What expressions to scan for F.A.C.S.-based production face rig?
polycounter lvl 4
Hi I'm new to the forums so I hope this is the right place. I'm a fairly experienced modeler and my latest project is a photorealistic digital double of a friend of mine. I'm getting ok at creating a static photorealistic model and texture of a face based on photogrammetry but I want to take it to the next step and learn rigging. I'm having a really hard time finding good documentation on which facial expressions to have him do while I scan him. I've been looking in to F.A.C.S. a lot lately and I've found a lot of tutorials on how to make a face rig using a mix of bones and Photogrammetry. What I haven't been able to find is a good list of all the facial expressions I should capture during a photogrammetry session. Is there some sort of reference or cheat sheet I can look up that shows all the different faces, say, a Marvel MCU actor has to make during one of their scanning sessions? Thanks
Replies
You can also grab some nice references from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_expression_databases
Some insides here how much work it was to create Thanos.
https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/making-thanos-face-the-avengers/
There is a solution for just about every budget so it would be a shame not to do it.
Brekel Pro Face2: https://brekel.com/brekel-pro-face-2/
It's Fairly "bargin bin-ish" and not flashy at all but it's the cheapest option that will still get the job done. It uses a Kinect2 (maybe others) which was fairly easy to find, quite a few xboxOne users have one sitting around. The main disadvantage is that people need to be sitting in front of it, fairly close for it to capture well. Still, the results I got when testing it out where more than workable.
iPhoneX and mocapx: https://www.mocapx.com/
Pretty damn good, fairly cheap and because it runs on an iPhone it can be stationary and mounted on a helmet or a chest harness, to get your actors up and moving around. The fixed camera which helps get a smooth record that give consistent data to pull from. It isn't screwed up when the actor looks around or takes a step back like it is with a stationary mounted camera. The head mount is a little more stable than the chest mount, but both are equally good at what they do, actors tend to prefer chest, animators and techs tend to like head mounted.
This is a great desktop setup too, if you're animator is the one using it as they go, its great to have something this light sitting on their desktop that they can just turn to, record and start applying and cleaning up.
It has really good results, the hardware required isn't cheap if you can't find an iPhone, still for the cheaper options it's pretty great. There are some other competitors that are coming out soon and will be making a showing at Siggraph this year that will really light a fire under this market. It's rumored that Google might put depth sensors on their next phone so this could become even cheaper to get into.
If I was going into a project that was going to have a lot of facial mocap, I would pay close attention to what happens at Siggraph this year.
iPhoneX and iClone/FaceWare: https://mocap.reallusion.com/iclone-motion-live-mocap/iphone-live-face.html
Same idea as above iPhoneX + DIFFERENT software, ooo---ahhh, lol.
Faceware Tech: https://www.facewaretech.com/
Now we're starting to get pricey but the quality is worth it. We're inching toward film quality. This supports a few different cameras from what I remember and some of them can be depth sensors. The heavily favor the helmet mounted cameras that don't get in actors way. Depending on the cameras and the software it can get kind of expensive but it is usually cheaper than buying an iPhoneX.
OptiTrak Expression: https://optitrack.com/products/expression/
Tried and true marker based 2D capture system that you sit in front of. I bring this up because they're very reliable. This uses multiple cameras so it's almost as good as depth sensors and doesn't have trouble dealing with the actor moving their head around. It's really good at what it does, but it does require markers, cameras, and some longer setup and calibration time. I trust OptiTrak, they make rock solid mocap gear and software, amazing stuff, if you have the budget and don't need mobile actors it's worth it.
So yea, depth is GREAT, it makes for an easy pipeline and it's a lot less buggy than 2D tracking.