Facial expressions have been bad for a long time

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  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 1,983

    Gogger said:

    In my opinion, this artist makes the absolute greatest smiles. Whether somehow not technically accurate, or not realistic in some other way, I just love the overall look regardless.  I've tried to dissect it and make my own version with absolutely no luck.  Maybe I just got too impatient, or wasn't seeing where I could control some of the nuances that make this so great. Still, I would argue that not every facial expression is bad, and infact, quite lovely ones are possible.

    This is : Lara for Genesis 8 Female  from another store.  I believe there was a PA here who created similar looks, but they have left, and we never got their secret smile recipe.

    Okay, THIS is something. Great smile, love it. 

  • TorquinoxTorquinox Posts: 3,314
    edited May 19

    @Gogger : It is a good smile. yes

    Post edited by Torquinox on
  • GoggerGogger Posts: 2,393

    Torquinox said:

    @Gogger : It is a good smile. yes

     

    At the risk of being misunderstood - the image I posted was a PROMO IMAGE for the character - NOT one of MY own construction (even though I bought the character based largely on THAT smile). I'd pay good money to learn the secret to these smiles. I just don't have a dial-spinner's eye for it I guess. The character is Lara for G8 at Renderhub by PA iamnikk. Lots of iamnikk's promo images have amazing smiles - and not all the same smile pasted onto different characters. The other one I was thinking of was perhaps Ravenstone, or Raven-something, or whatever, I just can't recall it - seems like they either changed names or were going by a similar name at Renderocity. Seems like the PA Nirvana had some images with these kinds of smiles, but I could be getting them all mixed up. I usually try to screenshot promos of note, but it just got to be too much.  But I've always thought, hands down, these are the most beautiful smiles I've seen rendered!

  • SilverGirlSilverGirl Posts: 835

    Gogger said:

    Torquinox said:

    @Gogger : It is a good smile. yes

     

    At the risk of being misunderstood - the image I posted was a PROMO IMAGE for the character - NOT one of MY own construction (even though I bought the character based largely on THAT smile). I'd pay good money to learn the secret to these smiles. I just don't have a dial-spinner's eye for it I guess. The character is Lara for G8 at Renderhub by PA iamnikk. Lots of iamnikk's promo images have amazing smiles - and not all the same smile pasted onto different characters. The other one I was thinking of was perhaps Ravenstone, or Raven-something, or whatever, I just can't recall it - seems like they either changed names or were going by a similar name at Renderocity. Seems like the PA Nirvana had some images with these kinds of smiles, but I could be getting them all mixed up. I usually try to screenshot promos of note, but it just got to be too much.  But I've always thought, hands down, these are the most beautiful smiles I've seen rendered!

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

  • GoggerGogger Posts: 2,393
     

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

    Yeah, pretty much. But if anyone here can reproduce it and share how they did it, well that would be swell. :)

  • TorquinoxTorquinox Posts: 3,314

    Kadaj777 at Rendo has a character named Deiydra. I like the smile on that one and the smile morph is included. I think including a few custom expression morphs is a good idea, good selling point - especially for a smile.

  • I believe this is the same person, but because they put the hand in front, you can see more clearly that the esspression is generated as the hand distorts. 

  • JB007JB007 Posts: 118
    edited May 20

    Destiny's Design said:

    I believe this is the same person, but because they put the hand in front, you can see more clearly that the esspression is generated as the hand distorts. 

    Hhhhmmm ...

    Post edited by JB007 on
  • GoggerGogger Posts: 2,393

    Destiny's Design said:

     

    I believe this is the same person, but because they put the hand in front, you can see more clearly that the esspression is generated as the hand distorts. 

    Yep, I believe this would hold up in court.
  • jdavison67jdavison67 Posts: 645

    Many times... an expression fails due to one aspect... often it is the corners of the mouth...

    Play with the mouth corner pucker...

    I find...this fixes many bad smiles....

