Motion Effects

Motion Effects in Faceware Studio are an internal toolset for customizing animation results. This advanced feature eliminates the need for complex in-engine scripting, allowing users both new to and familiar with facial animation to get targeted results. Motion Effects are Python scripts that Live Redux can apply to alter the tracking animation.

 

Motion Effects manipulate tracking animation values in order to customize the animation data retargeted to your facial rig. Motion Effects can be used to enhance the way a rig responds to an actor’s performance. And can help compensate for issues or deficiencies in your facial rig.

 

Motion Effects should only be applied after the actor has been calibrated and Studio is producing good tracking results. Next, evaluate the animation results retargeted to the Animation Preview rig in Studio or streamed to your rig in your 3d engine (Motionbuilder, Unreal, Unity). Motion Effects can be added to your project to improve the animation results in a number of ways.

 

 

Applying Motion Effects

All Motion Effects are created, applied, and managed in the Motion Effects panel. 
 


To apply one or more motion effects to your animation: 

 

  1. Make sure that your video input is set up and your footage is being tracked from the Realtime Setup panel.
  2. Open the Motion Effects panel (View > Panels > Motion Effects)
  3. Click the +New Effect button
  4. Click Select a Primary Control and choose the control that you want to influence from the list
  5. Click Select an Effect and choose a stock effect from the Faceware Effects list or a custom Effect from the Custom Effects list (stock and custom effect types described in detail below)
  6. Default options will appear depending on the Effect you select. (You may need to select other inputs if you choose Increase By, Reduce By, or custom Effects)
  7. You can edit the default options here or just click Confirm to add the Effect
  8. The Motion Effect is now listed in the Motion Effects panel and is automatically enabled

 

When at least one Motion Effect is enabled, the EFFECTS arrow on the Pathfinder status bar will turn green.

 

 

Stock Motion Effects

 

All Motion Effects use basic components to manipulate data:

 

 

There are four stock Motion Effects available in Studio:

 

Clamp

Clamp sets the lowest and highest values for the control, limiting the activation to a given range.
Example: If you want to change the range of a control from 0.0-1.0 to 0.2-0.7, you can apply a Clamp effect with a lowest value of 0.2 and highest value of 0.7.

 

Eye Blink Left being clamped to 0.1-0.8

 

Offset

Offset adds a specific value to the current control value. 
Example: Current value of Jaw Open is 0.8. Adding an Offset value of 0.2 will result in the Jaw Open value being 1.0.


Mouth Smile Left being offset by 0.3

 

Increase By/Reduce By

These two effects allow one control (Secondary) to influence another control (Primary) based on the relationship between the two (Rate). Increase By and Reduce By Effects uses the value of the Secondary Control and the Rate value in a formula and then adds the resulting value to (Increase By) or subtracts it from (Reduce By) the value of the Primary Control. 

 

The Rate input lets you specify the relationship between the Primary and Secondary Controls. A Rate of 1 is a linear curve. A Rate of 2 is a quadratic curve.

 

Example Use: You notice that when Smile is near 1.0, Blink is being activated and thus the eyes appear more closed on the rig than you would like. You can apply a Reduce By effect on the Blink (Primary) and Smile (Secondary) Controls, so that when Smile increases the Blink is reduced.

 

 

Cheek Squint Right being Increased By Mouth Smile Right, with a linear Rate, and 100% Intensity

 

Mouth Pucker being Reduced By Mouth Left, with a quadratic Rate, and 75% Intensity

 

 

 

 

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