More info about HL2 morphing characters?

[chuawenching]

Hi there,

I saw the preview (trailer) of HL2.

At the start there is 1 person with a very realistic characters...

it means the engine can actually help to morph any 3d characters with codes? The human muscles, how the person talk... etc, etc, etc

or what.. or those must be done in 3d packages rather than engine...

Hmm.. i am confuse...

Any tips?

Thanks.

Regards,
Chua Wen Ching

 

[fez]

valve created the technology to make the lip synching and facial expressions, as they have done with animation blending which was added to CS and other HL mods.

dont quote me on that tho

 

[chuawenching]

You mean i can do all those within half life 2.. without any 3d packages?

if yes, wow.. that is amazing!

I saw the lip sync. and it can speak chinese too...

Valve programmers are really superb!

Thanks.

Regards,
Chua Wen Ching

 

[fez]

included in the beta is a program where u can open up models and play with the body and facial expressions

 

[PvtRyan]

HL2 will feature a program called Face Poser which you can use to change facial expressions by changing the sliders for all 40 mucles in the face.

 

[chuawenching]

Wow.. amazing!

But i don't think when i buy the game, it comes with it right?

 

[freddythefrog]

Yes it does... You buy the game and get all the tools you need directly with it.

 

[chuawenching]

Wow.. thanks...

I never test the beta, can i know what i would expect for the tools? What are the tools and around how many?

Thanks.

 

[poseyjmac]

theres faceposer, model animation editor, map editor so far.

you can mix model animation with facial animation, basically making any kind of choreography you want.

..or so ive heard

 

[chuawenching]

woah.. the map editor is hammer?

Coz in half life2, there are outdoor too! not only bsp..

oh ya, in half life what 3d model format they using? Any new format?

Thanks.

 

[poseyjmac]

i dont know anything about the format, but im sure you can import from the popular rendering programs.

the map editor is hammer. and i have never actually used it, but in unrealed(map editor for ut2k3 + ravenshield etc) there is a terrain tool for making terrain maps. so you make your buildings out of BSP, then add a terrain map and smooth it out around your buildings. i bet thats how itll be in hl2

 

[chuawenching]

I see.. ok.. i think hammer 3.4 and hammer 3.5 are the same.. only each serve different game versions..

Thanks.

Just wonder, isn't bsp gonna obsolete, why not hl2 do portal rather than bsp!

i heard the next coming quake will be base on portal.. i think so! Not that sure!

 

[quaint]

due to the large worlds, i think HL relies more on PVS..but not sure!
do they still use BSP for rendering?

 

[chuawenching]

PVS? what is PVS?

I think hl2 use bsp.. right? Correct me if i am wrong!

 

[quaint]

Potentially visible set..means during map generation
all possible visible polygons within..say a room is calculated..so those that are hidden will not be taken into account
im not sure about that portal thing, maybe its related?

as for BSP, since we have Z buffer..it's less important? Maybe its still more efficient to have them, or for other purposes such as collision detection

 

[6iXx]

Well in the beta, all the map names end with .bsp

 

[quaint]

i think most current games uses both PVS & BSP
im not sure about DOOM 3..the engine looks beyond current technologies! (that includes HL2)

 

[chuawenching]

hmm ok.. i heard of terrain paging where you page a certain area ... and the performance is increase...

 

[chuawenching]

well if all the map are in bsp.. probably it is bsp...

and based on hammer tool, I can convert map -> bsp!

 

[quaint]

i guess its bsp...but maybe the inside the .bsp itself contains more than just that?

 

[chuawenching]

hmm.. i dont think so..

bsp and portal are different....

Hmm.. nevermind..i went off topic!

Thanks everyone.

 

[GJaaGular]

Originally posted by fez
included in the beta is a program where u can open up models and play with the body and facial expressions

IT muzt be baaaaned it brooke zee rulez it must beee Zed...now or itz toootal Reeecall.

 

[jat]

Ok... this is the following things that u need and what u will havev to do if ur making a new character and u want him or her to show emotions..

1, model him in a 3d package, i dont think hammer lets u model characters there
2. Skin him
3. Add bones
4. now move the goemetry on the characters face so he looks sad/. angry/ smiling etc. Keyframe each one on the timeline.
Now u export this to poser, and then all u do is morph between the keyframes and it will give the appearance of a person talking etc.

Thats about it, i watched the xsi vid showing alyx a long long time ago.

And another thing, hammer will be updated like mad and i belive u cant model ur characters in it but u possibly could animate them there.....thats a speculation.

 

[chuawenching]

Well hammer is a map editor..u place entities in there.. like where is the player start position and 3d objects...

well i don't think you can model anything in there.. well that is what i know.. correct me if i am wrong!

Thanks.