OK, so it’s only a few lines from Othello to test a new facial rigging design I did. But hey, it’s a start! The “semi-final” playblast version of the sequence can be viewed on Vimeo at:
where you can also d/l the .avi version – it plays better and is larger than Vimeo’s translation. It uses the Xvid codec, so you’ll need that on board to play it.
What I’m mainly looking for is some close critique of the lip synch/mouth deforms so I can tweak it to perfection before rendering to a final version – this guy chews up about 30 minutes per frame (AO, RT lamps, SSS and a level 2 Subsurf on a level 2 multires mesh density) so I want to get things right before spending a huge chunk of render time on it.
Feel free to comment on the character as well. Ignore the audio quality, though, I make no claims to large doses of voice talent or audio engineering skills :no:.
RE: The character interpretation. In scrounging the web for costuming ideas, I came across many of the “expected” treatments, set in Shakespeare’s time or thereabouts, but also many others that were set in various other eras and even, from the looks of things, other locales. So I felt OK about an original interpretation, with the Moor being general of forces in a future, possibly post-Collapse society where street-savvy is a principle survival skill. Hence the vaguely gang-like visage, the macho-muscle-shirt body armor, tribal tats, and a rather arrogant attitude.
I’m in the process of cleaning up an earlier version (the first one posted on Vimeo as a proof of concept – facial rig is the same, though) to post the .blend here so anyone wishing to see how the Othello facial rig works, maybe use it themselves, can snag it and have fun.
Okay so how many lamps do you use to light him?Did you follow 3 point lighting plus, I thought it ment that." I have blond moments", um also I watched the video and found as I have been to film school, the words and the lip sync don’t match up at all & the voice doesn’t match the character.
Because I’m not sure if Blender will pack the audio file into the .blend, I’ve included it in the zip archive. If need be, it should be placed at frame 125 in the Video Sequence Editor for proper synchronization with the lip synch animation in the file. There’s also a fairly extensive Text Window message in the file, about the Othello rigging design and its use.
Not much feedback here, but no prob, I’ve put some polish on the lip sync and thanks to feelgoodcomics (yay Gord!), a much more lively performance out of the character, which can be seen in playblast form on Vimeo:
I’ve got 200+ hours of rendering ahead, so the full-tilt version will be a while in the making – I’ll put it in the Finished Projects section once it’s completed.
Hope those of you who’ve d/l’d the facial rig .blend find it useful, or at least fun to play around with! Might be useful for posing some of the Blending Life entries for those who don’t want to make their own rigs.
Chipmasque, thanks for sharing this! Your idea to mimic facial muscles makes for some very realistic facial movement. I’ve played for a few minutes with your rig and I have to say that it looks great.
Use of the rig is somewhat complicated and requires quite a lot of tweaking to get the right expression, but I feel that it might be worth it (anyway, having really great model, like yours helps a bit ;))
Maybe you could make use of my Einsteinwarf system of control (I borrowed heavily from Calvin and other Blenderheads, so it is not much of the achievement).
Anyway, great work and thanks for sharing (and I love the animation)
I know! I was scanning the play text online and the phrase “Give me the ocular proof” just grabbed me, it’s such a fantastically original way to say “Show me!” but isn’t obscure in any way.
I see it as a pivotal point in the plot as well, the exact moment when Othello begins to entertain the possibility of Desdemona’s being unfaithful – he’ll believe it if he sees proof – and of course Iago is only more than happy to oblige by setting things up.
“More body language” won’t go beyond that of the final playblast, though, because frankly, the model has little more body than what is seen in the vid :eek: Since this all began as simply a test for a face rig design, I didn’t modify the model beyond some mesh cleanups and then making it more character-specific for the lip sync demo. Technically effective but dry as toast performance-wise.
Then good friend Gord Goodwin (feelgoodcomics) generously took the time to keyframe a few more emotive poses for the beginning of the sequence (most of which you still see) that amounted to a well-needed swift kick in the creative butt for me, and I realized that even given the model’s limitations (no forearms, hands, or anything below the waist – poor dude – maybe Desdemona was lookin’ around…), a better performance could be given. But, sadly, it does have limitations in terms of full-body action. I’d love to get some hand-expression into the act as well. Maybe some day. Maybe the whole damn play, who knows? Hell, it’s Shakespeare, maybe I could get a grant…hmmmm… :yes: [insert blue-sky daydreaming emoticon here]
Why is it we riggers (even beginners like me) get sentimental about a bag of bones & name 'em?
– maybe Desdemona was lookin’ around…), a better performance could be given. But, sadly, it does have limitations in terms of full-body action. I’d love to get some hand-expression into the act as well. Maybe some day. Maybe the whole damn play, who knows? Hell, it’s Shakespeare, maybe I could get a grant…hmmmm… :yes: [insert blue-sky daydreaming emoticon here]