FaceFX Plugin

[Denny]

Easy and easy, depends on how you look at it. The setup process with FaceFX can take some time to learn, but when it's done you get the whole automated process going. With automation comes less control and sometimes lesser quality though, so it's up to you how you want to work.

There are ups and down with FaceFX, you just have to find out about it.

[micahpharoh]

Originally Posted by Denny

With automation comes less control and sometimes lesser quality

well, that isn't really the case with FaceFX, though. You can edit the automated sequence, which gives you a high level of control. Plus, if it's set up right, the material will change automatically for the pose. In UT3, for example, they characters would get "crows feet" normal maps when their eyes squinted.

[Denny]

FaceFX uses base poses to generate a lipsync, like "ee", "eff", "aah" and so on. Even though they generate enough of quality it's still not as much of control as if you were animating the rig frame by frame in Maya.

I'm not saying FaceFX is bad, quite the opposite, the point I'm trying to make is that the perfectionist details are harder to make in FaceFX rather than if you did it from beginning to end in a 3d application.

It's the same as when you look at a texture/normal map and instantly notice that it was generated in Crazy Bump. It's most likely enough, but it lacks that oomph that you're looking for.