downloadingnow… looks great
FreakyDude,
I’m still working on the video tutorial for the article. I’ve been trying to find a video screen capture software that works with Vista. I’ve not been able to get CamStudio to work with VISTA. I’ve tried Screen VidShot, but even using the MPEG 4 codec, the files are way to large. If you’ve got any ideas what I could use, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m having a lot of fun with the model and rig. Here’s a render of a clothing addition.
Glad to hear you’re still on it. I don’t have Vista, nor do I know anyone who does, unfortunately. They all run xp (old computers) or ubuntu/dreamlinux (new computers)
What about uploading it onto youtube? They do compression themselves don’t they?
I’ll try to find something this weekend…
I have been testing with one of these variations you mentioned as well, and a few other (cosmetic) tweaks. I think I’ll have an update of the rig this weekend. I hope that will be the “final version” by then…
Hey, I’m using lil fella along with Mancandy for the 11 Sec Club’s Nov 2007 entry. You can see my current progress here:
I’m trying to get started on the lip sync for lil fella, but when I change the shape key values on the action editor, nothing happens. Is there a step (or two) that I’m missing?
That’s really cool to see!! Hey!, going to really dig through that when I get home!
ehm that could be a few things, the obvious, are you setting keys (I think you are, but just in case)
Maybe you have “pinned” a certain action, so it always displays?
Also, you have to align the jaw as well, since it also uses a shape. You can set a certain phonem by using the shapekeys, then alter it by moving the jawbone, which also drives a shapekey.
I am setting the keys. I didn’t know about the jaw, but I was testing it out with eyes. I’ll check the pinned action idea. I really would love to get this solved.
Nothing is pinned for lil guy. Do I need so use the NLA or something like that for shape keys to work?
can you post the file? It shouldn’t do that. The NLE (not nla) is where you combine actions, not define them, afaik anyhow. I have no idea what you are doing wrong.
Ok, here’s the a render and a screenshot of the action editor during render. At this frame, the eyes should be closed if I’m interpreting this correctly.
I’m sure I’m just making some tiny, foolish error.
I was unable to attach my blend file. I’ll upload it to my server and post the link afterwards.
Attachments
strangely, it appears to be working on other frames…so perhaps I just did something wrong at that frame…I’ll keep you posted
When I open your file (lots of extra stuff in there that doesn’t really ring any bells yet)
The first thing I notice is you seem to have to many lipsync actions mixed at the same time. They all add up, and give his mouth a bit of a beak like appearance.
Maybe what happens is this:
when you select another shapekey, it displays that shapekey as full influence. So it’s easier to see how that shape looks without affecting the slider/settings first.
I believe this was regardless of the shapekey slider, but I’m not to certain about that. So maybe everything is working as it should, but just doesn’t show or update, or it is overruled by an existing key, I dunno, I haven’t really the time to sort through it any more now. Keep us updated… I’ll check into the file later again…
Ok, so basically, I have the mouth fixed up. You can see here: http://vimeo.com/376622
Although I still have some work to do to get the lip sync correct.
Basically, what appears to have thrown me off is that the eyes do not appear to be closing or opening. But I’ll try messing with that some more. I’ll let you know what I come up with.
However, to make sure I’m on the right page - if I set eyes closed to 1 does that mean they’re fully closed or fully open?
NO!
You don’t control the eyes with the shapekey sliders, you only control the shapes that correspond to the phonems…
hmm maybe I should add that to the manual as well… seemed obvious to me, but now that you mention it…
All the other shapes are controlled with the facial rig on the second bone layer. The eyes won’t respond to you setting the sliders to a certain value, because they are driven by a bone. If you look at the shapes in the IPO window you’ll notice all the phonem shapes come last and have no keys.
SO!
You set sliderkeys for the lipsync/phonem shapes.
you adjust the facial rig to control the rest of the facial animation.
So what was the real fix to the issue you were having? you say you fixed it, but not really how… 
ok, now I understand. That basically fixed my problem. Well, to put it more explicitly, my first problem was that I thought the keys weren’t doing anything. But then I did the mouth and I realized that it was working. Then I put in the corresponding keys to end the mouth movements and that problem was fixed.
Now, my problem with the eyes (which is what sparked this whole thing) is fixed because now I understand how they are meant to work.
hmm…found teh facial rig on the second layer…but how do I use this to close the eyes?
move the targets. you can move the frame around so it doesn’t block your view, you move the eyes up/down to open/close them.
jaw up/down to open/close mouth
nose crinkles up/down to crinkle up/down
the brows are the only bones that uses more than one axis to drive shapes, the z axis(up/down) controls the brows going up/down
the y axis(front/back) control the brows moving forward/backwards
the x axis(left/right) make him look angry. This one looks best when combined with front/back moving (y axis)
bedie bedie bedie, that’s all folks!
Hey, I’m sure I’m doing something silly again, but why won’t the eyelids close?
Here’s a screenshot and you can see that I dragged the eyes down, yet the eyes remain open!
Attachments
You should not have to drag it down that far to make the eyelids close. I’m guessing that the connection between the eyelid driver and the eyelids has been disconnected, Try using a fresh Little fell blend file and see if the eyelid objects work on it. If so, then that will confirm that your model had a problem.