FaceShop (and MakeHuman)

[jwalt]

I downloaded FaceShop this morning and have been tinkering with it. I am impressed to this point in time. Any pros or cons to this program?

Two specific question regarding using photos as the basis for the model. If I use an internet photo and managed to get a face that actually looked like the person, are there copyright issues? The second, related question is if I texture the model with the image am I also at risk for copyright issues?

Another question for you experts. Can you clarify the terms shaders and textures? I'm reasonably sure I don't know which is what, or what is who. Appreciate it.

[Andail]

Regarding copyright:
If you just use the photograph as a loose reference, there's no copyright infringement to speak of (virtually impossible to notice, literally impossible to prove).
If you just manipulate it a little, or reproduce it very faithfully so that we're talking a derivative work, you have infringed the copyright, but there's no chance in hell anyone would notice it, much less care. Unless perhaps it's a really unique and famous photo, and it's very obvious that you've stolen it, and you're making lots of money of it. Then maybe you've got a problem.

[xil]

In regards to copyright issues I need only to mention one game...

...The Last Of Us!... wait, is that Ellen Page? No, no, definitely not!

Look it up if you have no idea what I am on about Important thing to note - no copyright issues!

[Eric]

There's also right of likeness to consider.

[jwalt]

This is an example from FaceShop. Actually, it isn't the best one I've gotten today. Something off with the shape.



All would require either texturing or UVMapping, but it still seems pretty slick, to me.

Hopefully, WadjetEye's lawyers won't be contacting me. Took a while to get the animated gif file when I previewed the post. Sorry about that.

[Calin Leafshade]

That's terrifying.

[jwalt]

That's terrifying.

He might be feeling just like that, what with Blackwell 5 in the works.  ;-)

@Eric - That's interesting. Take me a while to look at all the parts.

I actually am getting lost in the "profile" portion of the FaceShop process. It might improve the output I'm getting, if I can figure it out.

Edit: Decided to include the link to the FaceShop website: http://www.abalonellc.com/faceshop-pro.html 
      It is also available from DAZ and integrates into DAZ Studio. I've been using it as a stand alone application.

@Calicoreverie - That was also interesting. Googled it, and spent some time reading a few of them.

[Anian]

I downloaded FaceShop this morning and have been tinkering with it. I am impressed to this point in time. Any pros or cons to this program?

Another question for you experts. Can you clarify the terms shaders and textures? I'm reasonably sure I don't know which is what, or what is who. Appreciate it.

Con - it's $60-80, which is rather high for something to "tinker with". I like MakeHuman, models need some cleaning after export but are textured and prepared for bones.

Textures are, in practical use - pictures, take a digital photo and put it on a 3d object and you've made a textured 3d object. Let's take a picture of a chessboard (so black and white squares). Computer doesn't know it's a chessboard, BUT the fact that it has black and white squares is useful. Same picture can be used in diffrent ways. Some basic texture types in 3d usage:
- diffuse texture - color information, you put a yellow texture on a cube, you'll get a yellow cube
- bump/displace texture - depth information, put a black and white picture on a flat surface and every white surface will increase in height and every black area will indent, gray will stay flat
- normal t. - basic usage is same as bump, but it holds much more information and does a slightly different effect
- specular t. - roughness, you put a white picture on a surface and it will be all shiny if light falls on it (like it's polished), you put a black picture on that same surface and it won't reflect anything
You can use more than one type of texture on the same part of a 3d object (in fact you always do).

Now textures are 2d (they're pictures, right?) but 3d objects are 3d. That's where something called a UV map comes in. If you put a picture on a cube it tells the 3d program where each part of the picture goes on the 3d object. It sort of converts information.

Shaders are small scripts that determine how a rendering engine (which I think DAZ comes with) is drawing/rendering the final image. You know how some new 3d cartoons look sort of like they're actually drawn and not like they're from a video game...well that's a combination of shaders and textures at work. Shaders tell the rendering engine how to treat/process information.

[jwalt]

@Anian - Thank you. Appreciated the information!

Edit:

@Anian - I downloaded MakeHuman and will take it for a spin. It looks interesting. Tons of download buttons on that site, none of them taking you to the program. I eventually found it, but not without acquiring two additional, unwanted pieces of software along the way.

[jwalt]

@Anian - Played with MakeHuman and wish I'd encountered it years ago. Impressive. One thing, in particular, it seems to play exceptionally well with Bryce 7 regarding bringing in a fully textured obj file, although with a few missing things (like hair and bikinis). I also pulled the obj into Anim8or, which was less successful. I believe what I'm seeing in the mesh in Anim8or may be the defects you mentioned that needed to be fixed. I see no such problems in Bryce 7; the mesh looks perfect to my, basically, untrained eye.

Many thanks for mentioning the program!

Edit:

@Calin Leafshade - Anian suggested MakeHuman. I've been playing with it, moving different figures into Bryce 7. Came up with this oddity:



Almost as terrifying as Mr. Gilbert, perhaps? The figure was nude, but I suspect the UVMap got wrapped improperly. Pretty effective, but I couldn't have made it happen if I'd wanted to.

[jwalt]

Edit: After making this post, I began wondering if I might have violated a forum rule regarding sequential posting. I checked, and I am in violation. Looks like Snarky will be contacting me, along with the lawyers for one game developer and several actors, with a few photographers thrown in for variety. Sorry folks. It should not happen again. I'm also changing the image I'd put in this post with a later one along the same lines.

Regarding copyright:
If you just use the photograph as a loose reference, there's no copyright infringement to speak of (virtually impossible to notice, literally impossible to prove).
If you just manipulate it a little, or reproduce it very faithfully so that we're talking a derivative work, you have infringed the copyright, but there's no chance in hell anyone would notice it, much less care. Unless perhaps it's a really unique and famous photo, and it's very obvious that you've stolen it, and you're making lots of money of it. Then maybe you've got a problem.

I don't know. I'm still concerned, particularly after looking at Eric's and calicoreverie's posts. I cobbled this together using both FaceShop and MakeHuman.



Worked, but won't stand up to close inspection. The censoring was an attempt at humor.

In the hands of someone who actually knew what they were doing, seems this stuff would be likely to get a person in trouble.

[Dave Gilbert]

Just saw this. All I can say is...

[kaput]

Sweet mother of mercy. I'd play that game!

[jwalt]

@ Dave Gilbert - I've made several attempts at baby heads with FaceShop. I haven't gotten one I like enough to share. They all look too mature. However, since new parents always go nuts about photos of their kids, I do have a texture map from FaceShop for your kid.

[imgzoom]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o756/jwalt10705/daveKidTexture_zpsb8d14f6d.jpg[/imgzoom]

And looking forward to Epiphany.