Muscle-Based Deformation take 3

Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452
edited August 2020 in Daz Studio Discussion

I wanted to give you guys an update on what I've been working on. I completely remodelled my base model I showcased in my previous threads. I came up with another rigging method with the aim of adding more realism so I had to rethink my whole topology. The rigging is far more complex than my previous attempt so I have only gotten as far as the hand and forearm. The great thing about this new approach is that it requires zero Weight Map painting.

Here is a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouyS2OMyoX0&feature=youtu.be

Post edited by Faux2D on

Comments

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633

    Its pretty awesome what you did there, amazing work!

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,922

    awsome. some of the muscles look permanently flexed but I think that's due to your starting model.

  • Magnificent!  I'd buy it (especially if there were "clones" to put Genesis-series clothes on it!)

  • return0return0 Posts: 27

    Very good!!!

    You say no Weight Map painting, so I guess that you have a "bone-muscle" mesh underneath the visible mesh that is deformed and then the visible "skin" mesh is wrapped on it?

    Or maybe you added some additional "skin" bones to the existing "muscle" bones in the rigging?

    Anyway, the animation seems slow (I mean in being calculated), is that due to the rig being more complex?

  • Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452
    edited August 2020

    UPDATE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwBycEv6shk&

     

    return0 said:

    Very good!!!

    You say no Weight Map painting, so I guess that you have a "bone-muscle" mesh underneath the visible mesh that is deformed and then the visible "skin" mesh is wrapped on it?

    Or maybe you added some additional "skin" bones to the existing "muscle" bones in the rigging?

    Anyway, the animation seems slow (I mean in being calculated), is that due to the rig being more complex?

    What you see is the sole mesh. I should have been more clear. When I said no weight map painting I meant I didn't manually paint any weight maps with the brush but the figure does have weight maps. However the weight mapping process itself takes literally just 4 clicks.

    The animation is slow by choice just so the deformations are clear to spot.

    Post edited by Faux2D on
  • return0return0 Posts: 27

    Very cool!!! smiley

    I'm afraid to ask, but...how many bones did you use for the arm only? lol

  • Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452
    return0 said:

    I'm afraid to ask, but...how many bones did you use for the arm only? lol

    I'm afraid to tell say but... 150+ and counting

    The number of bones alone is genuinely something that I worry about with regards to compatibility. By the end the figure will have a low estimate of 700 bones. This can be a major issue for cerain programs or game engines but I tested Daz Studio beforehand and it can handle more than 1000 bones no problem.

    Nonetheless, performance-wise bones require less resources than a collision mesh or blendshapes. So there's that.

  • return0return0 Posts: 27

    Whoa!!!

    There is also the fact that not all bones are used for deformation, al least that would alleviate the engine...unless you meant 700 to 1000 deformation bones?

    Anyway, as much as I understand this new rigging approach, you have more bones affecting smaller areas of the mesh, so this would be better for the engine than having less bones affecting many vertices at once.

    Looking forward to see some progress wink

  • SevrinSevrin Posts: 6,301

    Looks interesting, but that dude needs to eat a sammich or twenty.

  • SorelSorel Posts: 1,390
    Awesome work!
  • return0return0 Posts: 27

    Impressive!!!

  • Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452

    UPDATE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViIvQWLm9rQ&feature=youtu.be

    Finally finished the upper limb setup.

  • dijituldijitul Posts: 146

    This is great, once again!  I hope in the near future you may consider also working on a life-like graft or add-on for G8F breasts and buttocks only, not for muscles but just for modeling physics (gravity, bounce, squish, etc.).  There are many breast and glute morph packs out there, but they just don't do reality justice when you have more complex poses.  You seem to have the skills needed to make something grand!

  • return0return0 Posts: 27

    Beautiful! :)

    Was wondering if for this new rigging method you are still using dual quaternion, no weight normalization and joint-controlled joints as in the previous one (if I remember right).

    When you say the weight painting requires just 4 clicks, do you mean that you use a sort of auto-weighting tool?

  • Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452
    return0 said:

    Beautiful! :)

    Was wondering if for this new rigging method you are still using dual quaternion, no weight normalization and joint-controlled joints as in the previous one (if I remember right).

    When you say the weight painting requires just 4 clicks, do you mean that you use a sort of auto-weighting tool?

    It's similar to my previous method but far more complex. Still using JCJ's. I'm using Linear weight maps now but honestly it doesn't make that much of a difference if I switch. Dual Quarternion was essential in my previous attempt but some programs have a tough time dealing with it so now I focused on making the Linear bends work as I want them to.

    I'm adding weight the Daz way, just fill and smooth everything. Daz's weight map symmetry tool is very buggy and had a really tough time copying weights from one side to another. I had to figure out a workaround.

  • return0return0 Posts: 27
    edited August 2020

    Thanks for the answer! :)

    Have you tried this new rig with a non-muscular character? It would be awesome to see the result in that case as well, hoping it works just as wonderfully as in this case :)

    Post edited by return0 on
  • You haven't mentioned no weight normalization, is that needed for the new method? I know some programs do not support unnormalized weights

  • Faux2DFaux2D Posts: 452
    return0 said:

    You haven't mentioned no weight normalization, is that needed for the new method? I know some programs do not support unnormalized weights

    They're all normalized. Daz can't use unnormalized weights as well. I mean they have the option to turn it off but you'll get some crazy bugs.

  • Faux_2D said:
    return0 said:

    You haven't mentioned no weight normalization, is that needed for the new method? I know some programs do not support unnormalized weights

    They're all normalized. Daz can't use unnormalized weights as well. I mean they have the option to turn it off but you'll get some crazy bugs.

    Cool!

    Can't wait to see some progress with the rest of the body and maybe a different figure :)

  • Hi!

    Have you made any progress with this new muscle deformation?

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