     

    JD

  • dan_thomasdan_thomas Posts: 83

    After four years messing with DAZ Studio, I concluded it does not make any sense to perform realistic 3D work (scene creation, rendering, animation) with this software, It can be still used as a bridge between DAZ store and professional software such as Blender or Unreal engine. But I wouldn't recommend DAZ studio for realistic scene creation. The software makes you waste too much time and effort with slow loading and bumpy 3D operations. And many critical things such as softbody physics, some realistic body posing and facial expressions are impossible with DAZ Studio. 

  • SilverGirlSilverGirl Posts: 835

    I want to give a shout out to the new(ish) Zeddicus expression set: https://www.daz3d.com/z-love-and-passion-expressions-for-genesis-9 -- I'm about halfway through rendering samples on my two main girls, and already I've got a couple good smiles for my one character who looks absolutely weird and dopey with every other smile I've tried (even the dials). And it has both upper/lower/full one-clicks AND sliders, plus a tip sheet with how to customize further in the parameters pane in a place I hadn't even known to look. 

    Yeah, a bunch of the expressions make them look drunk (or maybe that's sultry? I'm not good at sultry) but the set would be worth it for those two smiles even if I don't get anything else out of it. And hey, if they're ever drunk, that'd be a good look for it. A lot more nuanced than the ones in some of the other sets.

  • FirstBastionFirstBastion Posts: 7,760

    Gogger said:

    Destiny's Design said:

     

    I believe this is the same person, but because they put the hand in front, you can see more clearly that the esspression is generated as the hand distorts. 

    Yep, I believe this would hold up in court.

     I would also agree.

  • dan_thomasdan_thomas Posts: 83

    Gogger said:

     

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

    Yeah, pretty much. But if anyone here can reproduce it and share how they did it, well that would be swell. :)

    I contacted the creator to ask how he made the smile in his promo image. He said "The smile were created on photoshop so there is no morphs in DAZ studio to replicate such a smile."

  • SilverGirlSilverGirl Posts: 835

    dan_thomas said:

    Gogger said:

     

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

    Yeah, pretty much. But if anyone here can reproduce it and share how they did it, well that would be swell. :)

    I contacted the creator to ask how he made the smile in his promo image. He said "The smile were created on photoshop so there is no morphs in DAZ studio to replicate such a smile."

    Well crapadoodle. Thanks for checking, though. 

  • benniewoodellbenniewoodell Posts: 1,969

    I have all of the expression packs from newguy as well as this (there's a feminine one too)

     https://www.daz3d.com/pure-masculine-expressions-for-genesis-9

    And I've found these all to be invaluable. I find myself using G9 now almost exclusively for main characters because of the expression possibilities that I never was able to achieve before. And they transfer beautifully to blender via diffeo to animate, and they transfer back to daz perfectly if I want to render in Daz. 

  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 1,983

    dan_thomas said:

    Gogger said:

     

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

    Yeah, pretty much. But if anyone here can reproduce it and share how they did it, well that would be swell. :)

    I contacted the creator to ask how he made the smile in his promo image. He said "The smile were created on photoshop so there is no morphs in DAZ studio to replicate such a smile."

    This is what I call a disappointment. 
    A nice smile for a custom character needs a well balanced combination of custom keyed morphs.

  • GoggerGogger Posts: 2,393
    edited June 3

    dan_thomas said:

    Gogger said:

     

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

    Yeah, pretty much. But if anyone here can reproduce it and share how they did it, well that would be swell. :)

    I contacted the creator to ask how he made the smile in his promo image. He said "The smile were created on photoshop so there is no morphs in DAZ studio to replicate such a smile."

    I actually appreciate this information VERY MUCH as I was constantly spending idle brain cycles thinking I would one day sit down and force myself to pay enough attention to every nuance of her smile and recreate it on a DAZ figure myself. This helps me understand the scope of the task, if possible at all. THANK YOU!

    Post edited by Gogger on
  • MalandarMalandar Posts: 776

    Is it me, or has every expression set that has come out for Genesis 9 been the exact same setting on each expression? I remember before I had to redo my library, that it seemed like there was a LOT of samey samey going on since  they seemed to be the exact same expressions every time.

