New facial rig

#10

Wow, thanks for all your nice comments guys! :bounce:

@ Leebert: The red ring is a visual reference for the underlying metaeffector that lets you interactively weight some of the morphs. Unfortunately there is a little problem with it right now, that is that when the character moves away from its setup position, the weight field doesn’t follow along “internally” - I’m not sure yet what the problem might be or if its a bug, I’ll see what pmG can say about this…
As for the lower onface eye controls, they are squash and stretch controls for the whole eyesockets :slight_smile:

 @ gsutter: Hey Geoff! Glad to see you around again :wavey: I'm very honored if my stuff can contribute to get you motivated about animation again - GO DUDE! Or the world will loose one great animator that you are!!! :thumbsup:

@ Chikega: A tutorial CD, errr, yeah, uhm… you are not the only one who has asked me that actually - I’d like to do one, but the main problem is that I’d need some time that I don’t have right now :rolleyes: I’ll keep it in mind though, I promise :slight_smile:

 @ roli: Thanks :) How are things progressing on your side?
 
 Thanks again to everyone! :thumbsup:
#11

Cool stuff maks :slight_smile:

#12

I LOVE the fact that when you click on a block, the slider bank pops up for those of us who like that sort of control. Its the best of both worlds. Your riggs are amazing Marek. Great work.

#13

Wow, that was just amazing. I’d love to hear more how your squash and stretch controls work. So well done.

#14

Thanks Wegg! :slight_smile: Yeah, the slider accessibility is very important in my eyes, since they are the ones who get keyframed, and not the armature handles, as opposed to a “physical” control interface as you know it from my previous rigs. And I actually also had a bit of you in mind, screaming “I want my sliders!” :wink: I was actually amazed how simple it was to make an action script that lets you specify and select a object, it took barely 3 lines of coding :smiley:

#15

any way you could post the actual rig? That thing is killer. Love to study it.

#16

Sorry guys, since this is contract work that I’m doing for a living, and also because it’s still WIP, I can’t simply make this available like this :shrug: Well, maybe at a later time or maybe bundled with a possible future tutorial CD…:wink:

#17

If you’re talking about the jaw SnS, it’s basically a jaw bone combined with a muscle bone that runs down the face. Always keep in mind: muscle bones rule for squash and stretch! You can accomplish the most amazing things with them through very simple setups :buttrock: As for the eyesocket controls, they are simply bones scaled in Y, with the eye-skeleton parented under them :slight_smile:

#18

Yeah, I think I keep making things way more complicated then they need to be. Just used to that from other software :slight_smile:

Fantastic work and add me to the list that would buy a tutorial CD from you if you ever decide to make one!

#19

Maks… i would like to see “those 3 lines of code”:scream:

#20

Could you show us a shot with the wireframe and the bones visible? That would explain a lot on the jaw/muscle bone thing.

#21

Ok, here’s the script:

   ___________________________________________________________________
   
   //#messiahscript
   
   #define SCRIPT_ACTION_CLICK        1
   
   //Action that lets you select a object without having to attach the handle to it
   
   int HandleAction(object obj)
   {
       SetCurObj(obj)
       return (1);
   }
   
   ___________________________________________________________________

It basically just executes the SetCurObj function, and since the new messiah version automatically creates a basic interface for the HandleAction arguments, it’ll give you a menu where you can chose your object from - whooot :slight_smile:

   And here's a screenshot of the face bone rig:
#22

Hi Maks,

I don’t want to be nit-picking, but instead of using a script, you can also just use the ‘ComputeExpression’ action from the click action menu and enter ‘SetCurObj(YourObject)’ as the expression. This has the same effect as the script (and is even a bit shorter …).

#23

Hehe, yeah, I just wanted to profit from the fact that you can select your object from a menu, rather than having to type in the function with the object name manually - easier IMO, beeing lazy… :wink: But you’re absolutely right, there not really a need for this script :slight_smile:

#24

Very beautiful setup!
Can’t wait to see you finally diving into real coding :wink:

Inspired regards, :wink:

#25

Thanks Thomas :slight_smile: Yeah, I slowly but surely get more and more into coding via scripting, and I enjoy it! We’ll see when I’ll come over to the API to do my first plugin…:wink:

Btw, you finally weren’t at FMX, did you? Would have been nice to meet ya… :slight_smile:

#26

Hehehehe - I look forward to what you will come up with! :bounce:

I actually were on the fmx, but only on Saturday - and since the very unprofessional behavior of the fmx-administration forced Ron Martin into canceling his booth, I couldn’t do any messiah demos.

I now work with him on some plans for doing messiah demos and training sessions at the 3D Powerstore site in Duesseldorf where no weird Digital Production/fmx guys will interfere, so maybe we can finally meet at a later occasion. :wavey:

I am very sorry for all this trouble :shrug:

Best regards,

#27

Wow! Very impressive. It’s good to see it all click for you… and it has in a BIG way:D As I’d mentioned in the past, the armature/script system has much more power than anyone realizes. Adding the new handle functions have really made the power more apparent. Seeing your usage has clearly highlighted that point. We’ll add more functions in later revs.

No doubt, as users come to grips with the power of this system, you’ll see even more exotic controllers for facial animation, stickfigure, and poses. I even have some more ideas of my own… if I can only squeeze out more time…

Thank you for the video & feedback, Maks. You made my day:)

-lyle

ps: when you do get into writing plugins, you may want to get into writing Actions for armatures. Then you’ll start to really see what armatures can do.

#28

Hi Thomas,

I would have really liked to meet you in Stuttgart at fmx in order to get some hands on information (stealing with my eyes) from you about messiah.
I bought messiah recently and i think it helps to get over the first hurdles by watching other people using an application - now i bought the cosman CDs and will try to become a cosman_wannabe instead. :slight_smile:

Something i would like to clarify something you wrote in your last mail:
The whole reseller forum you were talking about was organized by the publisher of a famous german digital production magazine.
They just held their event during fmx, in the same building - fmx itself was a very professionally organised con and completely independent from the reseller show (I was given this info by some behind the scene fmx-organisators when I asked them for details about the reseller event). It was confusing and nobody really realized that these events were independent.

#29

evilemil: Yeah, I would have loved to meet some people and show messiah too.
I can still offer individual live courses here in Berlin if anybody wants to come up to speed faster.

Interesting what you say about the splitting of the trade show and the fmx itself. Nobody seems to be really aware of it since it all happens in the same space. The Digital Production is not that “famous” in my book (I no longer write articles for them), so it kind of makes sense that they are unable to handle such a thing properly. :hmm:

Thanks for the clarification!

Cheers,