why do i get no facial expression previews? cannot get facial animation to work

angusshmangus

hi

I am trying to see how the facial expression ferature works. I have loaded the base male genesis character and I am mousing over the facial expressions presets and nothing is happening. I am also double clicking and loading the facial presets onto ther character and still nothing. how do I use this facial animation feature?

thanks in advance

JimmyC_2009

Expressions are controlled from the Parameters pane, you have to use the slider to apply them. Genesis loads with all of it's morphs available, so select the Head, then go to the Parameters pane, and you will find them under Pose Controls > Head > Expressions.

angusshmangus

hey jimmy - thanks for the reply. ok got it working although I still cannot get expression previews like I can with animations. if I just mouse over the animation presets like DANCING for example it shows me straight away. is it possible to use presets for expressions?

I have looked for a video on daz 3d expressions tutorials but have not found anything yet

cheers

JimmyC_2009

It works perfectly if you use V4 with Morphs++ loaded, even on mouse over, but it does not work with Genesis.

If I load the Tongue Lick Lips Aniblock, V4 shows in the Currently Used area of the Parameters pane, to be using ToungeSide-Side and TongueTipUp-Down morphs, which are probably in the Morphs++ package.

All of the Aniblocks supplied are for V4 I believe, and they work well enough for most things, but at the end of the day, Genesis is a completely different figure. It may be possible to transfer Morphs++ over to Genesis using GenX, but I'm not sure if that would work in this case.

kitakoredaz

Hi,,Jimmy you talk about the difference of expression aniblocks for V4 and genesis.
yes,, expression aniblock may only work which made for the figure.

(because,, the morph or poze controller name which used for the expression must be different,, about genesis, and V4 Ithink,,)
but,, if you get genesis alive,, etc,, you can get genesis expression aniblocks. I have some expression aniblocks already ^^v

and I can check pleview when mouse over the aniblock.ds files :) as same as usuall pose animation aniblocks.
if I save expression animation as aniblock, I can see the animation as preview as same as simple rig animation.ds.

then I think,,, if boiledcandyfrog seems not clear understand still,, which is poze files or aniblock files I think.:roll:

that means we can see pleview of aniblock files (.ds) which recoreded as animation (poses of frame range).
categorized as animation>pozes.
these files which you can see pleview of animation, are aniblock files. not defaultl daz preset files.(poze files)

if I save animation as usuall poze files (with frame ranges) , I can not check the animation as preview, when I mouse hover.
but I can load each keys on daz timeline, which recorded pose of each frame, when I apply the poze file.

And when I apply the expression pose presets, (which record the morphforms, pose cotroller value, etc) on the figure,
the figure must need to change the expression. @@;

or the presets seems miss saved about expression,I think. (because most of expression of daz figure,
decided by hidden morphs , not only face rig rotation,, )

angusshmangus

hey jimmy - thanks for the reply. ok. looks like daz studio is not going to be quite as easy as what I initially thought.

what is morphs++. is it a product? I cannot find it in the store. do I need to install this?

do I understand correctly that aniblocks was not designed for genesis then?

I am mostly interested in doing cartoon animation using purchased cartoon characters from the daz store.

angusshmangus

hey kita. first off. I really appreciate the time you are taking to explain all of this. unfortunately I am now more confused than ever. I need this stuff explained to me like I am a 2 year old. I am not experienced in 3D. I want to use daz studio to make kids 3D cartoon series as quickly and easily as possible and with presets (bought and my own) as much as possible.

I find animating in daz real easy. you just hover the mouse over a preview. drag and drop what you want and then its done. do facial animations not work the same way then?

cheers

angus

angusshmangus

ok so is genesis alive another plugin then that I need to buy?

kitakoredaz

Oh,, I am sorry to force your conversiation ^^;;
I am not native,, so that I sometimes or often confuse user to tell what I understand ^^;

I find animating in daz real easy. you just hover the mouse over a preview. drag and drop what you want and then its done. do facial animations not work the same way then?

How to make facial animation is almost same about aniblocks. so that if you make aniblocks of the figure,and save it,
you can see pleview,when hover mouse.

but if you try to apply or preview facial animation (aniblock) which made for another figure,, it can not work as Jimmy said.

the presets you see is aniblocks which made for Victoria 4 or Aiko 3. about exoression it may not work for another figure.

then what figure you want to make faicial animation? I do not have cartoon figure,, but only Aiko3, or spuggles,,Victoria 4
and genesis ^^;

but which figure I used,, if they have morph or morph forms or, controller which can change face expression, in parameter tab,
you must be able to facial animation,and save as aniblock. (or you can set key on daz timeline I believe)

I believe,, if you talk more about your plan,, (eg figure name,, etc) , user can easy help you.
and there is animation forum too, I think more user who really make good animation often talk about there,,
so if you hope more clear guide,, you can ask there. too.
of course I or other skillful user may help you here too,, but I think it is more easy,, you talk about your plan more.

kitakoredaz

and genesis alive is for genesis figure @@; if you want to make animation for another figure,,
you need not the product @@; no no..
then I want to know,, which figure you use for your animation? I think you hope to make animation with daz studio,
and daz figure.. what is your actor?

