Hello all,

I am trying to create faces with specific looks or from a front and side shot. However, I am finding adjusting the red lines and the green dots (I have Poser 8) very frustrating. I just can't seem to get the lines to match up and fit the face without a lot of distortion.

Is there a really good tutorial and/or tip(s) someone can give me to take more of the pain out and get more of the gain in? I mean, I see all sorts of beautiful faces created in Poser so I know it can be done.

Thanks for any advice and direction.

Michael

I haven't used the Face Room in ages (it only supports figures I don't really use, for one thing), but you should be aware that very few of the "all sorts of beautiful faces created in Poser" that you're seeing had anything done to them in the Face Room. Most of that is accomplished either by sculpting in a modelling app, using morphs (e.g. Morphs++ for the DAZ figures), and in some cases the Morph Brush and/or magnets in the Pose room.

Amen, Amen, and Amen! I think one will spend time far more wisely mastering magnets than piddling in the faceroom. Perhaps I'm an idiot, but my answer to everything I can't do with a morph is to create a magnet, adjust it, and then spawn a morph and delete the magnet. It's a very powerful technique if you're like me and too dumb to learn a modeling app.

Thanks for the feedback basicwiz and Believable3D. I'll take that to heart and use them.

Where can I find any tutorials and tips on how to use magnets? I'm slightly familiar with them, and of course, practicing I know is the only true way, but some tips and tutorials would help, especially in dealing with faces.

And another question:

If you guys don't use the face room, how do you, or do you, use photos to create 3D alternative characters from a photo of someone?

Michael

There is no simple way to go from a photo to a Poser character. All of the programs that claim to do so are less than successful, putting it kindly.

There is no "Make Art" button that I've found.

That said. My avatar (to the left) is me as a young man.

I created it by the simple expedient of calling up a picture of myself at that age and a copy of M4 in Poser 8.

The first thing I looked for was a hairstyle that looked like mine. When I did, I loaded it, and used magnets to do the shaping that the morphs would not... specifically, the front left and right of the crown, which have been narrowed a great deal. I then converted those changes to morphs via the "Spawn Morph" command, and deleted the magnets.

Next, I looked for a skin texture like my own. I have about 3 dozen male characters in my collection, so that wasn't that hard. I did add some body hair to the texture (which was bare chested and bare limbed) via Jepe's  M4 hairy and blender nodes. There is a tutorial posted here lkendall on how to do that.

Next, I started at the upper left corner and began spinning morph dials until the eyebrows were shaped and positioned like mine relative to the hairline. I also began adjusting the shape of the face at this stage, worry ONLY about the eyebrow area.

Next, I moved down to the eyes. I adjusted the shape, angle, details, comparing the photograph to the results in the Poser scene.

It went that way through the whole of the face. 

When I was done, I got another photo taken from the side, and turned the Poser scene 90 degrees. There were some touchups needed there, but again, go top to bottom, left to right, looking at one detail at a time.

It took about three months of working on him, putting him aside, and coming back to him to get it perfect, but it is. This picture is very convincing and instantly recognizable by members of my family and friends who knew me then.

Hope this helps.

 BTW... you DO have the morphpacks installed for the characters... right? This is FAR easier than using magnets to do everything. If you don't have the morph packs... spend the money now. They are worth it in every way I can think of.

Here is a good tutorial on magnets:

http://my.smithmicro.com/tutorials/1113.html

I'll also be glad to help you on any specific questions you have. It's one of the few facets of Poser that I'm pretty good at.

Thanks, for the offer. I'm sure I'll take you up on it if/when I run into problems with magnets. I'll give it a try anyhow, but that being said, I believe I have a lot of morphpacks. If by morphpacks you mean the bunch of executable files that have file names such as: 7376_12_ca_V4EliteTextureLana.exe and 7376_15_dpc_V4EliteTextureLana.exe, etc, yes I have them.

So if it Far easier than magnets, why do you use magnets? Just curious.

 The one you need for V4 is: ps_pe070_V4Morphs available at [http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/victoria-4-2?item=4787&spmeta=rq&_m=d

There are some things the morphs won't do, so the magnets are used for those cases.
](http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/victoria-4-2?item=4787&spmeta=rq&_m=d)

Does that morph package also work for male models and other female models?

 BTW... after you install the morphs, you have to load them into the character before you'll see the dials over in the adjustment window.

Go to to Pose Library, choose "Daz's Victoria 4." Under that, choose "INJ Morphs++V4." Also, if you haven't done it already inject "INJ Base V4"

Once you've done this, save a new copy of V4 to your figures library, calling it "V4 - All Morphs." This saves you having to do this in the future. You just load that instead of the V4 that's in her folder now.

After that, you can select either BODY or HEAD and make changes to your heart's content!

Quote - Does that morph package also work for male models and other female models?

No. Each model has a separate morph pack, specific to their body shape and proportions. You must buy the pack for each base model, like M4, M3, V4, V3 etc.

Although recreating a 3D facial model from photographs is time consuming and exhaustive, it is very achievable  in Poser.  You need all your morph packs installed if you decide to spin dials.  Or familiarity with a good modelling program to create the necessary morph targets.  I have come to the conclusion that facial expression and mannerism is just as, or even more, important as the features alone.  They convey a better personal characteristic than a straight rendered look-alike. 

 You are, of course, correct for the final renders. But the underlying morph must be accurate first. The expressions are a whole nother level of complexity, because no two people actually smile quite alike, for example.

Quote - Hello all,

I am trying to create faces with specific looks or from a front and side shot. However, I am finding adjusting the red lines and the green dots (I have Poser 8) very frustrating. I just can't seem to get the lines to match up and fit the face without a lot of distortion.

Is there a really good tutorial and/or tip(s) someone can give me to take more of the pain out and get more of the gain in? I mean, I see all sorts of beautiful faces created in Poser so I know it can be done.

Thanks for any advice and direction.

Michael

Try turning the caricature dial  to the negative range. It's the very top dial on the Face Shaping Tool. Some of the included figures work better in the Face Room than others. The P5 Don and Judy are probably still the most compatible and easyist to work with. It is certainly doable, have a look at my gallery, just because some people in this thread have no skillz and say give up. :O)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have to experiment with each to see
which way I prefer.

Is there a way to purchase the Michael 4 Morphs++ at a cheaper price? I see there are three different options starting from $29.99 going to $99.99.  I just go laid off a few weeks ago so am looking to save some pennies.

Thanks.

Michael

If you're going to buy any amount of things at DAZ, you'll probably want to be a Platinum member there, at least for a few months until you've bought the things you need. (With Platinum membership, for example, M4's Morphs++ are 20.97... that kind of thing can add up in a hurry.)