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Is importing facial animation INTO Daz studio a possibility?

actsacts Posts: 1
in Daz Studio Discussion

Hi everyone,

I'm currently trying to figure out a workflow for taking already completed animations (both body and facial) and applying them to characters inside of Daz.  From what I've been able to find looking through the message boards, the FBX import feature of Daz doesn't work well enough to accomplish this.

I've been able to succesfully apply body animations to Daz characters in Daz Studio using BVH files - can anyone guide me toward a solution for importing facial animation (expressions and lip sync) into Daz Studio?

Thanks!

Comments

  • GordigGordig Posts: 9,235

    Forgive me for asking the obvious question, but...have you tried using BVH import for facial animation? Where are you getting the facial animations? Are you creating them yourself? If so, what program are you using?

  • actsacts Posts: 1

    Hi Gordig. Thanks for the reply. I'm using iClone for the character animation and lip sync (creating them myself). As far as I've been able to tell, I can export BVH motions (without face) but need to export with FBX for the facial animation data - I'd love to do my final work within Daz with Daz assets, but need to figure out the facial animation / lip sync part of the equation to make it work.

  • GordigGordig Posts: 9,235

    I'm not familiar with iClone, but it's bizarre that they don't give you the option to export BVH for facial animation. If you're creating the animation and lip sync yourself, there are tools for doing that within DS instead of externally, like the recently released FaceMojo or the upcoming FaceMotion, but those are both dependent on having an iPhone X or newer, which you may not have. Anilip and Mimic Live work off audio files, but they're honestly not the best options. Again, having not used iClone myself, I don't know what the benefits to doing facial animation in that vs. DS are, but have you tried simply doing your facial animation in DS? Between pose dials and powerpose, you've got a lot of control, and you're not held back by DS's other animation shortcomings like the poor IK system.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,891

    yeah I never got it to work even using my own bone based animation

    its in the BVH itself but D|S doesn't seem to be able to detect it

  • Kevin SandersonKevin Sanderson Posts: 1,643

    Part of the problem is iClone makes you use their morphs for the facial animation which does not convert well to Daz Studio from what I've heard. That's why I'm intrigued by the Laylo and Free Nomon separate facial morphs/iPhone/iPad/FBX apps which do work. Laylo's is in the store already and Free Nomon's is on the way in a few weeks with additional functionality. The Apple cost is a problem ,though. 

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,891
    edited September 2020

    mine do export as BVH

    I painstakingly did every viseme and phoneme in expression editor using bones

    Carrara, Poser and Unreal see the bone movement in the FBX too but I cannot seem to get that into a loadable BVH form, in Poser the face explodes on my cr2 conversion so a pz2 not possible either

    oddly Carrara mimic BVH export works in D|S and uses bones too

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,944

    For the bones in the facial animation that match the DAZ G8F / G8M models it should work (nearly) but you probably would have better luck for a clear demonstration searching on youtube for a video using the title of your thread.

    Face animations using blend shapes/morphs are almost surely not going to work.

  • Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452

     

    The issue with facial animations is that everyone does it differently. They have to be created with a Genesis figure in order to apply it to a Genesis figure. So it's not a questions about file formats but about the underlying technique used. Body animations are different because most character rigs follow the same structure: clavicle -> shoulder -> forearm -> hand, etc. Therefore you can more or less map the animation from one humanoid to another humanoid regardless of what figures they were originally intended for.

    I systemized Genesis 8's underlying facial structure into a FACS-based facial control rig. You can create any sort of expression but more importantly you can use it to create facial animations using the Dynamixyz software. There's a learning curve but Dynamixyz can create movie quality facial animations.

    Still testing it but It's going to be available for Daz soon (compatible with all Gen8 + Gen3 figures).

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,944
    Faux_2D said:

     

    The issue with facial animations is that everyone does it differently. They have to be created with a Genesis figure in order to apply it to a Genesis figure. So it's not a questions about file formats but about the underlying technique used. Body animations are different because most character rigs follow the same structure: clavicle -> shoulder -> forearm -> hand, etc. Therefore you can more or less map the animation from one humanoid to another humanoid regardless of what figures they were originally intended for.

    I systemized Genesis 8's underlying facial structure into a FACS-based facial control rig. You can create any sort of expression but more importantly you can use it to create facial animations using the Dynamixyz software. There's a learning curve but Dynamixyz can create movie quality facial animations.

    Still testing it but It's going to be available for Daz soon (compatible with all Gen8 + Gen3 figures).

    Your product is what I'm waiting for. You should invite us via a PM to subscribe to a PM for the day your product releases! LOL, I'm sort of looking forward to it and it's just in time for the new 30X0 GPUs.

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