AU 18 - LipsPuckerer
AU 22 - LipsFunneler
AU 28 - LipsSuck
Monday, June 24, 2024
Friday, June 21, 2024
Stalker (The Last of Us) - Feedback Update
I received positive feedback from industry professionals outside FIEA as well as from Nick Zuccarello & my schoolmates. I went back to the fundamentals and rehearsed my head plane structure and muscle anatomy, which combined to give me the desired outcome. I have received further feedback, which I will address and eventually render this project in Maya and Unreal Engine.
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
FACS Research Week01
FACS Research Project
Understanding the subtleties of a human face and producing hyperrealistic portraits have always piqued my curiosity. I became interested in portraiture after seeing Kris Costa's work and being in awe of it. I was motivated by him to begin working on my first portrait of Keanu Reeves. Even though it turned out awful, I was still rather pleased with my development at the time and continued honing the abilities that have brought me to this point. Even though I still have a lot to work on, I'm rather pleased with my development. That was a little introduction to me, now let's go on to FACS.
Originally created by Carl-Herman Hjortsjö with 23 facial motion units in 1970, it was subsequently developed further by Paul Ekman, and Wallace Friesen, the FACS (Facial Action Coding System) method to interpret facial micro expressions. Originally designed to study faces, it was eventually applied to the fields of animation, games, and visual effects to create realistic expressions. It was first brought to me as an upskill training while I was employed at MPC Films. That was a turning point in my life because it showed me that if I create a face, I can do so much more with it. I made the decision to specialize in FACS after leaving MPC and to start making content for my reel. It took me about a month to make, but throughout that time I learned a lot.
Since I want to work with faces, I decided to do a research project on FACS. Not simply in terms of technical knowledge, but also in terms of comprehending the anatomical processes that lead to that expression, there is much to learn. I made the error of concentrating on making every conceivable shape when I was first producing my demo reel for FACS. I was advised to concentrate solely on the important forms and how they transition into one another by industry professionals after exchanging ideas and receiving a ton of guidance. I can't emphasize enough how important the transition part is. It is incredibly vital. However, understanding this requires knowledge of facial anatomy, and I have already suggested a book for that. I would personally stress on getting the facial muscles down before starting FACS. Its action with its point of origin and contact.
Every shape in FACS is assigned an AU, or action unit. I'll be referring to each shape as an AU going forward. I made note of every AU on my agenda that I will be concentrating on for this assignment. It will be my pleasure to discuss this, one of my largest/biggest assignment at FIEA, in more detail below for those who are curious.
These books/websites are highly recommended if you desire a thorough understanding of FACS:-
FACS Manual by Paul Ekman(Must Have)
FACS overview by Erika Rosenberg
Some Artist that I follow:- Sefki Ibrahim , Kris Costa , Ian Spriggs. There are many artists who I admire and find inspiration in, but these are the main ones.
ADVICE & TIPS FROM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
I got a chance to talk to a lot of industry professionals as a part of research project last semester, with whom I am still contact with. I will list down all the major advice & tips I got from them.
* Identify relevant muscles
* Appearance changes
* Don't isolate AU's
* Focus on transitions
* Skin should follow the muscle
* Wireframe is really important.
* A suitable topology is vital.
* Pay attention to lip thickness and how it relates to teeth.
* Study the anatomy & plane of the face.
* Think about which muscles create each shape and how they influence the skin.
* Observe how the thinner skin slides over the bone and how thicker skin or areas of fatty tissue move a little differently.
* Slow motion videos are a game changer.
My schedule for this assignment
Week 01
This assignment week ran from June 11–June 17, 2024, for the first week. For this week I will be working on four AU's.
AU 12 - lipCornerPuller
AU 14 - lipdimpler
AU 15 - lipCornerDepressor
AU 20 - lipStretcher
I started with a few alternatives for the foundation mesh. After utilizing Metahuman for a while, still I was unable to locate a guide texture for it. Despite this, I was able to get around it and discovered that 3D scan store mesh and Wrap3d Mesh could help. I chose the 3D scan store mesh, even though the other one was really decent. I think a guiding texture would be very helpful to me in understanding where the nasolabial fold, infraorbital furrow, and other structures sit when they move. The 3D scan store mesh is on the right, while the Wrap 3D mesh is on the left. I've included a small amount of color saturation editing to the 3D scan shop texture guide. In addition, I utilized fractal as the normal map to make skin sliding more noticeable.
To grasp things better, I wanted to start from begin with everything. To obtain my basic shape, I decided to use clusters and paint weights. First up on the list is AU 12.
AU 12 - LipCornerPuller
This is what AU12 looks like. The major muscle involved here is Zygomaticus Major.
"The muscle underlying AU 12 emerges high up in the lower face by the cheek bones and attaches at the corner of the lips. In AU 12, the direction of the action is to pull the lip corners up towards the cheek bone in an oblique direction.
