G8/G3 Female + Male - Face Control Rig
Faux2D
Posts: 452
I made a control rig/panel for the Genesis 8 figure. You can see me testing it out on Kayo 8. It is FACS-based therefore it's capable of creating all possible range of human expression. It does require a level of work and creativity. I recommend using references.
It uses no blendshapes therefore it's compatible with all characters and G8 figures. Just drag and drop it into the scene and you're pretty much good to go.
I plan on releasing it as a product so I'm interested in what you guys think and if you have any ideas on what I should add or improve.
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Comments
This looks neat, but how is it superior to PowerPose?
Also, I feel like I'd get lost very quickly on knowing where to click to adjust. You seem to be doing it intuitively.
The basic G8 Power Pose templates just control the facial bones of the figure without any rhyme or reason. This tool has all FACS built into it and that's what you're seeing me manipulate. I know the number of controls can look like a lot but there's really no way of reducing the number (or even increasing it for that matter). The human face is only capable of making around 40 specific movements (Facial Actions) and all face rigs regardless of complexity have to account for all of them. Picture it like bones in a hand: you have to have 19 bones in a hand to create a proper fist. Using less than 19 joints in a 3D hand will create less than desirable results.
The reason I put the control rig next to the face is so it's easier to undestand what changes have been made and in what fashion. Power Pose unfortunately doesn't register what points have been moved or if they have been moved. I think it's a good idea to also add a custom Power Pose control template as well just so I have everything covered.
This is awesome.
A lot of times I see an expression in my head but reproducing it by spinning dials doesn't always get me where I want to end up.
At the moment I can't think of other functionality or suggestions.
This is outstanding!
:)
JD
Super cool!!! Any plans for G8M too?
Good work! I'm interested in such a tool.
Yes, it's clearly better. I'd buy but only if one is in the works for G8M as well.
It is compatible with both figures and any character derived from the G8 and G3 generation.
I am currently working on a way to add facial mocap data which is the main purpose why I have created the control rig.
Yeah, I'd totally be interested as well, but not if it's just for one and not the other. I'm not going to go back and forth doing an animation and use two different tools. But this looks really well made, so I hope you're able to do it for G8M too.
Definitely keen if for both. Frustrating when cool resources come out for only one sex.
Awesome that; I'm a buyer when you've got it ready.
Me too! Immediately! And please edit the name of this thread to reflect this: G8/3 Male/Female - Face Control Rig.
Have you added a zero all bones button?
Yes. It's the same as zero-ing any Genesis figure. The basic expression is the T-pose. You can map it to any key you want.
I have to google what FACS is. The video looks great but I am sure in the hands of capable animators Power Pose is simple enough as well. Controls of this and Power Pose look equally daunting to me. As someone who struggle with expressions I hope this comes with a good tutorial and basic template so it can be a end-all expression purcahse for people like me.
Facial animation for realistic looking characters is almost impossible without motion capture. Doing it manually will risk diving into the Uncanny Valley.
This tool will come with several tutorials, a bunch of already-made expressions, and a pipeline for importing Dynamixyz motion capture data back into Daz.
Faux_2D, the product looks awesome.
Do you think it can be possible to have similar custom controls, like the ones you created for the face, but also for the rest of the body, so it would be possible to pose the character directly in the viewport using the helpers like in most of the professional 3D rigs? That would be awesome too. It's a shame that DAZ studio can't seem to properly fix all the problems with IK. A real IK system and this kind of custom controls directly on the viewport would take the DAZ experience to the next step IMHO.
Congrats for the great job!!!
Yes but Daz Studio already can do that through polygon groups. I don't think adding a GUI over Daz's method of moving the body will improve much.
If Daz manages to integrate IK handles a GUI for the body will add a lot. I tried to find workarounds but everything I tried made Daz very instable and crashed regularly.
Facial motion capture test. Just using a webcam and doing faces.
Software used is Dynamixyz which is the best out there from what I researched. It does require a lot of work to calibrate properly but the end effect are top notch.
This looks terrific! Especially with the mo cap option. As others have noted, I would buy in an instant, but only if it is shown to work just as well for the for males.
I looked up Dynamixyz motion capture- it's a pretty hefty $$. I wonder , ( if Dynamixyz allowed) if you could sell packages of mo capped actions, expressions, phrases and the like here to add to the product.
Yeah, it's ridiculously expensive but I guess once you're the best option you get to set the price. The beauty with Dynamixyz is that you can use it to get mocap data from any video including movies. There's a 30 day trial for Dynamixyz so everyone can experiment with it.
It shouldn't be a problem to sell mocap packages as there are already any. The file within daz is just an animation file
Is this product mainly for people doing animations or is it easy enough for just static expressions?
It's made for both.
Initially I added dots but trying to click on them in the viewport became really tedious really fast. The colors and transparency of the UI system is fully user customizable. The scale of individual controls as well. Also the UI can be placed anywhere around the head of the figure.
I will add several tutorials, One for the tool itself. One to show how it can be customized. One to show how to apply it to any character. And another tutorial to show a facial motion capture pipeline.
Another mocap test this time using a video off of YouTube. Performance captured through Dynamixyz.
I'm happy that my rig can capture the phonemes but I did mess up some expressions while retargeting them in Dynamixyz. I'm just getting the hang of the program, it has quite the learning curve.
Good face animation but ugh! I've never understood the popularity of Shakespeare at all!! Or is that sort of verbage a general educated manner of writing and speaking for all of Elizabethan England?
I'm not a native English speaker so I can't really say but I do like Shakespeare.
Nontheless I couldn't find any proper acting reel that's not some Shakespeare thing. I chose the video for mocap based on how well it tracked in Dynamixyz and not on the content itself.
Yes, it definately tracks good. Too bad it wouldn't work with a video of Lucy & Ethel up to their gags on I Love Lucy or something.