have something like this:
This will be the default face. Go ahead and save it as a preset by pressing the green plus button near the top right of the tool menu. Also, note that the face settings will not work with the other classes, so you will need to create a different preset for each model. You can use this list of preset names as an example.

HWM_ScoutDefault
HWM_SpyDefault
HWM_SoldierDefault
HWM_DemoDefault
HWM_MedicDefault
HWM_EngieDefault
HWM_HeavyDefault
HWM_SniperDefault

Once you've named each of the mercenaries default face, scroll down to about halfway, and make sure you can see all these sliders.
These are what you will be learning first.

Jaw D: Moves the jaw forward and back.
Jaw H: Moves the jaw left and right.
Jaw V: Moves the jaw up and down.

Right Lips V: Moves both lips on the right side up and down.
Left Lips V: Moves both lips on the left side up and down.

Right Lips Up V: Moves only the top right lips up and down.
Left Lips Up V: Moves only the top left lips up and down.
Right Lips Lo V: Moves only the bottom right lips up and down.
Left Lips Lo V: Moves only the bottom left lips up and down.

Right Smile: Makes the right side smile.
Left Smile: Makes the left side smile.
Multi Smile Makes the corners of the smile turn inwards. (This is more noticeable when the Right Smile and Left Smile sliders are increased).

All you need to know to make these faces is that it doesn't matter if they look unrealistic. Here are some examples I've created with "exaggeration" in mind.
Okay. So you've got a whole section of sliders down. You should now be pretty familiar with determining why and how the other sliders are labelled, so I'm not going to list the remaining ones.

All I'm going to say is, to create these exaggerated faces, you just need to have a basic understanding about what each slider does.

Making Realistic Expressions

There's not much to this section.

Realistic expressions are not much different than the ones you learned earlier except for the fact that they are, well, realistic. So I'll just list some tips to keep in mind when making these faces.

• Dial the eye size down a bit. This makes the model look authentic, as real people don't have eyes that large
  
• Work closely near the face. You'll be more likely to spot out-of-place lips and other errors that throw the realistic look away.
  
• Sometimes it helps to see how real faces work. Grab a friend and ask them to make faces you want to recreate. If you don't have friends, grab a mirror.
  
• Lastly, when in doubt, you can turn down the Flex Scale slider. It will make expressions easier to make more lifelike, but it will also make the rest of the sliders less sensitive.

Encountering Problems and FAQ

Why is my preset not working?

Check that you are using the right type of model. Using a Hardware Morph preset on a standard model will produce some unwanted results. If that doesn't work, check if you're using the right preset to the right mercenary. Example: a Soldier preset won't work on a Scout model. I highly recommend you label your presets to match the characters' names, if you haven't already.

Can I apply this knowledge to other models that aren't TF2 related?

You can use your understanding of sliders to face pose other models. However, this guide was to help people who had trouble with face posing TF2 Hardware Morphs. So you won't be able to do the exact same process with, for example, the Half Life 2 ones.

The End

You've reached the end. Good job. Now you can face pose Hardware Morphs!

Don't be afraid to face pose the standard models too. They can still be funny. There's no issue if you disagree with my guide, or if you just like face posing standard models more. Actually, for all you people who like face posing standard models, here's a face:

Questions, and critical feedback? Let me know in the comments!

[LineX240]

is there a way to move both sides of a slider at the same time? for example 'right' & 'left' smile sliders? because its kinda time consuming, on SFM you can do that so

[Charmyzard]

Life-saver. Tells what specific flexes do, and how to open the mouths.

[idiot 3 alt (2)]

https://youtu.be/yuMIEiACCoE

[♡Starlight♡]

Never knew how to pose hwm despite having played for years. Hell yeah!

[idiot 3]

https://youtu.be/DdmNYNkcwKE

[DonkeKongy]

tf2 characters didn't work for me too but. i think your graphics are set to low or medium in the advanced options. switch it to high and i think it fixes the face posing problem

[ИДИ ♥♥♥♥♥]

tf2 characters doesn't work what to do?

[Gr3yz1lla]

My tf2 characters dont work

[Zanderfain]

nice guide. I didn't really know the difference between Standard and HW morphs. Thanks!

[twizzler]

I just read this after finding it randomly but found it helpful, thanks!