  • Seven193Seven193 Posts: 1,080
    edited June 4

    Do they include these expressions with their character, or do they keep it for themselves and use it only for promo shots?  Not very useful if we can only see it and not use it. Also, when you include a realistic smile in a promo, and don't include it in the product, I get the feeling that the smile may be AI generated. Some promo trickery that's been done before.

    Post edited by Seven193 on
  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 9,053

    dan_thomas said:

    Gogger said:

     

    So it's just a promo image, and no hope of getting an expression pack so we can *use* the smile? 

    Yeah, pretty much. But if anyone here can reproduce it and share how they did it, well that would be swell. :)

    I contacted the creator to ask how he made the smile in his promo image. He said "The smile were created on photoshop so there is no morphs in DAZ studio to replicate such a smile."

    And this is why I personally find that it makes very little sense to try to do everything in render...  at the current level of development, there are some things that are just faster and easier to acheive in postproduction than trying to brute force with bones, morph, and deformers in DAZ Studio.  And that's just using Photoshop's basic warp and puppet warp features, mind you, not some of the newer fancy "neural" filters and other AI tricks. It's one of the reasons I still do a lot of my main work using Genesis 3 figures, as while they can't generate facial expressions that are quite as "extreme" as what one can in the later Generations that are more bone-dependent, I find that the G3's mostly sculpted expression morphs are often a better base for subsequent nudging.      

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 9,053

    Malandar said:

    Is it me, or has every expression set that has come out for Genesis 9 been the exact same setting on each expression? I remember before I had to redo my library, that it seemed like there was a LOT of samey samey going on since  they seemed to be the exact same expressions every time.

    It's not you.  

  • SilverGirlSilverGirl Posts: 835

    Cybersox said:

    Malandar said:

    Is it me, or has every expression set that has come out for Genesis 9 been the exact same setting on each expression? I remember before I had to redo my library, that it seemed like there was a LOT of samey samey going on since  they seemed to be the exact same expressions every time.

    It's not you.  

    Yeah. I got a couple of the packs, and after that most of the ones that come out, I've blinked and gone "wait... how is this new?"

    Now, maybe some are custom-dialed to work best with a particular character, I couldn't say, but that doesn't help me when all the characters I'm using are my OWN custom dialed creations. And mostly the offerings all look way too "out there" to be useful for me. Much like the "feminine" (gag) poses... nobody *actually* looks like that unless they're putting it on.

    I liked the love & passion one because it had a few expressions that filled gaps for me (is it passion or is it "I just smelled fresh coffee?" -- you decide!) and I think I'll get the NG Build Your Own Smile pack at some point because maybe then I'll finally get some variety in decent looking smiles. Other than that, I suspect I'm done buying them.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,663

    I think fairly subtle expressions can be done with bones & no morph, things like the 'Urk' expression below:

    Bolder, "in your face" expressions are a bit more difficult to get looking right only using bones. 

    I feel that a good, wide, open smile moves the whole face, and that's where the bones only method of doing the smile does break down. Largely because there is so much going on in the face that the person posing the face misses stuff that makes it look wrong.

    The 'Urk' pose above only affects 4 bones. Think how many a smile moves, and then risk some bones not being included at the correct strength, leads to a real danger of it looking wrong.

    Regards,

    Richard

  • SilverGirlSilverGirl Posts: 835

    richardandtracy said:

    I think fairly subtle expressions can be done with bones & no morph, things like the 'Urk' expression below:

    Bolder, "in your face" expressions are a bit more difficult to get looking right only using bones. 

    I feel that a good, wide, open smile moves the whole face, and that's where the bones only method of doing the smile does break down. Largely because there is so much going on in the face that the person posing the face misses stuff that makes it look wrong.

    The 'Urk' pose above only affects 4 bones. Think how many a smile moves, and then risk some bones not being included at the correct strength, leads to a real danger of it looking wrong.

    Regards,

    Richard

    That is a really great 'urk' face. I have no doubt I have made that exact expression (if not so attractively) on many occasions.

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