Hold the rest of a face

When to use this

A face toggle sets a few shapes, such as a smile. Gestures, face tracking or other toggles can still move the other shapes of the face at the same time, and the pose looks different each time. A rule that holds the rest keeps every other shape of that mesh still while the entry is on.

A rule works on a toggle, and on a trigger that has effects of its own. A radial cannot have one, because it has two ends instead of on and off. A trigger in Flip mode cannot have one either.

To hold one shape at one value in every animation, all the time, see the guide about overrides.

Steps

1. In the Hierarchy, select the object that holds your AvatarDoc component.

2. In the tree, select the face toggle, or make one: press + Toggle on the toolbar and name it, such as Smile.

3. In the toggle's panel, press + Add effect, then Blendshapes, and pick the shape the pose sets, such as Smile.

   You should now see a Blendshapes section with a row for the shape at weight 100. If the toggle already has blend shape rows, skip this step.

4. In the Blendshapes section, press Hold the rest and pick the face mesh.

   You should now see a rule under the rows. Its switch reads Everything else on Face, with the name of your mesh. Hold at is set to Default, and a note says how many shapes the rule can hold.

5. In Hold at, choose what the other shapes are held at:

   • Default keeps each of them at the weight it has in the scene when you upload.
   • 0 clears them all to 0.

6. Leave Hold blink and Hold visemes off, so blinking and lip sync keep working. Turn one on only when the pose must hold the eyes or the mouth too.

   In the picture, 1 is Hold the rest, 2 the rule's switch, 3 Hold at, 4 Hold blink with Hold visemes beside it, and 5 the note.

Hold blink shows only for a mesh the avatar blinks with, and Hold visemes only for a mesh it speaks with. Turned on, Hold blink holds the blink shapes too and pauses VRChat's blinking while the entry is on. Hold visemes does the same for the mouth shapes and lip sync. Both come back as soon as the entry is off.

Capture a pose from the scene

If you set the face up in the scene first, Capture makes the rows for you.

1. In the face mesh's renderer component, set the blend shape weights to the pose you want.

2. In the toggle's Blendshapes section, press Capture and pick the face mesh. The section shows once the toggle has a blend shape row: add one first, as in step 3 of the first part.

   You should now see a row for every shape that is higher than 0 in the scene, at its scene weight and set to Pin. On a toggle, Capture also adds a rule that holds every other shape of the mesh at 0, or switches on the rule the mesh already has, which keeps its Hold at.

On a trigger, Capture adds the rows alone. Use Hold the rest to add the rule.

What the rule holds

The shapes the entry has rows for keep the values of their rows. A rule never holds:

• the shapes a toggle's own custom animations move
• the shape a blend shape trigger follows
• the shapes an AvatarDoc Shapes component drives, so a piece of clothing keeps changing the body
• the blink and mouth shapes, unless their switch is on

A toggle holds the rest while it is on, and leaves those shapes alone while it is off. A trigger holds them while it fires.

The note says "up to" because AvatarDoc writes only what is needed at upload. It holds the shapes that something else on the avatar moves: another toggle, a gesture, face tracking or another tool's animation. With 0, it also holds the shapes that are not at 0 already. Every other shape never moves, so it already shows the value the rule would hold it at. A shape that only something outside the avatar moves, such as a dance in an MMD world, is not held.

A rule adds no parameter and costs no synced bits.

Check it worked

• Press Summary in the inspector's header. The summary lists each rule with its mesh, how many shapes it can hold, and what it holds them at.
• In Play mode with Gesture Manager, turn the toggle on, then make a hand gesture that changes the face. The face keeps the toggle's pose. See Your first toggle for Play mode.

If it does not work

• Blinking or lip sync stops while the toggle is on: Hold blink or Hold visemes is on. Turn it off.
• One shape still moves while the toggle is on: the toggle has a row for that shape, an AvatarDoc Shapes component drives it, or only something outside the avatar moves it.
• An error says only a toggle or a trigger with effects of its own can hold the rest: the rule sits on a radial or on a trigger in Flip mode. See the message.

Related

• Blend shape rows and shape set rules describes every switch of the rule.
• Blinking, lip sync and face tracking explains the pauses.
• Layers, Write Defaults and pinned layers explains why the rule keeps only the shapes that something moves.
• Troubleshooting lists what a rule does not hold.