To implement custom face effects, you need customized textures and models for overlaying on identified face meshes. These assets are created by artists ahead of time in 3D modeling and animation software, and exported as FBX files.

The plugin ships with a canonical_face_mesh.fbx file and a canonical_face_mesh.psd file to help artists create assets that will overlay properly onto faces detected by the plugon. These files can be found in the CanonicalFace folder of the .zip file.

Create 3D models with the FBX file

The FBX file contains the face mesh topology, UV texture coordinates, and rig that defines the supported facial regions provided for creating and attaching assets.

Align your custom mesh attachments on the provided sample face mesh, and export as .fbx.

This file contains a reference facemesh that should not be exported as part of the final FBX. the plugin will generate and update a separate face mesh at runtime.

Create 2D textures with the PSD file

The .psd face mesh reference texture is used to see how a texture that an artist creates lines up with a user’s facial features at runtime. It includes four layers:

• Mask: Shows where the eyes, nostrils, and mouth are located in the texture.
• Lines: Guidelines that show how a user’s facial features line up with a texture during runtime.
• UVs: Represents triangulation of the 468 point face texture mesh.
• Background: A neutral gray background layer to make the other three components visually clear.