Dawn 2.0 Underway

[Ken1171]

Ken is writing a GUI to make the facial rig easier to use?

Yes, and it's going to be 100% visual. Each joint is represented by a red dot, which you can drag around with the mouse, just like you would with chips on the face. It offers control over not only the facial rig, but also other ghost bones on Dawn 2's body, like the pectorals, metacarpals and metatarsals. Depending how feasible it will be, I want to add other kinds of controls to it. You can follow the development HERE.

 

[unreal]

I saw that. It certainly looks easier to use. Although, I'm also sure that once I start using it, I'll be all over you with "can you make it do X, Y, and Z?" Just like everyone with every application. I promise I'll practice patience, though. And to be as helpful as I can be.

It looks ambitious. One thing I like about Blender is how extensible even the GUI can be using the API.

My dream: Poser, looking like it does, working like it does. But it's a workspace (tab, whatever) in Blender. Like Object, Edit, Sculpt. Pose.

 

[Ken1171]

I saw that. It certainly looks easier to use. Although, I'm also sure that once I start using it, I'll be all over you with "can you make it do X, Y, and Z?" Just like everyone with every application. I promise I'll practice patience, though. And to be as helpful as I can be.

As far as I know, something like this hasn't been attempted before, so it's something new for me, too. I have all the basics in place, and once the rigging in D2 is more finalized, I want to add more controls. And if Dusk2 uses the same bones and naming conventions, this tool should automatically work with him, as well. ^___^

 

[xyer0]

Eye Automatic Look was added in the 8.1 update to Genesis, and it causes the eyeballs and eyelids to interact in a very believable way when the eyes are moved side-side and/or up-down. If you get a chance to check that out, please do, because it really saves time posing eyes.
I'm soooo excited about Dawn and Dusk 2! Dawn's a stunner even without skin!

 

[Ken1171]

Eye Automatic Look was added in the 8.1 update to Genesis, and it causes the eyeballs and eyelids to interact in a very believable way when the eyes are moved side-side and/or up-down.

I believe the original Dawn has this, too, at least for eyes Up-Down, where the eyelids follow.

 

[MEC4D]

I believe the original Dawn has this, too, at least for eyes Up-Down, where the eyelids follow.

Michael 2 and Victoria 2 have it already lol how you gonna look up with the eyelid covering half of the eyeball , white eye zombie look ? lol

when managing/posing both eyes at the same time the eyelids should move together and follow the movements , there are right now 2 bones on Dawn 2 face with control of both eyes side-side and up-down that should handle it.

 

[unreal]

La Femme does it too.

I would imagine something like what Ken is writing can be applied to nearly any figure with facial rigging. Which is why it begs to be part of the GUI.

Posing the skeleton bones is what Poser is all about. Always has been. But a facial rig? The GUI falls short with that.

Ooh, ken.... Feature request: "save facial rig settings to a single master control" button. Use the GUI to setup a "laugh" pose, then one click make a master in the head called "laugh". Also, if it they're not there "reverse facial rig settings" (ie: mirror) and Symmetrize facial rig settings. I find it easier to do one side, symmetrize it.

See? patient. It's not even done, for a figure that's not even done, and I'm already nagging for features.

 

[AnimaGemini]

Michael 2 and Victoria 2 have it already lol how you gonna look up with the eyelid covering half of the eyeball , white eye zombie look ? lol

when managing/posing both eyes at the same time the eyelids should move together and follow the movements , there are right now 2 bones on Dawn 2 face with control of both eyes side-side and up-down that should handle it.

Good expressions is what missing on Poser figures. Happy to hear about Dawn2 . Dawn 1 go already in the right direction. Dawn 2 look indeed exciting.

 

[Ken1171]

Ooh, ken.... Feature request: "save facial rig settings to a single master control" button. Use the GUI to setup a "laugh" pose, then one click make a master in the head called "laugh". Also, if it they're not there "reverse facial rig settings" (ie: mirror) and Symmetrize facial rig settings. I find it easier to do one side, symmetrize it.

Symmetry has already been requested, and I am looking into it. Saving facial rig poses to the library would be the same as saving a pose. That could be done. However, if people have mixed morphs and facial rig to create an expression, which I believe will be the most common case, things can get more complicated because how would the script know which morph dials to include? As for creating master dials on the fly, that might be a little drastic. A more practical way would be to create memory dots to store them. Master dials would have to be saved with the figure, while memory dots can be applied at any time with 1-click. I can add a new tab for memory dots, so people can store and retrieve their favorite expressions. This would only include the facial rig settings, not morphs.

