Does anyone have experience with FaceGen Modeller?
by Jacob · in Artist Corner · 12/05/2005 (2:05 pm) · 12 replies
Greetings everyone!
Here is the product in question: FaceGen Modeller. Basically it creates a 3D mesh of a face (with texture) which can be imported into, let's say Max.
I tried the demo and it seems to be quite flexible and useful for an RPG type game, which is what I am creating.
Has anyone had any experience with it? Is there anything similar out there to compare? Are there any other ways to create low poly face meshes (besides doing them from scratch)?
I use 3ds max 7.
Thanks! :)
Here is the product in question: FaceGen Modeller. Basically it creates a 3D mesh of a face (with texture) which can be imported into, let's say Max.
I tried the demo and it seems to be quite flexible and useful for an RPG type game, which is what I am creating.
Has anyone had any experience with it? Is there anything similar out there to compare? Are there any other ways to create low poly face meshes (besides doing them from scratch)?
I use 3ds max 7.
Thanks! :)
About the author
#2
XSI 5 Foundation is less than 500 $ and it has the latest modeling tools available. Start from a basic head (male, female) and add details. The same with character (full body). And the texturing is as easyer as never in other packages. I know it sounds advertising but i am using it since 3.5 and it prooved an excellent choice.
litlle note, just for fun - The 64 bit version of XSI 5 handles 1.800.000 polygons (render in mental ray). Nobody needs that gigantic number of polygons, especially in games, but this tells enough about the (giga) core technology under xsi's hood.
12/05/2005 (10:31 pm)
995+around 3000 (max) = 3995 $XSI 5 Foundation is less than 500 $ and it has the latest modeling tools available. Start from a basic head (male, female) and add details. The same with character (full body). And the texturing is as easyer as never in other packages. I know it sounds advertising but i am using it since 3.5 and it prooved an excellent choice.
litlle note, just for fun - The 64 bit version of XSI 5 handles 1.800.000 polygons (render in mental ray). Nobody needs that gigantic number of polygons, especially in games, but this tells enough about the (giga) core technology under xsi's hood.
#3
When I checked the site, the price was $495 or so, not $995. One of the reasons that I like FaceGen is the texture that it generates for the mesh...my face texturing has not yet developed much :) I don't mind the cost of it but if there are some learning tools for making face textures for less, I would definately be interested.
12/06/2005 (5:40 am)
Thanks for the input.When I checked the site, the price was $495 or so, not $995. One of the reasons that I like FaceGen is the texture that it generates for the mesh...my face texturing has not yet developed much :) I don't mind the cost of it but if there are some learning tools for making face textures for less, I would definately be interested.
#4
XSI doesn't have an exporter for Torque that's public yet, so until then it's not an option for me.
I really like the way Facegen lets you create as many different heads as you want, I may end up buying it when I have a spare grand to throw at it.
12/06/2005 (9:48 pm)
It's $995 to use the heads in a game. Read here.XSI doesn't have an exporter for Torque that's public yet, so until then it's not an option for me.
I really like the way Facegen lets you create as many different heads as you want, I may end up buying it when I have a spare grand to throw at it.
#5
01/06/2006 (11:44 am)
Is anyone tried to implement this (FaceGen SDK) with TGE?
#6
01/06/2006 (12:07 pm)
It's just a mesh and texure generator, there's nothing there to integrate with TGE. It's a matter of working the data into your modelling program and characters.
#7
"Step 4 (Optional): Add FaceGen capabilities to your software" - that means:
edit: typo
01/06/2006 (12:13 pm)
On the site ( http://www.facegen.com/products.htm ) you can see "Step 4 (Optional): Add FaceGen capabilities to your software" - that means:
Quote:And why not to include it in to the game? It's just an implementation of tool for customizing char's faces. Only 130 byes per avatar is not that much.
# Give your customers the full power of FaceGen Modeller controls directly in your software.
# Create an infinity of random, realistic faces at run-time.
# Code faces in 130 bytes for low bandwidth or compressed storage applications.
# Full C++ source code is included for maximum flexibility and portability.
edit: typo
#8
01/06/2006 (1:34 pm)
I'm with Bank on this one. I would love for my users to easily get their own heads/faces into my app.
#9
And it gives really good impression on players, as they have a huge ability to customize their avatars (face in our case).
01/06/2006 (1:53 pm)
Btw, if you look at the MMOG's like EVE Online or Project Entropia - it's almost the same controls as in FaceGen (but PE uses modificators for the whole body, not only the face, when EVE Online uses for face-building only).And it gives really good impression on players, as they have a huge ability to customize their avatars (face in our case).
#10
01/06/2006 (2:03 pm)
I think Oblivion (the sequel to Morrowind) will be using something very similar as well. It really makes me wish I had 99,500 extra pennies. :)
#11
01/06/2006 (2:08 pm)
Deforming a mesh for customization is one thing. Allowing users to port their own facial textures into the game to generate csutom characters would pretty much bring any hopes of multi-player to its' knees.
#12
We were thinking of this (own user textures for the avatar skins) but here we meet a problem. Okay, we can do "pre-moderating" of the pictures, but if there is 1k ppl playing? How many pictures needs to be covered? 1k. In this case we need to
1. do regular updates on game to update with new user skins for all users
or
2. transfer skins "on-fly" while playing in game (when you first time meet avatar and skin is not on your PC it transfers over network)
Personaly I don't think we will go with this.
If the really flexible avatar customization exists in game, there is no really need to use users textures.
The points for "+" and "-":
1. Amount of textures loaded in memory: "-"
2. Size on disk of textures: "-"
3. Traffic (if do transfer of textures on-fly): "-"
4. Code modification: "-" (amount of work)
But we'll see... As we all know - no one can knows what will happen tomorrow.
01/07/2006 (9:10 am)
Kirby, correct.We were thinking of this (own user textures for the avatar skins) but here we meet a problem. Okay, we can do "pre-moderating" of the pictures, but if there is 1k ppl playing? How many pictures needs to be covered? 1k. In this case we need to
1. do regular updates on game to update with new user skins for all users
or
2. transfer skins "on-fly" while playing in game (when you first time meet avatar and skin is not on your PC it transfers over network)
Personaly I don't think we will go with this.
If the really flexible avatar customization exists in game, there is no really need to use users textures.
The points for "+" and "-":
1. Amount of textures loaded in memory: "-"
2. Size on disk of textures: "-"
3. Traffic (if do transfer of textures on-fly): "-"
4. Code modification: "-" (amount of work)
But we'll see... As we all know - no one can knows what will happen tomorrow.
Torque 3D Owner Willbkool
The lowest I could get the heads was around 900 polys, that's a little too high, but they do look very nice, overall, if I had some spare cash, I would get this.