TOOLS // FACIAL ANIMATION | BUILD KEY RELEASE
THE NEWLY RELEASED Faceware Professional Product Line is, in essence, a suite of tools and hardware devoted to the capture, analysis and creation of high-end facial animation. Crafted for use in games, films, television
and even stage performance, the tech is built on the experiences Faceware and Image Metrics learned as a service provider, and promises to allow for quality results at a rate three-to-five times faster than equivalent keyframing techniques. But while the Faceware Professional
Product Line solutions – commonly abbreviated to FPPL – have Faceware’s service provision to thank for much of their make-up, the team behind the tools insist that it is the suite’s separation from previous service technologies that is its strength. “The old Faceware pipeline contained a
service element, meaning studios were required to send their content off-site to us,” explains Ron Ryder, COO and CFO of the Image Metrics Group, which includes Faceware Technologies. “The new pipeline is entirely turn-key, and occurs on-site with the developer using our tools. No content leaves the studio and the entire workflow occurs using a developer’s own resources.”
FREE AND EASY And, says Ryder, the modular nature of the FPPL means developers have even more freedom, whether making their own hardware choices or hand picking their preferred technique. “On the hardware side, studios have the
flexibility to capture video with our Head- Mounted Cameras, or with other video capturing devices,” he explains. “This gives studios a choice of how they want to capture the facial performances of their actors.” With regard to the software FPPL offers,
two solutions give artists the option of analysing and retargeting performances; the Faceware Retargeter and the Analyzer. The Retargeter in particular has been crafted to allow developers the ability to work within an Autodesk animation package they are familiar with, meaning that retargeting occurs within a plug-in designed for the packages.
GO WITH THE FLOW Faceware has also invested substantial effort in refining the suite’s workflow and pipeline, pulling on its experience contributing to numerous titles over a ten-year period. “Clients can capture with our Head-
Mounted Camera in the morning, process the performances with Faceware Analyser, and by the end of the day, finish the job by applying the performance to characters in our Faceware Retargeter,” asserts Ryder. “It’s a simple, streamlined workflow that is extremely intuitive and user friendly, and it saves huge amounts of time when compared to hand-keying those same performances.” Faceware’s new line is also a reflection of two trends in the industry the company is
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sure are key to high-end games development. The first is the increased need for believable characters, as graphical quality improvements demand that nothing breaks the illusion of the game world. The other is the new need for full performance capture as the migration towards complete virtual production continues.
The Faceware pipeline takes the
strengths of keyframing and bottles it up into a clean, straightforward workflow.
Ron Ryder, Faceware Vital to the FPPL’s success, of course, is its
ability to match the quality of work keyframing can achieve; something the tech’s makers are confident their solution can do. “The tech matches keyframing quality and is much faster,” states Ryder. “The Faceware pipeline takes the strengths of keyframing and good animation reference from convincing performances, and bottles it up into a clean, straightforward workflow. “We seek to free up actors to simply act on
camera, and then allow the keen eye of a 3D animator to interpret how that performance
should be applied to their character. Simply set key poses on their own rig and see the magic work. Keyframe animators are then enabled to work much faster than they ever could before.” Faceware Analyzer and Retargeter are free
to evaluate, and can be downloaded directly from Faceware’s website. Both part of the FPPL package, each comes with a free IMPD Performance and Rig Library, to assist users with getting up to speed faster. The Faceware HMCS is available for rent or purchase.
WHAT’S INSIDE THE FPPL?
The Faceware Professional Product Line is built around three elements: the Head- Mounted Camera System, the Faceware Analyzer and the Faceware Retargeter. The HMCS, consists of a helmet, bracing, mount and camera, and works in tandem with mo-cap suits to capture data-rich facial video complete with time code. The Faceware Analyzer can be ‘trained’
to recognise an actor’s traits, and uses computer vision algorithms to examine every pixel of facial data in the performance so as to create an IMPD file. Finally, the Faceware Retargeter takes the IMPD file from Analyzer and transfers the data onto the 3D model.
JULY 2012 | 63 Will Freeman takes a look at the new Faceware Professional Product Line
WHAT IS IT? A facial animation tool suite built to capture, analyse and create realistic facial performances with great speed COMPANY: Faceware Technologies
www.facewaretech.com
Faceware’s Head-Mounted Camera hardware (main image) helps spped up the facial animation process drastically, says COO and CFO Ron Ryder (above)
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