Hello,
what do you think is the best way to "model" or shape a face in poser using the available face-morphs? Would you import the Photo as a background image and put the Vicki, Michael or Stepahnie Face next to it? Is a photo in black or white or a colored one better fot this process? Which document-style-setting do you consider being the best for it? Or is it a good idea using wire-frames and put the face over the photo? Which camera- and lighting-setting did you consider to be most useful? Do you use textured rendering to compare the face you are shaping to the photo?
I am really curious about your experiences :)

Message edited on: 12/27/2004 06:30

In P4, I did one of a young Henry XIII using any available pictures I could find. However, I made sure those pictures were sized exactly the same (eyes & mouth) using a paint program. Then, I tried to get the figure to overlap exactly using the Outline function and a camera that fit that angle. I would switch back & forth between cameras and Outline (cntl+2)/Full render (cntl+9) to ensure the face followed the contours as closely as possible. The model initially had NO texture. I wanted the shape to be realistic without coloring first. Then I found a texture that was relatively close (from PoserStyle).

Hi TygerCub,

That is just an absolutely EXCELLENT job !!!

Dr. Geep gives you an A+ for your mini-tut on realistic texturing ... AND ... even just using P4 ... very impressive.

Add the chin whiskers and ... ... ... By jove, I think you've got it !

Holiday cheers,
from dr geep
;=]

Wow that looks awesome. I had done a V2 Mona Lisa awhile back myself. Fun stuff. Isn't it amazing, when we copy a real person, all the Mike characters look so similar when the real person looks so unique.

He is not fat enough henry VIII (he wasn`t the thirteenth) was fatter.

Message edited on: 12/27/2004 09:57

For me, it depends if I'm going for a close match, or using someone as inspiration. For inspiration, I'll set up a image in fourths with front, side, 3/4 view, and a blank spot to put the character while I'm working. Then I'll load up that image as a background, move the camera so that the character is in the blank spot I left, and start playing with morphs, eyeballing a match.

If I'm going for a close match, I make two square graphics, one of the front view and one of the side. I also usually make a background image with a 3/4 view in the upper left corner to check against. In Poser, I load up two square props, rotate one 90 degrees, and apply my front view to the front-facing square and my side view to the other. Then I scale and move the rotated square around until the features on the side view are the same size and in the same location as the front view. When I've got them matched, I parent the rotated square to the front square. Load the character, switch to the front camera, set the character in wireframe, and move the squares up to the head. I then adjust the scale of the front square so that the head width is approximately the same as the characters. When I've got that, I move the square so that the top of the characters head is level with the top of the head on my square. (Head length, nose and mouth height, eye location, most of that can be adjusted with morphs, but there aren't a lot of options for head width or cranium size/shape.) By scaling the front square, the side square scales along with it (because it's parented). I switch to the right or left camera, get close to the head, and move the square set until it's in a good position to morph from. (Usually the back of the picture head even with the back of the characters head. Again, usually there aren't many morphs to affect the cranium size or shape, but the face can be moved in or out.)

Once I'm set up there, I start morphing, switching the character between a solid preview and wireframe and trying to match the mesh to my reference pics. I stay using the front and side cameras at first. Switch between them frequently; often an adjustment in one view will alter the other. Every once in a while I switch to the face camera and compare a 3/4 view to the one I put in the background. Every once in a while the front and side views will look very close, and the 3/4 won't look anything like the person.

I personally like the gray-scale my reference images so I'm not distracted by the color variations, but that's just my personal preference.

Something TygerCub does which is sooo important, is the 3/4 view. Front and side views cannot capture the subtle proportions of the 3/4 view shown above. The more angles you have, the better.

(LoL) xantor's right! I should have typed Henry the 8th instead of trying to use those silly Roman numbers. But I did, indeed, want him to be a thinner version of the king. It was supposed to be Henry when he was in his early 20's, at the prime of his fighting trim, not the older, more padded Henry we all recognize from portraits. That being said, though, looking at it again I can see his eyebrows should be higher and rounder... gonna have to fix that eventually.

How did you actually make the face, was it morph, or magnets, or a combination of both?

I have to say -- great job!

And, yes -- Henry VIII was a formidable young king. Both physically and mentally.

Throughout his lifetime, he never lost his political savvy. Anyone that challenged him or displeased him, he destroyed. Including his wives.

Nice guy.

Excellent likeness.

I split my workroom and have 3 viewpanes open at once... usually with a white figure, so there is no distraction and I can get a feel for the bones under the surface. This was just for fun, while testing a package. I don't do celebrity faces (an expert, or someone making a serious recreation, could have gotten closer). Poser 5 can split morphs, so a person who wants to finesse features can slightly lift one eye or lengthen one side of the chin. Carolly

That one is very good it looks like nefertiti with her hat on. Nefertiti the mother of tutankhamun not some exotic dancer. :)

THank you very much everyone :) !

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1711485

That is from the linked post. It was done as a joke, but I later found a real helmet for her. :) I should also mention using 3 white lights, symmetrical with one dead center, so that you can tell if a feature is crooked or if the shadow is falling wrong. (Some of the morphs were to tilt the nose one way or the other, etc., because real people seldom have perfect faces.) Also post 9 in this thread talks about working from the outside in (why have a perfectly shaped ear only to destroy it when moving the cheekbones?): http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1757804 This thread had a couple more shots of heads-in-progress with the 3-pane system: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1732466

Sorry for the long delay in replying, I just returned from a LOOOOnnng holiday trip (14 hrs in a compact car with no cruise control). To shape the face, I used the basic morphs that are available in the Mike2 model. I will have to customize some morphs for the eyebrows, though in Anim8or. Whew! Now off to peruse 174 e-mails waiting in my "In box" now that I'm finally home!

If you are only changing the eyebrows a small amount you could use magnets to get the shape and then spawn a morph target.

Great idea

If you spawn a morph target after using magnets this way it means you can delete the magnets which tend to get in the way anyway. Another advantage is you get a morph version of your henry viii head.