 

[RobZhena]

So, my experience with the chip-based expression packs that I made (I did one for PE, too) was that if you applied a morph first, the face chips would move. Applying the face posed moved the newly positioned chips, and it generally worked OK.

 

[unreal]

Symmetry has already been requested, and I am looking into it. Saving facial rig poses to the library would be the same as saving a pose. That could be done. However, if people have mixed morphs and facial rig to create an expression, which I believe will be the most common case, things can get more complicated because how would the script know which morph dials to include? As for creating master dials on the fly, that might be a little drastic. A more practical way would be to create memory dots to store them. Master dials would have to be saved with the figure, while memory dots can be applied at any time with 1-click. I can add a new tab for memory dots, so people can store and retrieve their favorite expressions. This would only include the facial rig settings, not morphs.

I wrote a script that creates a pose file from the face chips. It only adds the chips that are something other than default. I had an option to create the expression as L and R (as masters for face chips) and another master that drove L and R at the same time.

Not even remotely as fancy as Ken's.

Making expressions (even bad ones) using the face chips is time consuming. 8 chips for the lips, with 6 settings each (although rarely more than 2 are used). Then 4 for the cheeks, and another 4 for the eyes. Jaw, tongue, and nose. And all those need to work together to make an expression that doesn't scare people. Bru-tal!

Anything that can make the process better will be most welcome.

 

[Ken1171]

I wrote a script that creates a pose file from the face chips. It only adds the chips that are something other than default. I had an option to create the expression as L and R (as masters for face chips) and another master that drove L and R at the same time.

Today I wrote a Python module that does just that - it writes out all the face bones that are not zero, and that's what the new "Face Rig Memory Dots" are going to save. I had the face dots expanded from 4x4 to 5x5, so now we can save up to 25 presets, and I want each to have a thumbnail we can see from the tool - don't know how yet, but I will figure it out. This way, we can see what the dot preset does, in addition to being able to give them a custom tooltip description.

BTW, the tool already supports symmetric facial rig posing, reversed symmetry, individual axis filtering, in addition to the new Face Rig Memory Dots. Those are just the things I have added today.

I want this tool to leave regular face chips on the dirt! You can follow the dev thread HERE.

 

[unreal]

Ken, this isn't going to work if you keep on adding all the features we want, before we even ask for them.

What are we gong to whine about???

 

[Ken1171]

Ken, this isn't going to work if you keep on adding all the features we want, before we even ask for them.

What are we gong to whine about???

Haha I make these tools for myself first, and I am my biggest critic. As I run my tests, I find more things I would like to have as well. For example, I want more control over the hands, but D2F doesn't have the controls on the figure yet, so that will have to wait. ^^

 

[unreal]

That's one of the best things about being a programmer. Never having to whine.

Except about the API. And frameworks. And IDE. But that's expected by the API, framework, and IDE programmers so it's all good

 

[Ken1171]

That's one of the best things about being a programmer. Never having to whine.

We can't use IDEs if Poser Python can only run in Poser, and that was the first thing I had whined about. LOL

 

[unreal]

We can't use IDEs if Poser Python can only run in Poser, and that was the first thing I had whined about. LOL

That's almost "meta-whining"

Way to raise the bar

 

[xyer0]

Would cleavage reduction be more successful if the morph is available in the main character rather than as an add-on? When Dawn 2 wears sweaters or tight jeans I'd like for them to fit realistically rather than shrink-wrapped.
Sickleyield and Zev0 have provided fix morphs for Genesis, but they are often less than perfect. But if Dawn 2 had bridges available between her breasts and buttocks out of the box, would that provide the realism I seek?

 

[Miss B]

Funny you should mention that @xyer0 as one of the vendors at Renderosity made a big deal of including a clothing morph to have the tops fit it realistically. I also don't like the shrink-wrapped look.

Whether something like that can actually be added to the character, instead of each clothing piece, would be nice, but I'm not sure if it can.

 

[xyer0]

Funny you should mention that @xyer0 as one of the vendors at Renderosity made a big deal of including a clothing morph to have the tops fit it realistically. I also don't like the shrink-wrapped look.

Whether something like that can actually be added to the character, instead of each clothing piece, would be nice, but I'm not sure if it can.

I'm not sure either, @Miss B, but I'm asking now because this is probably the only chance I'll get before it's a moot point. If we can get these included now, we won't have to hope that someone will provide it later.