Brow rigger script

Krzym · May 28, 2019, 1:54pm

Hi there!
While trying to implement mGear to my daily studio workflow I did a test script - mostly because I needed brow rigger - and wanted to understand some built-in functions.
It’s based on lips/eye rigger thing, but still, it took me a while and it was a good lesson I think.
I will test this thing a bit with a few upcoming projects and probably it would be re-written at some point, but the goal was to add a tool in pair with other rigbits scripts.

Things that do not work for sure:

Z axis calc is not implemented, I will need to work on up vectors and will try to add starting axis vector so that it could be used in all directions.
Autoskinning -> didn’t have time to figure it out, as I almost never use it anyway. But will try to add.

Things to do:

Optimize a few things
Add joint count limits
Test with post scripts workflow

Here’s a little preview:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtp2lllt5pfh4p4/rigTest.mp4

Files:

I would appreciate any feedback and tests. As animator first, I would say it’s my first Maya script ever ( longer than 100lines ), so it might be incorrect or weird sometimes, so any notes on the code are priceless
Thanks in advance and hope it could be useful for someone!

Cheers,
Krzysztof

chrislesage · May 28, 2019, 2:04pm

Really cool! Thanks for sharing this. I just had a quick look at your video so far, but I’ll see if I can test it out in the next week.

One thing I wanted to point out is that there were recently some changes to the eyes and lips rigging scripts by Toke_Stuart_Jepsen. He changed the interface a little bit.

One very useful thing he added was the ability to import the JSON config files into the GUI.

Those developments are inside a new module called facial_rigger. It might interest you to check out the differences. https://github.com/mgear-dev/rigbits/tree/master/scripts/mgear/rigbits/facial_rigger

Krzym · May 28, 2019, 2:11pm

Oh thank you, I’ve seen some posts that you’re adding some updates but I couldn’t find that
I will take a look for sure, and after some tests I’m going to add some final touches so for sure will implement those changes and prepare it for data centric workflow to.

Miquel · May 28, 2019, 2:19pm

Hi @Krzym Really cool indeed! Just watched the video and I will try to check the Code ASAP.

As @chrislesage commented will be some changes on the facial rig in the new release. Take a look. Probably you will find interesting the new updates

thanks for sharing it and please keep it coming

Krzym · May 29, 2019, 10:17am

Thanks! I’m looking forward to know your feedback, mGear is super powerfull and we’ve switched just for it and it’s working very well. I’ll try next month to prepare and fix all my post scripts to share.

I’ve seen changes to rigbits and it’s cool, will implement that next version. It seems more organized now.

Benn · June 2, 2019, 8:03am

Hey,
How do you load this?

Ross_Daniel · June 2, 2019, 10:49am

Yeah I second that question. Some of us are not TDs. we need assistance on some elementary stuff as it pertains to code.

Krzym · June 2, 2019, 12:18pm

Hey Benn, Hey Ross
Im out of the office, but will check it and send you instructions today evening

Cheers!

Benn · June 2, 2019, 2:13pm

Virtual high five!!

Thanks matey.

Krzym · June 2, 2019, 5:39pm

Ok, so firstly, please download all the file and put it into mgear folder (it should be in the same folder as core, rigbits etc.) I’ve changed the file names to keep it consistent with future updates, so just in case, please re-download it again.

Then to run, use that python code:
from mgear.custom import brow_rigger
brow_rigger.showBrowRigUI()

In the next 3-4 weeks I’ll put some updates on this, but for now I’ve seen that you need to select the controls in order to work correctly. So even if you don;t need a control, please put a joint there.
There are multiple options to choose, but you can see that on the video.

Any feedback appreciated!
Cheers

Benn · June 2, 2019, 6:19pm

Awesome thanks Krzysm.

Looking forward to giving this a go!

By any chance have you had a go at hooking up a face gui ?

B.

Krzym · June 3, 2019, 1:11pm

No sorry. I’ve some issues with the built-in picker and have no time to test it yet.
I usually prefer controls on mesh, even for blendshapes.

Benn · June 3, 2019, 6:26pm

FYI there’s an error in the brow rigger script line19

Anyone else having this issue please change line 19 from:

from mgear.custom import constraints

to:
from mgear.custom import matrix_constraint

Krzym · June 3, 2019, 8:05pm

That was an issue, but I’ve fixed it yesterday - that’s why I’ve asked you to download it again, but glad it’s working for you. For future update will upload to gists or something like that.

Benn · June 3, 2019, 8:11pm

Builds lovely mate!

Question regards to the compute topological autoSkin

Is this working for you?

Didn’t seem to calculate for me.

Krzym · June 3, 2019, 8:31pm

It’s not implemented yet, will add this in the future.

Ross_Daniel · June 25, 2019, 2:19pm

Now we just need a good one like this for he lips

Krzym · June 25, 2019, 2:48pm

Well, assuming that this is based on the lips rigger you should be happy with what’s included by mGear devs

Sometimes I need to change joint / control number, so in one project I’ve used this brow rigger as lips and it worked just fine, there are some issues but I’ll update this in July.

Ross_Daniel · June 26, 2019, 7:33am

The current lips rigger in mgear has pinched corners which I’m not sure how to work around.

Krzym · June 26, 2019, 8:31am

I see, well you could try to use brow rigger, but it’s not well done yet, so please test it before It will work only if the face is pretty standard as YX. Will change that tool soon so it’s more like spline with controls working in all directions.

Here is a quick video how to reconnect lips rigger, I didn’t spend much time on that so it’s not working as good, but if you will spend more time I think you’ll be able to detach those connections and replace with extra controls.
Link

And here are lips as brows
Link

Cheers