Emotive poses and facial expressions needed

Greetings - I thought I'd pose this question here, since so many of you frequently have to shoot scenes with avatars registering emotion.

I'm going to be doing an art gallery show with another artist who has a photographic style very similair to mine. We're great friends, but we're calling this the Evil Nemesis show - the idea is that we'll have display our most-like-each-other photos side by side. Next to each of our pictures will be a cutout of our avatar with a thought balloon over the head - in the thought balloon will be a snarky comment about the other's work. (at the end of the show will be an image of us hugging to demonstrate that we're really friends!) A wee comment on the backbiting and jealousy one too often sees in the art world, you see.

I was thinking of starting with one full-body pose of our avs, then go to head-and shoulders shots - or maybe all full-body shots. I want to shoot the two of us registering things like anger, disdain, disgust, irritation, etc. One way to accomplish this (at least for the facial expressions) would be with Siggy Romulus' "Mood HUD" - but.....I was hoping some of you might have other suggestions to add.

If you know of any resources and/or shops that might help me with this, I'd be grateful.

Hey Douglas, the only methods I'm currently aware of for manipulating avatar facial expression is to either use one of the many emoter HUDS out there as you mentioned (I personally always play with the one that is included with my MystiTool, such a handy lil gadget that Mysti is!) or to create a copy of your av's body shape and then adjust the facial sliders as desired to create a more subtle/natural expression.

If going the shape-altering route, the sliders that I'd play with are the Hair > Eyebrows slider (where you can tweak the arc, height, and pointiness of the eyebrows) as well as the Eyes, Mouth, and Chin sliders under Shape (chin because you could perhaps jut the chin out a bit to create a sour/grumpy facial expression).

As for poses, there are numerous shops you could check out. The ones that immediately come to mind that have group poses are Reel Expression, Long Awkward Pose, and Pochette, although I am quite certain a search on SLEX will yield a lot more than that. I've also got a couple of friends who have been working on creating group poses but I've no idea when they will be releasing those.

Hope that info helps ^^

Thank you kindly. I never thought about manipulating my avi's shape. And I'll try some of those shops!

I was able to find a good couples pose to illustrate that my collaborator and I are really friends, but the stores that Melanie so kindly suggested are more oriented towards regular consumer use than portraying drama.

Searches on SLexchange were pretty much fruitless.

So.....you movie makers out there....if you needed a pose or gesture that communicates anger or disdain for something you're shooting....where would you go to get it? Give with the info, please!

I asked the same question a little while back,

here is the thread.

/278/7c/229692/1.html

I actually did see that thread before I posted Orfeu, but it didn't have quite the info I'm looking for. I think I'm fairly well covered for the facial expressions with Siggy Romulus' Mood HUD, since subtlety isn't desired here.....but I'm still looking the full-body poses of anger, etc.

Hey Douglas!

You know the strange thing is I'm pretty much having the same trouble myself. In the past, the films that I've done, I could get away with not much dialogue. However the next project I'm embarking on, I pretty much NEED to have them speak and express emotion.

There's this software that I've known for a while but have never brought called Crazy Talk. It's on my shopping list once payday arrives. Take a peek at that.

Let me know if you manage to find something that works

good luck

Ah.......one thought did occur to me.

John Durant has a good argument set.........angry expressions...pushing each other.........one slaps the other etc etc.

This might fit the bill. you can see how I used it in a machinima here.......

http://blip.tv/file/548112/

It is used at the end.

I hope this helps.

Hi Douglas, check out 'disagreeing' from Christiano Midnight.

I got it at the animation wearhouse.
viv

Ah, wonderful! I'll look into these options. I was about at the point of hiring a friend-of-a-friend to make a custom pose or two for me, but as I was sure such things existed already, that option seemed like overkill.

Douglas "wondering why no one uses Avid around here" Story

Thank you muchly, all! I hit the jackpot a Johan Durant's store with the argument animation, and the mood HUD as well. The Cristiano Midnight disagreement anim will also get used.

My thanks to the community.