Before You Take Off: Doing the Pre-Flight Check
Working in Face Robot [edit] (http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/index.php?title=Template:Facial_Animation_TOC&action=edit)
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Having a good model is probably the most important thing when working with Face Robot. A good model lays the foundation for the type of results that you can achieve. As a result, you should spend a good amount of time making sure that the model is the best it can be for Face Robot.
All modeling requirements are outlined in Modeling, but just to make sure that the model is okay before you start with Face Robot, you should perform what we call the Pre-flight Check before takeoff. If everything checks out, you’ll be good to go without any problems when you load it into Face Robot.
Remember that in Face Robot, you can edit the model's geometry (moving points, etc.), but are restricted from adding or removing points after the scanning process in Stage 1: Assemble, so ensure that the model's topology is final before bringing it into Face Robot.
Load the model into your 3D modeling software of choice and review it based on the following checklist:
Head
- Head is a polygon mesh.
- Head is between 1,500 and 20,000 polygons. The higher the resolution, the better the results, but the slower the interaction in the software.
- Head’s object center is located at the global origin (0,0,0).
- Head scale is such that one unit in Face Robot is approximately 1 inch or 1 centimeter. While this isn’t an exact requirement, this type of scale will yield good results. Try to make sure that the scale doesn’t go much smaller or a lot larger (that is, one unit equalling more than 10 cm might be too large).
- Head’s orientation is Y up, Z forward. This means the head should be looking towards positive Z (tip of nose is at Z > 0) and the top of the head points in positive Y direction.
- Head has few triangular polygons and even fewer n-sided polygons: polygons should be mostly quads.
- Head can have only one hole at the neck: no holes for the eyeballs or mouth. You can also fix holes in Face Robot after your model is loaded — see Stage 1: Assemble.
- Interior of the mouth is modeled so that the inside of the lip is present and supports outward lip curling. You can also create a mouth interior in Face Robot after your model is loaded — see Stage 1: Assemble.
- It’s best not to have any animation on the head (that is, no animated transformations).
Eyes
- Two eyeballs are included and in place as separate meshes or groups. You can also load in eyeball objects or create your own in Face Robot after your model is loaded - see Stage 1: Assemble.
- Eyeballs have inner and outer shell (with corneal bulge).
- Eye sockets are modeled such that at least the inside of the upper and lower eye lid is present. You can also create eye sockets in Face Robot after your model is loaded — see Stage 1: Assemble.
- Lacrimal glands (tear ducts) are present.
Teeth
- Upper and lower teeth included as seperate meshes or groups. You can also load in teeth and tongue objects in Face Robot after your model is loaded — see Stage 1: Assemble.
- Location of teeth is accurate within the mouth, i.e. front of teeth matches inside of the lip. The lips should avoid penetration with the teeth at the modeling stage (don't worry about the mouth corners). If the teeth and lips are intersecting in the model before solving (at the end of Stage 4: Fit) , then it will still be a problem after solving.
