Lipspressed

Lipspressed is a term used in computer graphics and animation to describe the state in which a character’s lips are pressed together with minimal or no gaps. The concept is employed to model closed-mouth phonemes such as /p/ and /b/ and to convey certain expressions or speech cues. It functions as a practical descriptor within rigging and blendshape workflows, rather than a term standardized in phonetics or linguistics.

Etymology and usage notes indicate lipspressed as a portmanteau of lip and pressed. It has appeared primarily in online tutorials, forums, and workflow discussions from the 2010s onward, where artists discuss controlling lip closure as part of facial animation pipelines. The term helps distinguish a specific degree of lip contact from broader categories like lip aperture or smile shapes, emphasizing a complete or near-complete seal between the lips.

In practice, lipspressed is controlled in digital rigs as a scalar parameter or set of blendshapes representing lip closure. A fully lipspressed state corresponds to a closed-lip seal, while partial values allow varying degrees of contact. It is often used with viseme-driven articulation to achieve believable closed-mouth sounds or to convey cautious or secretive expressions. Techniques for achieving lipspressed include adjusting lip corners, central lip muscles, and jaw posture, and may be informed by performance-capture data mapped to lip-seal parameters.

See also: facial animation, phonetics, viseme, blendshape, automated lip-sync.