Animation test:

I wanted to see the effect of IBL on dynamic hair
at a distance (not a close-up, as I usually work.)
And to learn settings that yield good lighting and shadows.

Clip: Quicktime, 1.4 MB, click here to download.

Model: Miki
Face: Myself, morphed with Colm's morphs. Her name is Amaya
Outfit: Miki came dressed that way!
Texture: Default Miki but significantly tweaked by myself
Skin: Poser6Realism Kit by face_off
Hair: Kate Hair dynamic
Size: 640x460
Frames: 120
Frame rate: 30
Animation: Hand key
Lights:
1 IBL "Sun RIght", not casting shadows or AO, 77%
1 Spot, Casting shadows map size 256, blur 10, bias .03
Engine: Firefly, pixel samples 5, min shading rate .84
Hardware: AMD 3500+, 4GIG, XPPro, NVIDIA GeForce 5600 256 MB

Render time: 296 seconds per frame.

This is just a study, not to be considered a finished work.
Constructive comments and suggestions welcome.

::::: Opera :::::

Message edited on: 02/18/2006 19:55

lookin' good. would you need to cut down the shading rate to .2 or something to get the texture to show? I can't actually tell she has any skin texture, as it just looks like monocolour skin on my monitor.

Is there a way to increase the hair's stiffness?

Miss nancy, I forgot to supply a little context...this is an outdoor shot and the sun is washing out the color a little. Since I did not include the background, there is no visual clue for that.

Second, she has very pale white skin. I don't think the default Miki texture is very realistic, far too red, not to mention the "red tinge" to the skulcap. I altered the texture to tone down the red. Amaya has that "poreclain" skin so often described and sometimes seen in Asian people.

I may have to jack up the settings on the Skin Shaders, as well. I am so used to the settings up close that I probably have under-set them for granite displacement and noise. Do others think this is un-realistic? Here is a closeup, but with indoor lighting and strong shadows:

::::: Opera :::::

Yes, the hair could be made more stiff. I assume you ask because it appears to flightly and slow to react? Others opinions as well? ::::: Opera :::::

Yes, that's why I asked. The flickering shadows were kinda disturbing too, but those can be easily fixed so I didn't mention them :p

On the video, I think the hair looks acceptable in it's movement, although it doesn't seem like it should be moving quite as much. As mentioned, needs a bit more stiffness. The hop is ok, but the landing is too floaty. You need to add some more "gravity" effects to the landing. Even though it's a short hop, I would expect her head to move a little more on the landing, and for some reason, it just doesn't look solid. Shouldn't take more than a few more tweaks to some keyframes to get right.

Her skin. The skin looks good, but somewhat plastic. Not so much in the video, but that close-up still image you posted looks like a plastic doll rather than organic human. The lack of shading depth inside the nostrils, and around the eyes seem to give it an unrealistic quality. I also feel the eyes should have more intense specular properties. They don't look wet.

Message edited on: 02/19/2006 20:19

I think the hair looks awesome in the animation! Looks really realistic. The still image I agree doesn't look realistic to me either. I think it's the shadows.

I am taking in the comments and will be rendering a new animation with a few changes. Jimbo, what is unrealistic about the shadows? ::::: Opera :::::

I looked at it long and hard, and I really think the shadows in that still image are makin the skin look dirty. There are no shadows in areas where you'd expect it like the inside that left nostril, which should be darker than the outside of the nose, but it isn't. Then there are shadows on the left cheek that really aren't accurate to me, it just makes the cheek look like it has dirt or something on it rather than a smooth shadow effect. This is something I've always struggled with in poser when using shadow maps too, so it's not really suprising. I think the eyes do need some work too. I love the refraction effect on the iris, which is realistic, but the eyewhites are way too shadowy I think, and there's some funny reflections happening there it seems. Look at the right eye in the inside corner where the lacrimal is. The eyewhite there seems to be reflecting her skin like a mirror. Real eyewhites are not really THAT reflective. The darker pupils and iris should reflect more than the eyewhites at certain angles. Unless that's some other strange effect making it look like a reflection. Everything else, like the shadows on the right side of the face and under the chin, and the skin itself in the lit areas looks good. When I say Right and Left sides, I'm talking about our right and left as the viewer, not the character's own right and left. If you get my meaning.

I really like the way the hair looks in this animation, better than most of your previous attempts. The sheen, color, and movement are all coming together now. Some more dampening of the dynamics and I think you got it! Good work.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if it's realism you're going for here, then I think you missed the mark somewhat. The motion of the arms raising up at the end of the animation kills it's fluidity for me. It's like her arms are filled with helium. The hair looks fantastic though! As for the still image you posted, it looks OK, but still not very realistic. The eyes look like glass, and the skin doesn't look soft like most asian women I've seen. Young asian women have the softest skin. Also, it looks like the bump map for the eyebrows is facing inwards, instead of out. Hope that wasn't too critical for you. Just trying to help.

Overall, good movement. Hair looks great. Two details, At least one eye blink and the hands are static. Move the thumbs and fingers with some very small movement. The floating up of the arms looks contrive with out it.

Dale

The thumbs do move at the end. I am suprised people find her residual arm raise unconvincing. I am still taking in all comments and also working on repost animation, although other projects are delaying me. While I think the hair is not too loose, I am looking into a certain tightening. Of interest: if you set "position force" too tight, when there is a stop, the hair model 'magically' attempts to return to it's original position, despite inertia and gravity. Therefore, that control, which has been my main stablizer, has to be dialed back and tempered with 'root stiffness' and other controls. More on this later. Thank you for all comments. ::::: Opera :::::

I just think that someone would spread their hands as to be holding an imaginary object holding them selfs up. Remember, all comments are other's opinions. It's you animation and you have the final say. Dale

I just think it doesn't look right. I can't say exactly why, but something in my head is telling me it's not natural looking. Maybe it's the stiffness in all the other body parts, I don't know. She moves them up too slow or something. Same thing when she lands on her foot after jumping the air, her head is perfectly straight and never moves. Wouldn't gravity force her head to at least bob a little on impact? We're being picky, but maybe some of this will help you perfect the motion?

I've already fixed the landing issues, will consider the issue of the hands. Maybe I'll give them a gesture, or perhaps freeze them similar to other body parts. I hope to repost animation by the end of this weekend. :: og ::