1. A computer-implemented method for manipulating a surface of a computer-generated face, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more computer systems, information identifying a plurality of linear models associated with the surface of the computer-generated face, each linear model in the plurality of linear models corresponding to a region of the surface of the computer-generated face and modeling a set of behaviors for the region derived from a first data set; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, a second data set associated with the surface of the computer-generated face, the second data set defining one or more manipulations to be performed to the surface of the computer-generated face; determining for the one or more manipulations defined by the second data set, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a solution globally applicable to the surface of the computer generated face that satisfies each continuity constraint in a set of one or more continuity constraints associated with the plurality of linear models and that reduces one or more error metrics, wherein the determining is performed in parallel for each of the plurality of linear models; and storing information configured based on the determined solution to manipulate the surface of the computer-generated face in a storage device associated with the one or more computer systems.