The queen of animation – facial MoCap – is one of the most difficult fields of animation to achieve professional final effects. Showing the emotions accompanying the characters is a long and difficult way, but it can be helped by a professional system for capturing facial movements – Faceware.
Faceware is fully professional equipment and software which will comprehensively support the production of animations using facial expressions and facial expressions of actors. It’s a helmet system equipped with a camera that perfectly reads any changes appearing on the actor’s face and transfers them to the digital world! Advanced technology allows for unlimited movement of the actor in the scene and makes it possible to reflect the emotions of the character even to the smallest extent!
Behind the rich experience are years of cooperation with brands such as Rockstar Games, 2K Sport, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft! Faceware knows and understands the needs of production very well and offers technology tailored to any type of studio – whether it’s a small Indie studio or a huge production with hundreds of artists!
Do you want to see how this system will work? Contact us and arrange a demonstration of the capabilities of the Faceware system.
Check out our articles on Faceware (in polish only):
Faceware, based on experience, has created 3 very important branches of software that perfectly fit into the production pipeline, depending on the demand.
It mainly focuses on 3 areas:
Faceware Studio is an intuitive and simple program that allows you to create face animation from a live camera or pre-recorded video. Thanks to Faceware Studio, we can create interactive events and virtual productions on a large scale!
Simple calibration and the ability to edit parameters allows you to easily and quickly learn the process of facial animation, and thus – achieve advanced effects in a short time.
Additional effects and options allow you to manipulate data, thanks to which we will achieve the intended effect in the final animation, without direct interference in the animation itself.
The great advantage of Faceware studio is, of course, the ability to stream directly to engines such as Unreal Engine, Unity or advanced animation programs such as MotionBuilder (soon also in Autodesk Maya) – putting all the coordinated motion directly on the custom avatar!
The package includes a set of programs creating a professional pipeline, starting from capturing traffic to retargeting to a ready avatar!
Analyzer 3.0 – software for capturing facial movement and emotions from previously recorded materials during the session, which, after converting it, sends it via the Retargeter plugin to our avatar in MotionBuilder, Maya or 3ds Max.
Analyzer 3.0 – software for capturing facial movement and emotions from previously recorded materials during the session, which, after converting it, sends it via the Retargeter plugin to our avatar in MotionBuilder, Maya or 3ds Max.
Retargeter 5.0 – is a plug-in for professional programs for creating animations such as MotionBuilder, Maya or 3ds Max! It uses data taken from the Analyzer and overlays motion with a simple and intuitive pose-based system.
The whole workflow is based on first character configuration – adding rig controls to Character Setup and assigning the avatar’s expression to the so-called Pose. The whole thing usually takes 10-30 minutes, but once prepared avatar and its poses – we can save the poses in the library, which we can later use in the next avatars! Thanks to this, we do not waste time on going through the process again, but we can focus on the next steps of production.
A considerable facilitation is also the uploaded „Pose suggestion” base, which allows you to achieve the expected effect more effectively and introduces the user „painlessly” to work with the Retargeter.
Shepherd is a system that combines and integrates all the functions of a recording session, both motion capture and facial capture! This allows for full synchronization of the Faceware system traffic capture process together with other systems such as Vicon, Xsens or Optitrack.
Shepherd’s main goal is to simplify the management of multiple recording devices. In recording mode, you can start the facial motion capture recording together with the mocap system on the body – with one click, so we get all the data from the session – in one package.
Mocap systems that support Lync in Shepherd:
• Vicon Shogun
• Vicon Blade
• Optitrack Motive
• Xsens MVN Animate Pro
A big advantage is the ability to use Shepherd on tablets, which makes our motion recording system even more flexible!
„”We believe that the best facial animation comes from a combination of cutting-edge technology and an intuitive, artist-friendly workflow – Faceware Tech””
Faceware shares learning materials, so if you want to check how much it can speed up your production – it’s worth checking out the trial license and downloading one of the many rigs from their library: https://facewaretech.com/learn/free-assets
If you do not know which set will be the perfect solution for you – contact our specialists – they will help you choose the right package for you!
Faceware provides two types of camera systems for professional expression capture. It tries to be flexible for each studio, so the user has two systems to choose from: Professional Mark IV or Indie Headcam.
Faceware Mark IV Wirelles Headcam System
Mark IV helmets are made of durable fiberglass and profiled in such a way as to ensure maximum comfort and stability, so that all dynamic movement does not prevent you from obtaining the highest quality data. In addition, sideburn mounts and integrated chin mounts ensure camera stability. The camera mount itself is located at a low point, so it does not interfere with the actor’s interaction, and his face is still well lit, so he does not lose important points to record on the face. The whole thing is based on an easy-to-customize set of wing screws, making Mark IV helmets easy to set up!
The Bolt 500 series transmitter allows you to transmit data in full resolution and frame rate to the receiver, in real time with a delay of less than 1ms. And the range of 150 meters speaks for the freedom of work.
The battery of the entire system allows for 5 hours of work in wireless mode or 15 hours of work in physical connection. And if you take a break during recording – the charging time of this battery is 1 hour!
The camera, equipped with a 4.3 mm lens, allows you to get an image without the so-called „Fish-eye lens”, while the lighting system eliminates darker places, thanks to which we do not lose important data for later processing in the Analyzer. The cameras can record in the most popular frame formats:
More information on this system can be found in FaceWare Mark IV leaflet – download >>>
Indie HeadCam is the perfect solution for users who do not require fully advanced systems for capturing facial expressions, but want to enter professional animation production! The system is based on image capture by the famous GoPro cameras that also allow you to obtain high-quality data.
Despite using the GoPro 7 camera – Faceware Indie HeadCam still allows for direct live streaming to Faceware Studio or after recording the session – for data processing in Analayzer. Thanks to the camera’s touch interface, operation is simple and intuitive, while the technical parameters of the camera itself allow you to obtain high-quality data for further work.
The mounting of the camera itself is easy and flexible, thanks to which we can place the camera lower – without obscuring the line of sight of the actor, while the components from which the helmet is made allow for silent operation – without interfering with recording production sound.
Camera specifications:
In addition, the set includes accessories such as an additional battery, 32 GB MicroSD card, charger, tool kit, HDMI to USB 3.0 adapter for transferring and converting live material and a handy Case to store the entire system.
If you do not know which set will be the perfect solution for you – contact our specialists – they will help you choose the right package for you!
Faceware is one of the many companies that has its own special program designed for students around the world. Many universities want to teach their students professional animations, and Faceware enables them to do so.
If your university would like to introduce a solution for facial animation – contact us for a special offer and consultancy in the field of Motion Capture.
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Bartosz Kondrackiemail: bartosz.kondracki@pccpolska.pl |
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