Facial animation via the built in script only?

Are face animations such as smiles and blinks only chosen and activated via the built scripts when uploading an animation? Is it possible to create and upload custom made face animations?

Unfortunately you cannot animate the face or hands (open/closed/etc).

The expressions available via scripting are quite good though. There are some products (free and paid) that trigger expressions based on things you type and provide buttons so that you can trigger the animation using a button (on-demand).

The problem with these is that you cannot hold a particular expression. If you are taking a photo of someone smiling, you need to trigger the smiling animation and take the photo before the animation ends. Some products attempt to hold the expression by triggering the animation on a timed basis to provide the illusion of a fixed pose; however, laggy areas cause the timer to fall behind resultng in a sort of twitch

Most people in SL are used to expression-less faces and get around it in some very clever ways. Take a look at samples from photo sstudios, for example -- there is some great work out there.

-2fast