thank you for mentioning Blender and those plugins. i'll check them out. i've been watching and following some Blender tutorials. Do you know of any good (Blender) tuts or courses for Facial Rigging? i've found a few but if you can recommend any, i'd appreciate it.
It looks like for a beginner like me, other software is the way to go for facial rigging. i know that it's possible to create complex rigs in C4D, but that seems to be limited to those who have a lot of experience with it and who know how to work around its limitations. the Blender interface and user experience is not bad. it's not Cinema - which just feels like home, but it's doable. thanks again!