Appearance changes due to AU 12
1. Pulls the corners of the lips back and upward (obliquely) creating a shape to the mouth.
2. Deepens the nasolabial furrow, pulling it laterally and up. The skin adjacent to the nasolabial furrow is raised up and
laterally.
3. In a weak to moderate 12, there is some raising of the infraorbital triangle and there may be some deepening of the
infraorbital furrow.
4. In a strong action, one or more of the following:
a. The infraorbital triangle push upwards is more evident.
b. The infraorbital furrow deepening is more evident.
c. Bags the skin below the lower eyelid.
d. Narrows the eye aperture by pushing up the cheek and skin below the lower lid.
e. Produces crow's feet at eye corners.
f. May raise and widen the nostrils.
g. May flatten and stretch the skin on the chin boss."
- Taken from FACS Manual
To get started, I placed a cluster on the face and skinned it to the lip corners. This is an iterative process, and it requires going back and forth.
One is never enough, so I made a few more clusters to push and pull things around. You should create as many as you like. I would suggest getting as close as possible to the final shape.
After obtaining a solid foundation, as indicated below, I attached this shape as blendshape and after duplicating it I flipped it to the right side.
I started tidying up, consulting the other two books I mentioned before, as well as Malinda's website. There is enough topology in this mesh to make advantage of Maya's sculpting capabilities. I started using sculpting tools to sculpt and acquire the desired form using the edit function in the blendshape Editor. Focusing on skin slide is also very crucial; you can achieve this by holding down the CTRL + SHIFT + translating keys. Understanding changes in the skin's appearance, such as bulges, flattening, elongation, etc., is crucial, and the FACS manual does a great job of simplifying things.
After a couple of hours I was able to achieve my first shape i.e. AU 12.
AU 14 - LipDimpler
Next up is lipDimpler. The process remains the same, but the only thing that changes here is the shape and muscle involved. Buccinator is the prime muscle involved here.
Appearance changes due to AU 14.
"1. Tightens the corners of the mouth, pulling the corners somewhat inwards, and narrowing the lip corners.
2. Produces wrinkles and/or a bulge at the lip corner.
3. May cause a dimple-like wrinkle beyond the lip corner.
4. Lip corners usually angle up but they could be angled down or just straight.
5. Lips stretch lateral to a limited extent and flatten.
6. May deepen the nasolabial furrow.
7. Pulls the skin below the lip corners and the chin boss up towards the lip corners, flattening and stretching the chin
boss skin.
8. May cause a short bulge or wrinkle at the lip corners which extends the line between the lips down towards the chin;
this change may give the corners of the lips a downward cast."
Got a good base shape using cluster method.
Attached it as a blendshape and flipped it.
Started cleaning things up using sculpting tools and references. Here is the final shape.
AU 15 - LipCornerDepressor
This is what it looks like.
Appearance changes due to AU 15
"1. Pulls the corners of the lips down.
2. Changes the shape of the lips so they are angled down at the corner, and usually the lower lip is somewhat stretched horizontally.
3. Produces some pouching, bagging, or wrinkling of skin below the lip corners, which may not be apparent unless the action is strong.
4. May flatten or cause bulges to appear on the chin boss, may produce a depression medially under the lower lip.
5. If the nasolabial furrow is permanently etched, it deepens in the lower portion and may appear pulled down or lengthened."
Same thing again, push & pull the clusters to get a base. Once more, make whichever many clusters you desire. Having well-defined basis shapes greatly facilitates the sculpting process. The Depressor Anguli Oris is the main muscle at play here.
Duplicate the shape and flipped.
Clean up process and here is the final.
AU 20 - LipStretcher
The muscle underlying AU 20 emerges near the back of the jaw (ramus of the mandible) and attaches to the lip corner. The action of AU 20 pulls the lips laterally, back towards the ears. When the action of 20 is strong, the platysma (AU 21) is usually recruited, evidenced by the tightening or bulging in the neck. There are two mucles involved here, Risorius & Platysma.
This is what it looks like.
Appearance changes due to AU 20.
"1. Pulls the lips back laterally; the lip corners may be raised or lowered to a limited extent but the main movement is horizontal.
2. Elongates the mouth.
3. The lips become flattened and stretched by the lateral pull.
4. Pulls the skin beyond the lip corners laterally, so that the cheek area adjacent to the lip corner becomes flattened.
5. Wrinkles may appear at the lip corners or beyond the lip corners part way back towards the ears; the shape of these wrinkles is not important in distinguishing 20 from other AUs, but their presence due to the lateral pull on the skin is noteworthy.
6. Pulls the lower portion of the nasolabial furrow, and pulls the skin in the lower nasolabial furrow area laterally.
7. Stretches the skin over the chin boss laterally. May cause the chin to appear flattened and/or wrinkled.
8. Can stretch nostril wings laterally to elongate the nostril's opening."
Cluster base mesh.
Duplicating & flipped
Cleaned up & Final
All the shapes are done for this week as planned. Below I will attach videos that shows transition between each shape. Will add more updates with coming weeks.
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