Using Expression Mapping Panel

The Control Names (Face IDs) received from the mocap devices may be not always be suitable for all types of characters. Sometimes, you may want to exaggerate the expressions for cartoon characters and ease the expressions for realistic human characters.

With the use of Expression Mapping Panel in Motion LIVE plugin, not only can you map the Control Names (Face IDs) to iClone's 60 facial morphs, but can also set the weight and limitations for the 60 face morphs.

The benefits are:

  • Default 60-morph capture profiles are optimized for Faceware's StaticCam and HeadCam, or iPhone's true-depth camera.
  • Defined expression style with morph sliders can be saved as Custom Capture Profiles.
  • Take advantage of the Search function to quickly access the needed sliders

User Interface Introduction

A

Gear Name

Displays the current gear name.

B

Current Profile Name

Displays the current profile name. When you load a new profile, then the name will be changed as well.

The default profile (*.json) files exist in the following path:
C:\Program Files\Reallusion\iClone 7\Resource\ICFacewareFacialMocap\MappingProfile

C

Control Name

The 42 Control Name Stream (Face IDs) from Faceware, or the 57 Control Name Stream (Face IDs) from iPhone.

D

Search Expression

Type in a keyword to display only the sliders whose names contain the same string as the keyword.

E

Face tab

In this tab, all the 60 face morphs for the facial expressions are listed. You can then map the Control Names with the 60 Face Morphs in this tab.

F

Hide Zero Value Sliders

Activate this box to hide the sliders whose value is zero in order to have a cleaner panel to facilitate observation and adjustments.

G

Load and Save Profile

You can click these two buttons to save or load a custom profiles with different mapping combinations of the sliders.

H

Bone Sliders tab

The Jaw and Head and Eye tabs can be used to set the bone movements for the jaw, head and the eyes.

I

Zero all and Reset buttons

Click the Zero All button to set all slider values to 0. Click the Reset button to reinitialize slider values set when the profile was saved.

 

Fine-tuning the face IDs with 60 face morph sliders

  1. Prepare a character. Make sure it has neither expressions nor lipsyncs.

  2. Open the Facial Mocap for Faceware plugin.
  3. Click the Expression Mapping Panel button to show the panel.

  4. Select one of the items from the Control Name drop-down list. In this case, the mouth_LeftMouth_Smile.

    You will find that the smile for the left side of the mouth is not ideal and there is a slight rotation to the character's head.

  5. Switch to the Head and Eye tab and you will find the sliders that control the bones such as Head UpDown and Head Left/Right. These values are also stored with the Control Name.
  6. Adjust the values for the sliders to rectify the imperfection in the positioning of the bones.
  7. Switch to the Face tab and adjust any of the 60 morphing sliders to exaggerate or ease the expression.

    In this example, the mouth, cheek and lower eyelid are adjusted for the crooked smile.
  8. You can repeat the same steps for the rest of the items in the Control Name list and save the combination as your custom profile.