I recently shared a blog post on a Unity script I am experimenting with to add ARKit compatible expressions to VRoid characters. Of course the day after, another tool became available that could have saved me quite a bit of hair pulling! Lol! I thought I would write up my brief experience with Hana_Tool and … More Changing Facial Expressions (part 3)
I have described challenges in animating facial expressions in a previous post. Facial expressions are based on “blend shapes” to adjust the shape of the face (e.g. move eye brows lower to indicate anger). Animating hand positions is different as it relates to moving bones rather than blend shapes. There are two ways to animate … More Animating Hand Poses in Unity
I previously wrote a post on Changing Facial Expressions where I went through the basics of how to control facial expressions in Unity. Since then I have made some progress in terms of adding additional blend shapes and based on that, I think I have finalized how I will do facial expressions for characters. I … More Changing Facial Expressions (part 2)
I have been exploring iFacialMocap, an iOS app that uses the iPhone “ARKit” library to convert facial expressions into a series of movements. These can be sent to Unity so your character inside Unity follows what is being recorded on your iPhone. A challenge however is the iOS ARKit library uses more blendshapes than come … More Generating iFacialMocap Blend Shapes in Unity for VRoid Characters
One of the projects I plan to undertake is to create a cartoon series using “web stories”, a format for browsing through visual content on the web. It is particularly convenient on a mobile device, with most content vertical. Web stories support static images and video clips, with single tap to continue on to the … More Speech Bubbles in Unity
My goal is to create characters in VRoid Studio and then use them in an animated video created in Unity. A part of this challenge however is I want to add more expressions to the character than the default. I tried to just use the existing VRoid BlendShapes – there were not enough for all … More Copying BlendShapes in Unity with a Script
Runevision developed a locomotion system for use with Unity. It deals with issues such as walking over sloped or uneven surfaces, making sure the feet correctly walk on the ground. This is not the only way to do locomotion in Unity, but the combination of features appealed to me. You tell the character where to … More Unity Locomotion Package Trials and Tribulations
In this post I describe my current plans for animation of VRoid Studio characters in Unity (using animation clips). I might change my mind on the approach later as I learn more, but this is my current thinking. Background Animation clips in Unity capture position information for all the joints of a character. Animation clips … More Using Animation Clips with VRoid Characters in Unity
VRoid characters in Unity include “Blendshapes” (called “Shape Keys” in Blender) that morph the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth on the face to create different expressions. These work by warping the mesh of the character (moving the contours of the face). Other expressions such as blushing change the texture of the mesh (what is displayed on … More Changing Facial Expressions
The eyes are an important part of acting. They convey a lot of emotion, from their shape to what they are looking at. It is common for eyes to jump around, looking at different things during a scene. A furtive glance or down at the ground, the eyes can convey a rich set of emotions. … More Controlling VRoid Eyes in Unity
Extra Ordinary, the Series 