Hey guys, I am in my 3rd year at University and have been working on my Final Year Project! I will be investigating into animated normal maps and using them to enhance a facial rig. Most of you will know this but a few examples are the Uncharted series, MGS4, L.A. Noire etc.

The aim of the project is to present the outcome within a game engine. I have cracked the technique of using FaceFX and wrinkle maps so UDK will be the game engine used. A test video will be added when it's uploaded.

TOPOLOGY
As part of this project I have been comparing examples of good face topology to find similarities.
Some of the models I have been looking at Naughty Dog workflow (link below), forum discussions (link below) and also books such as D'Artiste Character Modelling.

GDC PDF - http://www.naughtydog.com%2Fdocs%2FN...sZDZ4mssc77uYg

Polycount Discussion - http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80005

The image below is a paint over from an image in the forum discussion linked above (owned by crazyfool). Iv'e found that these are the key edge loops necessary for adequate topology, the rest of the face is mostly dependant upon the artist and doesn't make much of a difference. What do you guys think of this?




PRELIMINARY TESTING
So having found this out I have created some preliminary testing showing how animated normal maps can affect different parts of the face. These were to prove the technique was possible. Here are Tests 1 and 2 so far and I will upload Test 3 soon.

Test 1 - http://vimeo.com/32637979
(Test showing how two separate normal maps are blended at different intervals on the same mesh)

Test 2 - http://vimeo.com/32638258
(Test showing the increase in emotion expressed on a mesh by simply using an animated normal map)

Here is a link to show you how the blending material was created:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68446

I foresee a bright future ahead of you as a tech artist if this is your university project.

This is the kind of tech and tool innovation studios pay good money for, and desperate artists abduct promising young programmers in the dark of night for.

This is very cool stuff. Excellent work, looking forward to seeing more.

YES. this is awesome stuff well done keep at it!

what university are you at? Love the second animation

Impressive and nice looking in that second test. Are you planning a prototype for a targeted game engine?

Wrinkle maps can be easily done in UDK through the material editor and facefx if your doing lip synchronization.

UDK Head Test - YouTube

Thanks for the kind works guys, I'm studying at Staffordshire University.

Yes I will be using UDK and the Material editor, I managed to figure out how to link FaceFX nodes with Material editor expressions.

Here are Tests 3 and 4. Test 4 is the wrinkle map working within UDK!!!

Test 3 - http://vimeo.com/35839597

Test 4 - http://vimeo.com/35839678

The next stage, which I am starting now, is rigging and sculpting.

Looks friggin sweet! So what is your final presentation going to be? Will it just be a sequence of tests or are you going to do a short dialogue clip or something similar?

I really enjoy this, have not really seen anything like it before. Keep up the good work.

I thought I saw evidence of animated normal maps in RDR on the horse as it runs (the muscles) but I wasn't completely sure. But it's really good to see this technology (well, technique) being used more and more.

I love this progress and how you are showing it in a clear way. Hope it is all going well!

Progress so far - The basemesh has been modelled and I am now finishing rigging the face.

Basemesh:

There was an article on gamasutra a few years back on this very subject - it was referring to the then current MGS game iirc.

Seems like you've got it covered though so probably not worth digging out.

I'm curious as to how you're putting the maps together - I'd guess you've got a plain flat blue map with loca, detail in it for each "cluster" but if you're doing something cleverer I'd love to know what.

Originally Posted by jimmypopali

I thought I saw evidence of animated normal maps in RDR on the horse as it runs (the muscles) but I wasn't completely sure. But it's really good to see this technology (well, technique) being used more and more.

I love this progress and how you are showing it in a clear way. Hope it is all going well!

Yea I just made a thread on the UDK forums a few days back asking how you do this, and the RDR-horse thing was one of the examples I brought up. I love how you can see each of the leg muscles contracting. Such a trivial seeming effect, yet it looks so amazing. I think the 1st time I ever saw the effect was in Uncharted, and thats an Unreal engine game, so I KNEW it HAD to be possible in UDK somehow. If Naughty Dog figured it out (as legendary as they are, right back to the PS1 days), then it was only a matter of time before some other bright mind did.

Looks like your carrying the torch now man! Pave the way!!!

Thats looking really awesome, this stuff hasn't ever crossed my mind. Might have to try it one day :P

Also quick note, on your test 4. I hope you not using it for you final unless you plan to do a simpler one because if you think about it, or even try, we dont get that many wrinkles from closing our eyes. That only happens if your trying to squash you face realisticly.

Coming along great apart from that.

Rigging is now finished, here is an image showing the bones used. It consists mostly from the bones used for the Marcus Fenix mesh.






Texture map has also been created:


Any improvements to be made??



One of the Normal Map faces has been completed:


I have been told by someone (no experience in the field) that the wrinkles around the nose and also the laugh lines are too distinct. Any comments?


A few tests in UDK now, first are the teeth and then how i am thinking of presenting the project at the end

Originally Posted by Natocwal

Thats looking really awesome, this stuff hasn't ever crossed my mind. Might have to try it one day :P

Also quick note, on your test 4. I hope you not using it for you final unless you plan to do a simpler one because if you think about it, or even try, we dont get that many wrinkles from closing our eyes. That only happens if your trying to squash you face realisticly.

Coming along great apart from that.

No that was just to show off the difference of using animated normal maps, they won't be like that in the final project. Thanks for the crits

Quick update on the presentation shader, I was able to get UDK's subsurface scattering working so it's looking much better in-game. The only problem is a red glow has appeared at the bottom of the window.

epicly cool dude. i'm impressed

yea that red glow is just a graphics card thing. do you have a subdermal map for the SSS or are you just using colors?

i was messing with SSS in udk the other day and realized that it makes a huge difference of shading on the model depending on whether your mesh is a static or skeletal. just something to keep an eye on

Thanks Omniram for the heads up of the difference using static and skeletal, did a quick test and there was a significant change in colour. Better to fix that now than find it out at the end!

Did a bit of searching and figured out the problem with the red appearing at the bottom of the window, it's a bug in UDK. I turned off Ambient Occlusion in World Info and it has disappeared.

Another Update, the blown out face sculpt. Wrinkles still need to be placed under the eyes:

why do you call it animated normalmap?
its obviously blended.

at the beginning i thought you were using bink videos as normal maps to achieve some werid shit
i recomend blending the ao map too

Here is the completed demo video of my University Dissertation, could you please comment and critique as this is necessary for my evaluation. Thanks

FYP Demo Video - Face Animated Normal Maps -...

Watch on youtube for 1080p resolution

Awesome! I've seen it on GA earlier and it is a great technique!