15 réponses à ce sujet

[Beerfish]

There are some facial expression animations in the animation list that for the most part don't look great close up.  How do other cutscene makers handle facial expressions for their cutscenes?  Can a person use blank convo lines and use the expressions generated from those? 

I haven't played around much with 'Animate face' as in the wiki it seems to indicated that a 'pose' must be set for the creature.    It also is not terribly clear how to choose facial animations when choosing to 'Animate Face'.

Anyone want to display a short tutorial in this thread as how to best animated faces in cutscenes?

[Eshme]

cs_f***** animations seems good to use. They have some expressions ,havent checked them all out thou. But i believe these dont work during spoken lines.. -> theyre override animations

[DahliaLynn]

I usually go for using the basics. Eyebrows, smiles, eyelids, eye directions, head movements, squints, etc.  There are also several premade anims that are not part of face fx which are the cs_f....as Eshme mentioned above, which already have full expressions.
If a better answer isn't posted by tomorrow, I'll post a list of what I found here.

A quick Edit:

Creating facial expressions from the basic anims given means using a combination of various animations together in order to get the desired effect.

For example, for a scared or surprised look, I would widen the eyes, open the mouth to the desired weight, possibly add an "ohh" animation to the mouth, (all vowels are available)  use the brows sad animation to desired weight, etc.

For happy, I would use the brows sad at a low weight, smile, and squint animations together.  

I'll post something more organized along with a list of appropriate animation combinations and their names tomorrow. (At least the way I tackle it)

Modifié par DahliaLynn, 13 août 2010 - 12:47 .

[-Semper-]

a tutorial for the wiki would be great.
also is there any chance that someone uses the facefx editor in detail?

Modifié par -Semper-, 13 août 2010 - 01:02 .

[debbiepuff]

DahliaLynn - That sounds wonderful!

[DahliaLynn]

Sorry I didn't get a chance to do this today. Will try to get to it tomorrow, but I will add one other note,



In order to create something realistic, you really need to learn the curve editor. It is essential, since our faces don't "snap" into positions and expressions...and the manipulation of weight (intensity) will help you make smooth transitions within the animation itself.

[Lord Methrid]

I concur, a lovely video tutorial would be much appreciated

[DahliaLynn]

Recently I have been heavily involved in a project taking most of my time.
I can try to make one, but it will take me a bit of time.

I am also not familiar with FaceFX, but would like to be at some point. 

Would you guys like me to create a group (for now) for "Using the Cutscene Editor and available animations"? Excluding anything outside of the editor itself. I could focus on facial anims in the toolset and answer specific questions there if you wish.
What do you think?

Modifié par DahliaLynn, 15 août 2010 - 10:05 .

[Kilrogg_]

FaceFx is actually fairly easy to work with. It has a lot of different tabs and functions I don't understand, but getting a custom facial animation by manually animating the facial nodes is a lot easier than I thought it would be.



I too don't have time to make a tutorial however

[TimelordDC]

@DahliaLynn, those tips are great. I haven't started using the FaceFX or generating the facial animations yet but it would be helpful to have someone knowledgeable write a decent tutorial on the wiki. A group would also be useful since it would serve as a central repository for questions and more important, answers.

[debbiepuff]

I agree. A group would be nice as a place to go to to post questions / get answers



Thanks for the tips - they will help me get started.

[DahliaLynn]

okay, I have created a group. I'll do my best to share the knowledge I have attained.

http://social.bioware.com/group/2718/

Modifié par DahliaLynn, 17 août 2010 - 05:59 .

[DahliaLynn]

I've made a short guideline in the group to get things started. I'll post it here as well.

Assuming you already know how to bring up animations, an easy way to find them in the editor is to search in the resource open /save window is to type *eye* for example and hit enter. Many of the animations focused on eyes will show up.

Good key words would be:

*eye*
*mouth*
*brow*
*head*
*squint*
*blink*

With these basics one can create a multitude of expressions.

Rules of thumb:

1. Try using a mirror as a guideline, make the expression you desire and note the movements.
2. "eyejitter" is a necessity when your actor is looking at something close, or speaking to someone. It creates the impression ones gaze switching from eye to eye, or point to point as in real life.
3. Once you have combined the animations you desire, use the curve editor to move and manipulate them.

There are also many different premade expressions, using the prefix cs_f (cutscene face)
You can enter that as *cs_f* and experiment with those as well.

Modifié par DahliaLynn, 17 août 2010 - 06:50 .

[errant_knight]

Heh, I just joined--Yay! I just looked at my first iteration of a scene where the character is alone, and thinking, requiring some fairly subtle expression changes and no speech. It has all the finesse of the range of expression of the 1966 Thunderbird marionette show. Good for puppets, bad for animation.

Modifié par errant_knight, 17 août 2010 - 06:10 .

[Lord Methrid]

Doh! I had created a group! I'll leave it up for now http://social.bioware.com/group/2738/ The more stragglers we can get to either group, the larger our shared pool of knowledge will be.

Modifié par Lord Methrid, 19 août 2010 - 11:26 .

[Lord Methrid]

Just a little update, I created some streaming video tutorials on how to use Face FX studio, they're posted in my group linked above. Enjoy!