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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

Luuk Steitner

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Posts posted by Luuk Steitner

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    If you're really serious about this, I would suggest you take that down until you get time to do a better one. The mouth hardly opens and generally the expressions aren't as accurate as previous videos. Being new, you want to create as good an impression as possible. Or at least say in the video that this is an early demo. Also, you might wait till the website is ready.

    Anyway....use that girl next time too. :)

     

    I guess you're right... I'll take it down and make some time to make a better one.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Luuk, I think, just guessing though, that maybeee the model, I mean the real model, the real girl, just might distract from the software, (what's it called again?, just kidding) even with all those white heads on her face, she is just too cute.........

     

    I'll tell her ;) she's my sister.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    I just made a new demonstration video. See this link.

    I'm planning to use this one on my website but I'm not totally pleased with it. I should have spend a bit more time to rig/constrain the face. I'll make a new video later. First I have to get my updated website online. I don't have enough time at the moment to finish my total new website because I'm also working on a movie, so I'll release it on a temporary page first and I will launch my new site some weeks later.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Thanks, Luuk! No, I mean, THANKS, LUUK! :D

    Without your software and A:M working well together I wouldn't be having all this fun.

     

    I'm going to post Zine Track tests to YouTube to save Hash Inc disc space and to hopefully promote this great tool.

     

    Zine Track Testing #1

    (That is just the same video as the one above. I will just post future tests to YouTube).

     

    Thanks Paul, but one comment; it's Zign Track and zigncreations.com ;)

    Deselecting CPs in Bones mode 12.0n

    in New Users

    Posted

    Hey all,

     

    I'm having a bit of trouble with Bones.

    When I select CPs to attach to a Bone, is there anyway I can DEselect CPs if I make a mistake?

    I tried every possible key+mouseclick combo I could think of... <_>

     

     

    And is there any way to attach a group from the model hierarchy to a Bone?

     

    I'm running A:M 12.0n

     

    I understand there is a later version for the YETI CD, but the FTP site is a mess.

    Multiple version scattered around and I haven't got a clue which one to download.

     

    Thanks for your help.

     

    When you click outside the model the default root bone will be selected. If you then select those CPs again they will be attached to the root again.

    What I always do if I want to select a certain group that's hard to select I switch to modeling mode, select the group, hide the rest and go back to bones mode. This way you can only select the CPs that are still visible.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Now, to create my setup action from my current action, (in order to avoid having to reset all my constraints), can I just delete the captured data for the rig and save as "BVH_Setup.act" or will I have to start again with a new action and setup all the constraints again?

    ---------

    You can delete it if you like but you don't have to. When you choose "capture sequence" it will replace the previous action. You don't have to setup constraints or anything. Capture sequence is the only thing you have to do to use your new captured data. This is what makes motion capture so much fun. Once you have setup your character and action you're only seconds away from a completely new animation ;)

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    I would like to know how to swap a BVH file in an Action. Does anyone know how to do this? I fixed the errant markers for the bottom lip and exported a new BVH file which imported into A:M14 but when I attempted to swap shortcuts in the Action A:M seemed to freeze and I had to quit via the task manager. Any ideas? :)

     

    Just use the "import sequence" function of the biovision object. Once you have set up the constraints you can use the same action for any BVH file that is set up the same way. A good idea would be to save your action to a separate action file so if you want to use multiple BVH actions just import the same action a few times, rename them and capture the sequence for each action.

     

    Now here's an idea for a useful plugin, or a post process for Zign Track:

     

    BVH2AMAct (BVH to A:M Action)

     

    The idea would be to run a BVH file through this plugin which would analise the data for each bone and would create an Action file with key frames, filtering out any movements that fell within user defined limits for each marker/bone. This would generate a smaller file and would make post editing much easier and native to A:M.

     

    In the meantime BVH is good! :)

     

    You mean a file with less key frames? That's not a bad idea and could be useful for any BVH file. Maybe I'll make that later. Or some plugin writer with some spare time might do it :)

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    What is the best approach to cleaning up animation like this? I suppose I bake the action and then just tweak the bones on the problematic frames?

     

    Well done Paul. At the point where the upper lip is going a bit to high you might want to reduce the enforcement of the constraints. Where the lower lip is making that sudden movement there is probably 1 or 2 frames where the tracking lost the marker. Did you save the project in Zign Track? If you reopen it you can take a look at those frames to see what happened during tracking.

    It's nice to see such a nice video!

     

    Cheers.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    I would love to see some examples of exaggeration, it anyone has time to post those experiments.... I just picked up a little mini dv camera and this program was one of the main reasons for getting one.

     

    Looking forward to its release.

     

    You can already give it a try with the new squetch rig. David has uploaded it today. He also included exaggeration poses in his rig and an example bvh file.

    But it's better to track your own video so you know what you're going for.

     

    The release is getting very close. I have beta 5 ready but this one only works with an installer, so I'm making an installer now. I hope this will be the last beta. When this is done we'll do some more testing and I'll finish the manual and update my website. I expect this will take 1 or 2 weeks.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Hey Luuk,

     

    I was wondering if you think your software will run under parallels or VM ware fusion(virtual machine software), would like to have this working on my mac... even through a vm...

     

    I'm not sure but I think it should work. You should give it a try when I release the software (trial) and let me know.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Hi again,

     

    I'm still working on some improvements, but I'm almost there (I think)

    I have some good news for those who like to work with the squetch rig; David Simmons has added an BVH function to the squetch rig so animations recorded with Zign Track are now very easy to use. Here's an example video with David's Squetchy Sam.

    I forgot to store the audio when saving my captured video file, but the movements are pretty accurate.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Me Want now!! :D

     

    Ok....so, would someone need to setup the bones in the face before applying the BVH generated file? Or, does this require a special rigged face or skeleton?

     

    Is it just a facial tracker for now? Or will it grow into a full body tracking program?

     

    and as a side note.... me want now!! :D

     

    Any ideas on a release date?

    Yes, the face needs to be rigged with a rig that matches the BVH file. For now it's just a face tracker we'll see what the feature will bring but don't expect you'll be doing full body tracking with just one camera. Although there is a 2D part in the program that allows you track any thing you like with any number of features. It is an experimental part that isn't completely finished yet. I'm not sure I'll have it finished on the first release. If not I'll finish it in a next (free) upgrade. What you can do with that feature depends entirely on your imagination...

     

    I understand you want it now but it isn't ready to be released yet. I'm working very hard to fix the last things that don't work smoothly yet and I decided to improve the tracking algorithm. Just be patient for a few weeks ;)

    How to Control a CP Movement by SEVERAL CPs Movement by Expression?

    in New Users

    Posted

    But in this case it shouldn't happen, isn't? I mean what could be wrong in a simple expression like this "..|..|CP #1.Translate.X"? That's cause I thought it could be a bug that should be Reported unless I be missing something...

    The other expressions you showed had 3x "..|" That could be the problem. (Translate.X is a child of Translate so that's one step more) The best way to avoid mistakes is to select the variables with your mouse and not typing them.

    Facial MoCap experiments

    in Showcase

    Posted

    thanks for the images , i like the interfas :lol:

     

    is posible add more or less motion caption control points ???

     

    I will add more marker positions in a later update. first things first...

    Less is possible, you don't need set them all. Only the neck, forehead nose and chin are always required because they are the base for the calculations.

     

    Looks like every dot on the face would be associated with a bone in the models face?

     

    Not every dot. The dots on the neck, forehead and eye corners are only used as reference to calculate the motion.

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