Blender Facial Motion Capture Demo

The final version of Monet for Blender 2.49 is out and avaliable for use! Grab it from:
http://code.google.com/p/monet/downloads/list

And keep your eyes peeled for a Blender 2.6 release sometime in the near future.

This is an older version of "Monet" (mo'née) and has been replaced by an improved build. If there are any comments or improvements you can suggest, please do not hesitate to comment!

Grab the older version from:
http://www.shadowndacorner.com/downloads/monet.zip

Point motion capture python script for Blender 3D. This is a two stage script for capturing the positions of markers on the face and applying the movement to a non-proportional cartoon character, using a single camera.

The first script tracks the location of the dots on the actors face, and the second script is used to add in eye movements, tongue movements, and refine mouth shapes. It takes about an hour to process and refine one minute of footage from capture to final animated product - as an animator I consider this to be very fast compared with keyframe animation, which can take as much as 3 hours to animate 30 seconds of facial movements properly.

At this stage the script is far from user friendly and was developed to assist in the production of the TV series "Silicon City". It's very rough and rigid in both form and function - but it works, and when you're running against the red line, that's all that counts. The script makes use of the Python Image Library.

I am open to any feedback and will gladly distribute the script to anyone interested in developing it further for use with Blender 3D.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Blender 3D
• Blender
• 3D
• Motion
• Capture
• Mocap
• Facial
• Face
• Python
• Script
• Animation
• Speech
• Lip
• Sync
• Lypsinc
• Free

[TheLegendaryJai]

How do I download this sotware .

[Systemoffive]

@TheLegendaryJai: Which part in particular? Blender is avaliable from Blender.org (can't post the full address) and Monet is avaliable from the above link. As for video editing software, you'll have to find the solution that serves you best.

[linkanparkfan]

what program was used to make motion capture data?

[Systemoffive]

@linkanparkfan It's generated by the python scripts inside blender based on the image data. The video needs to be edited before use, and overall the process is a bit longwinded, but it works. Download is free, and the manual should give you a decent overview!

[linkanparkfan]

@Systemoffive where can i dowload this script? and what kind of editing do i have to do to the video?

[Systemoffive]

@linkanparkfan The download link for the system is avaliable in the video description. The programme that it uses is the old version of Blender (sorry YouTube won't let me post links) but you'll need Blender 2.49 NOT the latest release (we're working on that). As for editing video: you'll need to export to GIF format - nearly anything can do that, and there's a simple chroma setup bundled in the zip. Good luck!

[omarijackson1234]

@TheLegendaryJai Watch This Video..watch?v=dtUYyc9cXC8

[Detroitfarm]

@linkanparkfan 2.6x there is a tutorial for mocap. Google it. Nice tut

[kyy656]

It´s amazing how the 3d characters can make us speak!!

Soon they will take over the world o_O

[Luka1180]

Just noticed the caption link, I'll use that one :D

[Luka1180]

@Systemoffive Nope, Monet is not avaialble anymore, they removed it seems. Can you upload the version you own yourself for us to download? If you still have the install file I mean :)