Taking a small break away from writing episode guides and back to Toms body. Scanned this this weekend. Needs a clean up, but that’s the easy part

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Monroe Face Capture test from Craig Crane on Vimeo.

A longer video about the face capture process and system from Optitrack

Was a late night last night.

As soon as I finished the day job, I set up the Mocap volume for Face Capture, and set about getting data for Tom Stones tests….

This is just a clip from a much longer video about the process. Hope to upload the whole piece at the weekend…

A small tease of a video that should come later that will show the entire face cap procedure…

Latest Look Dev on the TS head

I think I can leave this as is for a while. Further tweaks will probably come after he has been rigged

It will be great to finally see these two in the same render!

Happy with the hair, now playing with the shader a little. But I am already liking where this is going.
the calibration on my monitor was in need of a long overdue revision, and I am amazed at how far out I was…. And it has of course impacted the work immensely. Just trying to see if Sub Surface scattering of light will be worth the render times or not

Tom Stone now has some nice CG flocking!

Whoops!

Ahhh, thats better!

Im liking the little greyness around the hair line. I was tempted to give him a shock of grey, but im saving that for someone else

Spent today rebuilding the previous version.

here he is now with a small pose. Need to do the uvs, proper shaders, inside mouth and the all important hair. Then I rig for facial animation AND mocap and away we go!

he is looking a little “young” and fresh faced at the moment. Even boyish.. but once done will be a lot grittier!

Tom Stone head rebuild from scan to Low Poly from Craig Crane on Vimeo.

Due to the small nature of the room I am working in, its been hard moving around and also the paintwork in the room creates a few highlights on the I.R tracking of the cameras and I have decided to get some black felt for the room to give me 100% control over the room. So, found some on ebay and should be here in the week in time for next Saturday

as you can see, size is cramped. Its not the best space to do this in, but its convenient

Its a shame, but I had to slide the camera i.r intensity so far down, they were barely on and I think that would cause me a problem if I decided to marker up and shoot. Its easier to address the physical restrictions in the week, and then maximize the tech capabilities as a result, instead of working with a compromise…

What a week…..! Week two on john Carter, and cameras rolled yesterday for the first time as planned. However, watertight NDA’s and sheer proffessionalism prevent me from saying anything else about the project.

But you know what, we have cameras rolling this weekend as well. P-P style. I set up 12 cameras for a face capture session tomorrow, and will be lip syncing to the Thunderous tones of my Tom Stone actor…… Now, it would be unfair to throw his name in here and then leave it at that. So, I plan to announce who is Tom Stone around about the same time that I show you a video of how tomorrow went, as well as a walkthrough the process. Then I can explain to anyone following the project just who has provided the thunderous yet silky tones of Stone!

The next time I do a TS test, I plan to get actor and voice all at the same time, so I dont have to mime to his audio. Trust me, his voice and my face do not look like they belong to each other Hopefully in the mean time, we can get a little head shot of him and a rendered Tom stone (just like the recent Lewis image) and of course that takes us all a step closer.

Anyway, the audio for the test has been recorded, cut, edited and sounds mighty fine. Its an abridged version of a scene from the screenplay where TS tries to get through to a somewhat distracted Lewis. It works as a standalone as well, but maybe thats because I know its context. To the viewer of the test, it may not be so clear. The next test, and one for the pitch will be a lot more concise and give the viewer a much better idea of things. Needless to say, my actor nailed it, and its great as I see him slowly start to take ownership of this character and wear it like a 2nd skin…

Of course, there are so many steps… but tomorrow though will feel like a hurdle overcome!

With Giz in Chichester also playing about with some fab musical themes and really embracing a lot of the themes I have mentioned in earlier posts, this really is starting to feel like its a living breathing entity…. Dam!    I forgot to add the Soundtrack to Who Dares Wins to his long list of things to listen to… *mental note to myself to find it and get him some ref…*

Who Dares Wins….. Its not just a motto, it lies at the very heart of Project-Palitoy! There is some daring & winning talent already attached, some waiting in the wings… watching with interest and more as yet undiscovered possibilies and delights waiting to be discovered. My Tom Stone actor being one of the most recent delights to jump on board….. so hears to seeing whats to come