Unity facial expression(s)

Hello guys, I have read there is a new way to make facial animations with Mixamo's Unplugged (FacePlus). However, I cannot find a lot of information about it. For my project I use Mecanim and I am preparing my facial rig in Blender. Now, I have read a lot about the subject, and came to the conclussion that its very hard, if not: near to impossible to set up a facial rig in Mecanim. I heard also that Unplugged will come with Unity 4.3, but nothing I can find on the main page which is suspicous because that would be HUGE news! I also heard about Iclone, but that it isnt yet compatible with Mecanim yet. So, two questions: how can I make facial expressions in Unity, stick with Legacy? And does anybody know more about Mixamo's plugin called unplugged? Keep in mind I make my own characters, I dont want to use any premade models. Thanks in advance!

Maurice

 

I don't think the new Mixamo plugin is available yet. Best thing would be to check out Mixamo's website.

 

Purpleshine84 I clone facial animation is working with Unity 4.2. I was waiting for this for a while and I thought it would only work when unity supports blendshapes. Then I downloaded the iclone update and created a facial animation and imported it into mecanim, and it works really well.

I think it might just be bones at work, but I'm a little confused because Unity said that the extra facial bones will just be used to blend or transition between them. If that was the case then the wide cheeks animations wouldn't work but it does.

It's great that it works, but I'm a little confused on how it works.

oh by the way if you are considering to buy iclone, which I recommend, just remember you will need the facial pipeline + Exchange pipeline version which is more expensive.

I don't think mixamo will be advertising their new feature until unity 4.3 is released. It's better that way or they would constantly be flooded with email asking when is coming out bla bla bla.. administration nightmare.

 

Wow! Thanks MoHoe! So I need a pipeline and exchange pipeline aswell? Can you explain me how its best to export? And is it possible to get a free demo so that I can try it out?

 

HELP!! So, everythin seems to work fine in 3DXChange Except for the facial animation, I made the facial animation in Blender with bones and a shaped group library but when I try to move a facial bone in 3DXchange, nothing happens... I am lost, also I cannot find any tutorial on this... I can find a lot but not the one that is working for me, I mean.

 

Sorry for delayed reply Purpleshine84.

First of all did you purchase exchange pipeline and facial pipeline?

I haven't tried to import a custom facial animation into exchange yet, and they have a youtube tutorial on this subject, but instead of them showing you how to import a custom one they just end up showing you how to import their ready made rig.

What I suggest is that you download their "game" facial animation rig and use that instead. You can find the file in the extras section in your account area.

I haven't tried it yet, as I can't be bothered right now to do the whole skinning process.

Also what you could do is just export one of their facial game characters "hunter guy" and import that into blender and delete the mesh and just keep the bones.

Let me know how it goes

Edit..

oh by the way avoid using blend-shapes until they release 4.3. Bones work well enough for me so I'm not too bothered about blend-shapes support.

 

Oh thank you.. gee, I just send you a private message at the same time haha, Well thanks a lot, thats actually a great idea I didnt purchase anything because I have not enough money... but as I understand well I am now still in trial demo that give me another 25 days , right? Well, I hope I can find that rig!!

 

oh I see, well I'm not sure if the demo restricts features on the import side of things, I know that you need the pipeline version to be able to export out of exchange.

I don't think you will have access to download the template rig, and because you don't have the pipeline version you won't be able to export their facial rig either thats a shame... I think with your enthusiasm you would have created some cool things.

The good news is that Unity 4.3 will support a mixamo facial plugin which looks impressive indeed. Lets hope its not going to cost too much.

Good luck Purpleshine84

 

Well, thanks a lot MoHoe, of course if I would have the money there was no question about it.... well, I will make it work, sooner or later, never give up..

 

Last question: did you rigged your own character or you also use the template rig for the facial expression? And if you made the facial Rig yourself, in what program you made it?

 

SOLVED: at least how to do the rig in Blender and bring it in iClone (via 3dxchange). No Blendshapes, just bones and make them offset from the head bone. Cheers for everyone trying to find out, if not, feel free to ask

 

Hello MoHoe,

thanks for all your help. Just today I find out how to bring my own model with the RIGHT working facial animation. I had a hell of a time tbh but in the it appeared that it is very important to set up the Jaw and Jaw root bone accordingly to the G5 model. I used custom preset for export. Another tip for all people strugling: dont make your body parts individuel, keep them to the mesh, otherwise 3dxchange will crash (this goes for if you model in Blender like me). Last suggestion for all Blender artists: Jaw root bone must be offset of headbone, extrude bone from jaw root and name it Jaw bone. Export both in custom preset (not Unity): geometry and animation together into Unity. Change Avatar so you get null reference, go back to "create from this model" and you are good to go (I know, strange workflow but otherwise Unity wont recognise geometry and animation as one thing).

 

It's a available here, needs Unity Pro and a Mixamo all access license though. Demo is free thuogh.
http://www.mixamo.com/faceplus

 

Good to know Chrissal76, for me personally iClone is unimprovable at this point I think but thanks a lot for sharing! I will look it up aswell!

 

Also you dont need Unity Pro for iClone, I think this things should be free to test out just as with iClone.

 

Purpleshine, would you care to post a tutorial on how to achieve this?
It would be highly appreciated! Thanks.