XSI Rigging Research

#1

Hey guys. I’m not an experienced XSI artist by any means but have lots of experience in other apps. Recently my studio has considered adding some new tools to our pipe for an upcoming project. XSI being one of those we are considering. Before hand however we need to do a bunch of research which leads to my question:

I’m wondering if there are any tools within xsi or even plug-ins for xsi that make rigging a face easy. When I say rig I mean actual controls on the face of the character that an animator can manipulate instead of using morph targets.
Something similar to the Face Machine plug in for maya here: http://www.anzovin.com/products/tfm1mayaFeatures.html

Also: If there aren’t any specific tools and it has to be rigged by hand or another way… what is that process like?

Thanks in advance for the help.

#2

there isn’t anything thats going to help you do that in Softimage, but FaceRobot can but will cost you a lot of money since it is considered another application.

everything the face machine does is doable in Softimage through the API.

steven

#3

Thanks for the help.

API… meaning scripting?

I know the back door way in Maya is to use the fur tool etc. How would you make this happen in XSI?

Is everyone in XSI using Morphs ?.. Yuck!

#4

" everything the face machine does is doable in Softimage through the API."

This maybe, but the fact is there’s no easy way to do this in Softimage compaired to something like the Face Machine.

Regards,
Simon

#5

No way! I think what Steven means is that there’s no automagical way to set-up a face rig. But if you want to make such a tool, it’s doable through scripting. Otherwise, do it manually

I don’t do much character rigging myself, so I’ll leave the specifics to others.

#6

apples and oranges… you are comparing softimage with a plugin for maya. is there a comparable plugin for softimage? no. but that doesn’t mean you can do it. at blur we use standard softimage for facial animation using shapes and envelopes. when there is mocap involved we use facerobot, but more often we use shapes and envelopes.

steven

#7

My point is there ISN’T anything like the maya plug-in for Softimage. The fact you can do it is only relevent if you have the skills to do so, and the wish to go down that road.

#8

yep, i agreed with you

“is there a comparable plugin for softimage? no.”

#9

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