=============
and I am really sorry,, because I need to go to my real shop close,, now,, then I may return about 5 ahous later TT;)
then sorry jimmy to intrude your good advices. :red:

if you hope to make animation with aniblock ,,
you may need to check,, go-figure web,, about aniblock. it may help you much.
though it guide about Victoria 4, once you understand,, it may help you to make original aniblock for your figure too.

http://www.gofigure3d.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=75

then if you hope to make animation with daz timeline, and Aiko3,, and fee lips sync.
(you need to download daz studio 32 bit ver to use sync lips, 64 bit ver do not include the plug-in)
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/animating/start

JimmyC_2009

@kitakoredaz
Thank you very much for stepping in, you have made a valuable contribution, and I think you were more help than I was :-)

@boiledcandyfrog

As kitakoredaz says, it is possible to make your own Aniblocks for Genesis, but I think you need the paid for version of Animate2, and not just the Lite version that comes free with DAZ Studio.

All of the previous Aniblocks were made for V4 and some for M4, these are Generation 4 figures, and are a completely different model to Genesis, and they have different rigging, and a different kind of rigging as well. Genesis use the new weight mapped rigging, and the older Gen 4 rigging is now called 'Legacy' rigging.

As kitakoredaz says, we need to know what figure you intend to use. There are toon figures available in the store, which are morphs of Genesis, so can be treated the same as Genesis in most respects. In that case, the premade Genesis Aniblocks should work, since the base mesh has not been changed.

If you are thinking of using one of the other toons, like Sadie or Sam by 3DUniverse, then I think you would need to create your own aniblocks from scratch, unless there are any animations available for these kind of models, maybe on ShareCG?

ok so is genesis alive another plugin then that I need to buy?

This is the link to the Product Page for that item : http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-alive But there are required items for it as well!

what is morphs++. is it a product? I cannot find it in the store. do I need to install this?

do I understand correctly that aniblocks was not designed for genesis then?

I am mostly interested in doing cartoon animation using purchased cartoon characters from the daz store.

Morphs++ is a set of morphs for Victoria 4, and there is another one for Michael 4 too, but if you are only using V4, this is all you would need, but it is a long and involved way of using V4 aniblocks, andd there must be better ways.

Aniblocks are generally for V4, at least the older ones are.

If you can explain a bit more about which characters you are planning to use, I'm sure we can help more.

angusshmangus

hey guys - awesome help so far. I want to use the toon vulture and the toon crab characters made by (I think he goes by 3D universe or something like that).

I am hoping it is possible to build up a library of many animation presets and facial expression p[resets so I can make episodes quick n easy over a period of time.

JimmyC_2009

According to the Product Page, there are a few morphs and expressions that come with them, but I haven't seen any premade presets for use with them. If you wnated to use aniblocks, you would most likely need to create your own, and I am almost certain that you would need the full version of Animate 2 to do that.

Have you looked at Pupeteer? It can be very useful too.

Arnold C

According to aniMate2 creator Go Figure the Lite mode allows to add and arrange aniBlocks, and also create new ones and bake to Studio keyframes. You'd only need the registered version if you plan to edit/tweak them.
(http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/215052/)
Not sure if you can also save your newly created aniBlocks, I got the registered version of aniMate from day 1 on.

The "3D Universe Toon Crab's" expressions will be mostly simple poses, but you'd be able to make keyframed animatons out of them and convert them to aniBlocks if you want to.

If you're looking for help creating keyframed animations yourself, Member ghidghid from shareCG has some valuable animation tips about creating keyframed animations up on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWDFGlObdh0). I guess he had made them up for Poser, but their principles will work for DAZ Studio, too.

Using the aniBlocks included in DAZ Studio on Genesis you maybe already noticed that there are some "discrepancies", like Genesis is walking on heels and straddles a bit. That's because those aniBlocks originally created for the version 4 family of figures, which have slightly different zero positions on their skeleton than Genesis.

To solve that problem I made up an aniBlock from DavidGB’s “Pose Adjust Script” and loaded it up at shareCG: (http://www.sharecg.com/v/67223/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Genesis-Pose-Adjust-aniBlock).

angusshmangus

hey guys thanks for all the info so far. sorry for the late reply. I am busy investigating the information given above. I just bought animate 2 along with the crab. gonna have to spend some more time reading and experimenting before I can comment intelligently on the above responses. thanks a bunch so far.