bitmap swapping with erc plugin
createo
Posts: 15
Hello community,
I'm looking for information on a concrete case: using bitmap facial expressions on a character's head.
To use a "list" of bitmap, I understand that you have to use the ERC plugin.
Does anyone know the procedure to create a bitmap "swap" driven by ERC?
I'm also looking for how one bone can drive another as a percentage and not as a fixed value?
Carrara still has a lot of resources and I want to make it known through tutorials regularly posted, even if there are not many.
If I manage to master the technique of piloting with ERC, I will make tutorials of it.
It is a technique widely used in other 3D software but which is not very developed with Carrara.
Thanks in advance !
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Comments
Is this plugin still available?
ERC Modifier - https://carraracafe.com/fenrics-plugins-now-free/
plugin link goes to a non existant DAZ page
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/380916/fenric-s-plugins/p1
I don't think ERC is a fenric plugin, it was a DAZ plugin
Fenric made it for Faba
who made this awesome frog prince animation
It's not included in the last link you gave, unles it's called something different.
Wendy, I had never seen this awesome video. Many thanks for posting!
https://carraracafe.com/download/8967/
Here the direct download link to Fenric´s entire Plugin- Collection.
Oh great! Thanks rk!
I don't know about swapping images, maybe someone knows a method but I was able to use 2 sliders and the UV Transform Operator in the Texture Room (Operator > UV Transform).
You'll need to make a sprite sheet of the various expressions. In my example my image is 2048 x 2048 and has 16 "cells", each one would be a 512 x 512 - you may need higher resoultion, but you get the idea. We're going to use the sliders and set them to use the 'X Offset' and 'Y Offset' of the UV Operator to move that cell around.
The values for the 'X Offset' slider should be Min = 0 and Max = -1.00
The values for the 'Y Offset' slider should be Min = 0 and Max = 1.00
Click the 'Set' button to choose the X and Y Offsets
So if I want to move that 'cell' around the sprite sheet across the 'X' axis I would use -.250, -.500 and -.750, and along the 'Y' axis .250, .500 and .750. Be sure to set your tweeners to Discrete or the 'cell' will slide around the image rather than snap to to where you want it.
Hope that sort of makes sense.
Here are some pictures to help illustrate.
Edited to correct sprite sheet and cell size, apparently I can't even do basic math.
the other obvious way is an image series, can render a 2D video of the visemes, expresions you want with tweening that way to put in the various slots, Normal maps, displacement etc
I have actually done this with a video of my face in a diffuse channel of a model UV mapped to my video
sad but I think it was more related to the plugin developer than dropping Carrara support as Mimic Live for DAZ studio also was pulled.
it was an underated piece of kit as could do far more than just lipsync, it was a great way to link NLA clips to events
for the lipsync aspect, the 32bit one in the Carrara plugin called DAZ studio will still import as saved animated duf poses so that can be used for character dialogue
Is this for animation?
one method could be to use a nested shader with a series if operators set at mixer and swap them in and and out that way
shoestring shaders come to mind Supermixer Complex, MultiPass Manager and MultiPass Control. Nb havent tried them myself
Dartanbeck has a page on them
https://www.dartanbeck.com/carrara-zone/carrara-info/carrara-plugins/digital-carvers-guild