A motion tracking animation system, comprising: a plurality of pairs of electromyography electrodes (120 1, 122 1;...; 120 N, 122 N) adapted to be affixed to a skin surface of a performer at plural locations corresponding to respective muscle groups; a processor operatively coupled to said plurality of pairs of EMG electrodes, said processor including programming instructions to perform the functions of: acquiring EMG data from said plurality of pairs of EMG electrodes, said EMG data comprising electrical signals corresponding to muscle movements of the performer; generating a set of calibration expressions, each calibration expression corresponding to the EMG data acquired when the performer causes a particular isolated muscle group to actuate, and generating an analogous 3D computer graphics model of a face for each facial expression component, each 3D computer graphics model representing a calibration expression using a set of parameters; fitting EMG data acquired during a subsequent performance to the set of calibration expressions to generate weighted coefficients for each expression component; and combining the weighted coefficients with the 3D computer graphics models to generate a facial expression geometry of an animated character, wherein the animated character will exhibit the same muscle movements as the performer during the subsequent performance, the facial expression geometry being expressed as a sum of the 3D computer graphics models configured with the set of parameters and the weight components. a plurality of pairs of electromyography electrodes (120 1, 122 1;...; 120 N, 122 N) adapted to be affixed to a skin surface of a performer at plural locations corresponding to respective muscle groups; a processor operatively coupled to said plurality of pairs of EMG electrodes, said processor including programming instructions to perform the functions of: acquiring EMG data from said plurality of pairs of EMG electrodes, said EMG data comprising electrical signals corresponding to muscle movements of the performer; generating a set of calibration expressions, each calibration expression corresponding to the EMG data acquired when the performer causes a particular isolated muscle group to actuate, and generating an analogous 3D computer graphics model of a face for each facial expression component, each 3D computer graphics model representing a calibration expression using a set of parameters; fitting EMG data acquired during a subsequent performance to the set of calibration expressions to generate weighted coefficients for each expression component; and combining the weighted coefficients with the 3D computer graphics models to generate a facial expression geometry of an animated character, acquiring EMG data from said plurality of pairs of EMG electrodes, said EMG data comprising electrical signals corresponding to muscle movements of the performer; generating a set of calibration expressions, each calibration expression corresponding to the EMG data acquired when the performer causes a particular isolated muscle group to actuate, and generating an analogous 3D computer graphics model of a face for each facial expression component, each 3D computer graphics model representing a calibration expression using a set of parameters; fitting EMG data acquired during a subsequent performance to the set of calibration expressions to generate weighted coefficients for each expression component; and combining the weighted coefficients with the 3D computer graphics models to generate a facial expression geometry of an animated character,