Facial setups for custom characters is completely attainable. I worked through the process in XSI and had pretty good results. The steps are outlined in the Valve Wiki here: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Character_Setup_Overview#Export_a_.smd_File . The main problem I had was that after the initial Orangebox update my facial flex controllers didn't work anymore so I had to revert back to a previous version of the SDK. Besides that it worked out pretty good and I didn't have too many problems setting it up. It really depends on how much time and effort you put into manipulating the facial verts into the expressions. Also, I was doing this in the pre-Orangebox SDK and from the looks of it the Episode 2 SDK should be way better. It does look like the steps for Max and Maya differ from XSI, for XSI you set up different facial poses on different keyframes and in Max/Maya you create multiple versions of the head with the different facial poses. Hope this helps!
On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 7:09 AM, Sam Goldwater <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Good to know, nice one Jed. > > On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Jed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I've rigged a few custom character models with facial animation and > > it's not actually that hard to be honest. > > > > The "quality" comes from how good your morphs are, how many you have > > and rig then. I have a gut feeling Alyx uses more than the default > > shapekey set but all the models I've made use the stock shapekey set. > > > > It's not my greatest work (someone else model + morphs targets) but I > > was asked to rig the Candy model from Dinohunters. Thats a complete > > custom model with the full set of morph shapekeys. > > > > I've done quite a few others and written a few tools to help in the > > process but nothing thats out there yet. > > > > - Jed > > > > On 25/03/2008, Sam Goldwater <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Can anyone think of examples of Alyx quality facially rigged custom > > > characters? Is it attainable only having the citizen model to work > > from? > > > > > > On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 9:29 AM, Tom Edwards < > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Open the sample citizen model and scrub the animation slider. > That's > > how > > > > you do it. :-) > > > > > > > > Jake Breen wrote: > > > > > Okay so I was following > > > > > > > > > > > > http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Character_Facial_Animation_Shapekey_Set > > > > > > > > > > And thats the only thing I can find about facial flexes. So what > do > > I do > > > > > next? > > > > > > > > > > > > http://oxihosting.com/files/100/Postal%202%20Port/MikeJs%20Army%20of%20heads.jpg > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list > > archives, > > > > please visit: > > > > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list > > archives, > > > > please visit: > > > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > ------------------ > > > Sam Goldwater > > > www.polygonfiction.com > > > ------------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list > archives, > > please visit: > > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > > please visit: > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > > > > > -- > ------------------ > Sam Goldwater > www.polygonfiction.com > ------------------ > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
