Variance Theory » Characters

Female Commando

Ben — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:42:33 +0000

3DSMax Lipsync Rig – Convert Bones to Morph

Ben — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:59:40 +0000

This example shows a relatively low-poly head rigged with bones for the standard lipsync viseme targets. This was matched to a system called Animeter that has since been bought and sold a bunch of times. Anyway, the standard targets still apply now.

So, the way this guy works is that we have a head model that is rigged and animated to a different morph target every 5 frames. The script creates a button in the head object’s rollout called “Create Morpher Head”. When the artist hits the button, Max snapshots the head along the timeline to create morph targets. It then assigns the targets to a base head with the Morpher modifier. Then you’re ready to roll.

The advantage to this is that since morphs are always topology dependent, we can’t tweak the model very much without ruining the rig. So instead, we make modeling changes to the skinned head and regenerate the morph targets from there. This can save artists a bunch of time.

Below is the source for the script.

^?View Code MAXSCRIPT

makeHeadCA = attributes makeHead
(
	parameters main rollout:params
	(
		makeHeadBtn type:#boolean ui:makeHeadBtn
	)
	rollout params "Make Morpher"
	(
		button makeHeadBtn "Create Morpher Head"
		on makeHeadBtn pressed do
		(
			headBasis = $
			nameArray = #("head_player_none_male","Eat","Earth","If","Ox","Oat","Wet","Size","Church","Fave","Though","Told","Bump","New","Roar","Cage","EyebrowRaiseLeft","EyebrowRaiseRight","BlinkLeft","BlinkRight","LookUp","LookDown","LookLeft","LookRight","EyebrowRaiseBoth","BlinkBoth")
 
			sliderTime = 0f
			headPosX = 0.5
			headDone = 1
			global headMorphs = #()
			--snapshot the main head
			for i = 1 to nameArray.count do
			(
				newHead = snapshot headBasis
				headPosX = headPosX + .5
				newHead.name = nameArray[i]
				newHead.pos.x = headPosX
				append headMorphs newHead
				sliderTime = sliderTime + 5f
			)
			sliderTime = 0f
 
			--now add the morpher plus the targets
			mainHead = headMorphs[1]
			addmodifier mainHead (morpher())
			global theMorpher = mainHead.morpher
			select mainHead
 
			for i = 1 to (headMorphs.count - 1) do
			(
				print ("adding " + headmorphs[i+1].name)
				WM3_MC_BuildFromNode mainHead.morpher i headMorphs[i+1]
			)
		)
	)
)
 
CAs = custattributes.getdefs $head_basis.skin
if CAs.count > 0 then
(
	for i = 1 to CAs.count do
	(
		custattributes.delete $head_basis.skin i
	)
)
custAttributes.add $head_basis.skin makeHeadCA

Syphon Filter PS2 Characters

Ben — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:56:42 +0000

I was the Lead Character Artist on Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain at Sony Bend. In addition to heading up concepts, modeling, texturing, and rigging of all game and movie characters for the studio’s first PS2 title, I worked very closely with the Lead Character Programmer in creating a state-of-the-art character customization system and corresponding pipeline. Below are some samples of artwork and in-game shots.

Syphon Filter PS2 Marketing

Ben — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:44:25 +0000

As this game was wrapping up, I was asked to make some renderings for use by the gaming press. I already had the characters created for movie rendering, though they are game-resolution with high-res textures. I did get some help – Shane Pierce, the concept artist at Sony at the time, and now of Epic, did quick black and white layout sketches for a couple of the shots and painted the tower in the background of one of them as well.

Each shot took about a day from start to finish and they were featured in Maxim, Play, GamePro, and other international gaming magazines. One of the shots was even used as the box cover art for the European SKU of Omega Strain.

Syphon Filter 3 Marketing

Ben — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:26:59 +0000

Created in 3DSMax, these renders were used by various game press for the release of Syphon Filter 3

Responsible for:

Modeling
Rigging
Lighting
Camera