Changing Facial Expressions

[Th3Dvde]

Hello, I am a newbie regarding AAF and I hope someone can help me out.

 

 

I know the facial expressions are somehow baked into the animation sets, but is it still possible to alter them at least a little bit?

I have heard that you can change them via an XML-file, but i cannot find any expression-file in my AAF folder. Moreover, would it be possible with expression mods like Face Poser to adjust the Expressions during scenes?

I really like the framework and how it works, but the fact that you cant alter the emotions kills a bit the immersion, since they sometimes look really weird.

 

Moreover, is it possible to start a scene without undressing?

 

I would be very happy if someone can answer my questions!

Thanks in advance!

[Solissix]

The short answer to most of your questions is yes, however, the facial expression functions seem to be pretty hit or miss as to whether they will work properly or not. I can't comment on Face Poser as I've never used it before. The Undressing/Not Undressing is very doable; depending on your skill level and free time, you could set up custom equipment lists for every position/animation you have installed.

 

The long answer is that most everything you want to do will require extensive xml edits and in the case of expressions, creating the required xml from scratch, and then calling it from the position and or condition you want it to be used from. If you haven't already, you should check out AAF's dedicated wiki page. It has all the documentation you need to get started and then some. Make sure to back up the originals before making any edits, one miss placed comma, quotation, or bracket can make the entire xml unusable. 

 

Link to the wiki if you don't feel like searching for it.

https://bitbucket.org/dagobaking/aaf-framework/wiki/Home

 

 

[Th3Dvde]

Thanks for the reply, i will try playing around with the XML-files a bit.

But regarding the expressions, are there also any presets around? Perhaps some which reduce the intensity of the expressions a bit?

[Th3Dvde]

Can someone explay me, where exactly I can edit the expressions? I dont find any clues in which XML-file the settings are located.

For example, if I want to change the facial expressions on the Leito animations, which file do I have to open up to change them?

 

Thanks in advance!

[kziitd]

There are two types of content related to human expressions.

One is based on the tri deformation of each part of the face.

The other is fixed emotion type animation.

These two types are superimposed in the game. You can understand that the difference between a person's angry conversation and a happy conversation is the superimposed effect of emotional animation and facial tri deformation.

I think what you want to change is the second kind, namely emotional animation.

When animations are made, they are written into the animation timeline in the form of Annotations, which cannot be changed directly.

You can use the hkxpack tool to convert the hkx file into an xml file, and then view and edit whether the content of Annotations in it contains emotional animation, such as FaceEmotion.AnimFaceArchetyXXXX.

Then convert the hkx file again.

XXXX refers to various emotional ids, such as Afraid, Friendly, Nervous, Happy, etc. You can know all the names through Google. The tool hkxpack can also be searched.

[Th3Dvde]

Ah, I didnt know that I have to edit the animation files directly, I first looked into the AAF folder with the XML-files.

 

Thanks!