Male Head

Silva_Spoon

This is a head Im working on that I'll use to cut my teeth doing my first lip sync animation. Just thought I'd post it and see what you think of the detail mesh that I will use for normal map generation. It'll also be a perfect chance to try out ZBrushes new ZMapper!

gauss

that's a lot of very nice low-level surface detail and blemishes, and the ears and facial features are well formed. only trouble is that dude has enough forehead/top of the head for about 3-4 people

from the eyebrows up, the top of the head needs to be about half as tall, and the ears ought to move down a little and maybe a little closer to the jaw (hard to tell from this view). other than that, it's looking pretty good. i'll leave the rest of the normal map-specific comments to people who know what they're talking about

EmAr

If you cannot see the picture: it worked when I entered the url in the browser. The area between the lower lip and the chin looks a little strange to me. I like the other features

JKMakowka

The eyes are a bit small?

MoP

I like it all apart from the huuuuuge forehead.
All the main features are good, although I'd maybe lose the hard line on the lower lip, it doesn't look very natural.
Ears are looking a little fake too - possibly because the outer upper area isn't curving in on itself.

Nice work though - just move that forehead and the top of the head down a fair bit and he should be fine.

Silva_Spoon

***Slaps himself for not posting this before I did all the morph targets***

I cant change the head now or I'd have to redo all the morph targets and Im too lazy for that now. I bought this facial animation book a week ago and I got this head already modeled rigged and blend shapped up. I even created an interface in max's viewport to control the face in the same fashion as the book. I have 4 morph targets hooked up to these joystick manipulators that I got on Scriptspot.com. Its pretty fun to mess around with once you finish it all. Heres the lowpoly head thats all ready to be animated.

MoP

Here's an idea - Make a new Morph Target where you just scale down the forehead and top of the skull - add that to your Morpher, and just leave it on 100% all the time.
That'd do the trick, wouldn't it?

Silva_Spoon

Why didnt I think of that?!!!!!

MoP

Hehe, I don't know! However I just realised, it might make any morphs you currently have where the eyebrows raise, look a little odd, since they will be raising the verts based on their initial level - so brow raises might look a bit exaggerated if you morph the height of the forehead down. It shouldn't be a huge problem, though, if it's even noticeable.

aesir

I like the giant forehead. Gives him some character.

but... it seeems like youre changing it now.. so, oh well

doc rob

If it's Max, you can also put an edit poly modifier on top of one of the heads, adjust it, then copy and paste that modifier to all the morph targets. Then collapse and reload your morpher modifier. MoP's way is just as good unless you're going to put it in a game, then you need to minimize the number of morph targets.

Oh, and for a head this realistic and high poly, you should model skin creases into the base mesh so you can accentuate them during expressions. Jason Ospia's "Stop Staring" has a lot of good tips on that.

Looking good so far.

Silva_Spoon

Shrunk the head and tried out my first lip sync. What do you think?
My First Lip Sync Test

JordanW

There's a couple of issues I see initially with this. The A in first word is kind of an odd pose for the guys mouth, it looks a bit unnatural. There's also a bit of a twitch beside his nostrils at the end.

You may want to use a digital camera or something to record video of the person saying the line it may help.

MoP

Hehe, that looks pretty cool, Silva_Spoon! I definitely think the lowered forehead looks a lot better too.

I agree with tinman that the initial A shape in "faaan" looks a bit odd, can't quite place why though - maybe the mouth is too wide open and the lips aren't horizontally stretched enough?

I think maybe on the "F" sound at the start of "Fuckin'", the jaw shouldn't be so wide open - it opens wider on the first "F" sound which is fine since it leads into an "Aaa" sound, but when it's leading into an "Uh" i'd think it wouldn't open so wide. It just seems like his jaw's moving a little too much there.

Also, it might just be the camera angle, but it looks like the pivot for your jaw bone is too far forward? The way the lower teeth and jaw is hinging looks a bit odd. The jaw should pivot from a point somewhere very close to the bottom of the ear, just in front of it. Apologies if this is already where the pivot is, just something was bugging me about the movement of his lower teeth. Maybe it's nothing

Tinman also makes a good point about reference - i trust you at least have a mirror next to your monitor, or a webcam to capture your facial expressions on? It really helps

Keep it up!

stoofoo

bryan gets just a few soda cans around his desk. No mirror or webcam. None of that sort of business for him. Box and some soda cans.

Anyway, this looks a lot better man. He does not have forehead for days and its cool to see it syncing up. Other than the crits made already i've got nothing.

Is that steve in the voice clip? Or was that from like resevoir dogs or something. It soundsl ike steve.

Silva_Spoon

[ QUOTE ]
It looks like the pivot for your jaw bone is too far forward? The way the lower teeth and jaw is hinging looks a bit odd. The jaw should pivot from a point somewhere very close to the bottom of the ear, just in front of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah It is in the wrong spot. Is there a way to move the bone without screwing up the skin modifier, and having to re-weight the head?

And Joe, I GOT A MIRROR! . . . and soda cans

stoofoo

Alright. I'll be 'round to confescate it shortly. Please have it visibl when i come by so i do not have to talk to you.

Silva_Spoon

I updated the animation for the link in the post above this. Oh and I am still wondering if there is a way to move the jaw bone without screwing up the skin modifier, and having to re-weight the head?

Silva_Spoon

I updated the animation. Moved the jaw pivot too. Click the pic.

Ramucho

haha faaaaaaaan-fucking-tastic

good job

did you zbrushed the innermouth too? if yes, how?