Hello Awesome People!
As you may have noticed, every two announcements we keep reminding everyone that FaceRig is at this time still in development. It is fun and functional, but it still has bugs. Read this announcement (click to open) for more info and a look at the EULA before pre-ordering FaceRig.
After you have done that, please look at the minimal requirements and remember that for now FaceRig is Windows-only, and that the mobile/low voltage versions of the listed CPU's and GPU's typically have less performance than their desktop counterparts.
And now to the news! (Yaay!)
- The first TF2 themed FaceRig avatars (Heavy and Spy) are now live in their own free DLC. In case you missed it yesterday, here's the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mju03p56UnE
- The 0.88b FaceRig build has moved from the "nextversion" branch, to the main "wide-scale-deployment" branch. It brings some improved CPU occupancy, Karaoke support for *Kar files along side other goodies (more props and avatars added to the base line-up - Tiger Taj and Gamer Slug). For the full Changelog visit the previous announcement ( click to open).
- The even newer 0.902b build is now up on the experimental "nextversion" branch. It adds video-based karaoke support, resizable video feed window, extra props and more... the full Changelog will be listed below.
- The FaceRig Steam Workshop is up and fully functional. Let us know how your workshop -related experiences go :).
- The PewDiePie avatar was sent to PewDiePie for review. As soon as he is happy with the latest touch-ups, he also will appear as a free DLC.
- We have set the "alternate frame-grabber" to be the default frame-grabber. FaceRig will no longer prompt you to make a choice on the matter when it starts. This change affects all branches. If you still want to use the original frame-grabber, you just need to start FaceRig by double clicking on the executable directly instead of running it from the Steam interface.
Change log FaceRig v0.903b (build 348 Holotech Studios - Nov 14 2014) - nextversion branch
- added video support for Karaoke (FaceRig now plays back .avi karaoke video files)
- added support to move and resize to all video feed view ports (webcam feed, video feed and karaoke video feed)
- fixed bug on input sound autocalibrate button. After calibration the main window had become unresponsive, to reactivate it you had to click the Ok button.
- added support to bind keyboard keys to custom avatar animations (only applies to the upcoming Pewdiepie DLC)
- fixed defective "No Sound detected" notification, it was triggered during any FaceRig mode even if sound wasn't used.
- changed sound input device enumeration filtering to avoid skipping some devices (happened to users with region and language settings other than English)
- added Danny Short Snout avatar with visually improved tongue and teeth
- visually improved Cathy avatar
- added spring eyeball glasses prop (we had a lot of laughs with this one :P )
Edit 21'st of November:
The alternate frame-grabber becoming the default frame-grabber (across all branches) has an important side effect: if you do not tweak the program settings a bit and if you have a HD capable webcam you may notice higher CPU load. Here is what happens, and what you need to do to correct it:
Unlike the old frame-grabber (which went by default for the lowest resolution input webcam feed available) the new alternate frame-grabber tries to pick your default camera resolution, and the highest FPS possible. So if you have a HD webcam and from its own software you have set the maximum resolution as default, then this will impact your CPU occupancy a LOT.
The correct fix for this is to go to the Devices Tab in General Settings in FaceRig , and under the "Webcam" select a lower resolution for the input webcam feed. The resolution of the input webcam feed actually affects the processing performance a LOT, so the lowest you can get away with without sacrificing tracking results, the better.
If you still want to use the old frame-grabber (and do performance comparisons) you just need to launch the program by directly double clicking on its executable in Windows (instead of launching it from the Steam Interface). Please note that in this case you won't have the option of choosing the input webcam resolution ( it just goes for the lowest one available).
We have further fixed a few of the bugs that we have been signaled to us since yesterday on the "nextversion" branch.
Change log for v0.903b (build 355- Nov 21 2014) - nextversion branch
- default webcam resolution is chosen as the lowest supported at highest refresh rate available. Initially we chose the device default resolution, but there have been reports of performance drops that are related to high webcam resolutions. These larger video frames affect performance in two ways:
- 1. FaceRig needs to capture, then scale the incoming video frame and render it. Large frames add delays on both CPU and GPU.
- 2. large video frames add a significant amount of operations to the face tracker.
- fixed dark tongue on Gamer Slug avatar
- fixed look at camera issue on TF2 Heavy avatar
- fixed control input issue on webcam/video feed. Holding the left click then hovering the feed would have scaled the window, this was especially noticeable when moving the avatar around.
- fixed replay performance issue. Some visemes would have been present on the avatar even though no sounds or talking have been recorded.
v0.905b (build 358 - Nov 24 2014) - nextversion branch
Change log
- right side menu is now static and always open. This is due to some reports that it cannot be accessed. We are currently still investigating this issue.
- added shortcut keys to right side menu options. - Alt + 1 - Avatar/Skin/Background - Alt + 2 - Avatar Customizer - Alt + 3 - Avatar Pose (not active while tracking is On) - Alt + 4 - Background Customizer - Alt + 5 - Advanced Tracking Options (not active while tracking is Off) - Alt + 6 - Voice Effect Options - Alt + 7 - General Options - F1 - Help and Tutorial
That's about it for today :)
The FaceRig Team.