作者：Victor Didra

去年我订阅了Mixamo All Access Pass。作为一家独立开发商，Mixamo以一个合理的价格带给我一些不可企及的角色和动画。上周在Unite，他们为自己的产品设定了一个全新的定价模式。他们同样也以一个新公告和艺术渠道彻底改变了其3D艺术的外观。

在过去几周，Mixamo将他们的角色创造，动画和脸部动画渠道整合在一起，以帮助一些非美术师能够在10分钟内创造，装饰角色并创造相关动画，然后将其带向Unity。之后开发者们可以使用网络摄像头在Unity Editor中创造脸部动画。

这是一种非凡的渠道。我可以花费比作一个披萨还短的时间去创造一个全新角色并让它在游戏中运行。我可以坐下并创造比几年前的AAA级游戏还复杂的脸部动画，并且无需用手制作人和动画。

这本身就足够让人震惊了，而上周，Mixamo更是宣布了Faceplus正在进行封闭测试。即只要使用一个网络摄像头，你便能够实时赋予角色脸部动作动画。

这很快会成为许多不同类型应用所需要的功能。MMO，虚拟世界，即时通讯以及任何需要实时脸部动画的游戏现在都需要正视Mixamo。今年，它将帮助你的游戏在竞争中更胜一筹，而明年，它将帮助你的游戏不被淘汰。

这些都是很显著的使用方法，但我认为这将为那些更有实验倾向的人打开全新机遇。在拥挤的市场中，新机遇总是很吸引人。我花了些时间去思考这整个渠道，以及它对于我们未来创造的含义。我认为有进取心的开发者和内容创造者将会使用它去创造现今还未出现过的全新体验。

以下是帮助你思考使用这一惊人技术的方法的7个理念。

互动体验中的付费演员

我是在Neal Stephenson的《The Diamond Age》中首次接触了这一理念。有许多方法能够做到这点，我认为当它真正发展起来时我们将看到一些不同的执行。这是否是带有表演者的虚拟戏剧院？这是否是桌面RPG的电子游戏版本，但却带有付费的Game Master？非付费演员是否能够尝试他们的麦克白？演员是否进入你的游戏中2分钟并导致你与真人进行争吵？我并不知道这会导致什么，但可能性是非常巨大的，并且上周它们还未到此。

Avatar-mo-cap(from gamasutra)

现实电视电子游戏

想象在《Descent Freespace》或《Tie Fighter》中的太空战斗游戏。玩家将从许多可行的角色中进行挑选。然后他们将操控指向他们脸部的网络摄像头。这具有强大的戏剧性，因为观看者能够看到玩家真正的情感。当他们击倒敌人，并快乐地大叫时，他们的角色也会这么做。当他们被击倒并从中被删除时，他们的角色便会痛苦地尖叫，仿制出玩家的绝望。

也许我们并不需要戏剧性的战斗。关于幸存者的内心，我们会想到玩家尝试着一起存活下来的《鲁滨逊漂流记》游戏。虽然带有一些不足，但很快地便会出现玩家争吵。能够看到玩家的脸部动作，即使是表现在角色脸上，都能够让观看者感受到他们的感受。反正总是有人爱有人嫌。

电子游戏桌面RPG

在虚拟世界中的桌面RPG游戏突然间成为了一种可能。想象在一款游戏中，冒险的一方花费大量时间在争吵，尝试着明确游戏是关于什么，并破坏Game Master仔细制定的计划。我们喜欢它！这是被遗漏的社交元素，但是直至这时候还不存在任何一种方法能够重塑它。现在，玩家可以在说话的时候看到彼此的脸部动作，可以将角色的塑料面具变成可信赖的朋友的面孔。

Hardenstein_2014_-_Adventurers(from gamasutra)

伴随着音频调制，GM可以操控许多不同的NPC的某些部分，并且各种自发且可笑的对话都将伴随着让人愉悦的脸部动作。我建议为GM事先制作带有脚本的场景，就像提字器那样。即当玩家遵循了某些情节后，在剩下的时间里他将以我们不能再预先创造好的故事中所制定的方法与其他玩家进行互动。

YouTube和Twitch

现在你能够将你的现实世界晚间新闻当成外星人或巨人进行播放。共同主持人可以远程做到这点。你可以在西雅图设置一个精灵而在华盛顿设置一个巨人，他们将在柏林遇到一个在本周的游戏中饿死的受难者。

廉价的高质量故事创造

这对于AAA级工作室来说并不是什么开创性的做法，除了低价这一点。但是这对于那些从未接触过高端3D内容的我们来说却真的具有开创性。

配音演员将成为声音和脸部动画演员。当你的配音演员能在阅读的时候生成动画文件时，你可以想象一下故事资产的创造速度。当他们完成时，他们不仅会提交对话，同时还有脸部动画。如果你拥有一个能够改变声音的配音演员，他便能够同时为多名角色创造所有的对话资产。他同时也能够远程完成这一工作，并将文件发送给你。

远程疗法

为什么有些人不只是使用网络摄像机，还使用了这种方法？我不知道到底是什么情况，但我可以看到一些潜在的原因。首先便是匿名性。也许对于那些带有信任危机的人来说使用友好的角色是个好的选择。另外一个可能性便是基于情境的疗法。这对于治疗与战争相关的创伤后精神紧张性精神障碍（PTSD）等问题是有效的。在穿越战地的同时能够看到病人的脸部反应是有帮助的。我之所以提到这一点主要是希望我们能够以此跳脱框架而进入一个完全未知的方向。

VR(from gamasutra)

引擎电影

电影（和过场动画）获得了主要的制作价值提升。通过使用脸部动画，我们是否能够看到全新引擎电影的流行？它是否将整合更多慢节奏的戏剧，并充满大量对话？我们是否能够看到引擎电影与戏剧的结合，从而让不同的演员能够渲染他们自己的演出？伴随着已经创造出来的电影，一个演员将能够呈现属于自己那部分的现场表演。

从理论上来看，新的艺术家将能够进入并用自己的表演取代之前的内容，同时保留电影的完整性。观众可以通过投票选出最棒的表演，从而推动最终版本随着时间的发展而不断发展。

我认为现在的我们正着眼于3D互动和非互动媒体，以及个体用户和多人用户间一次快速发展的文艺复兴。

请打开Mixamo.com并看看你的那个非现实梦想是否突然变成了可实现的内容。如果你没有时间自己执行，那就在评论中写下它，没准哪天就有人帮你实现这一梦想。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转功，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Real time in game facial animation changes everything

by Victor Didra

I have had a subscription to the Mixamo All Access Pass for the last year. As a one man indie developer, Mixamo has brought otherwise unattainable characters and animations to me at a fairly affordable price. Last week at Unite, they made their products entirely affordable with a new pricing model. They also changed the face of 3D art forever with a host of new announcements and the completion of their art pipeline.

In the last few weeks, Mixamo has brought their character creation, animation, and facial animation pipeline together in a way that allows non-artists to create, rig, and animate a character, then bring it into Unity, in about ten minutes. Developers could then create facial animations within the Unity Editor using a webcam.

This is a phenomenal pipeline. I can literally create a new character and have it running around in my game in less time than it takes to cook a pizza. I can sit down and make facial animations that are more complex than AAA games of a few years ago, without animating anything by hand.

This is astounding on its own, but Mixamo put the final piece in place last week when they quietly announced that Faceplus is now in closed beta for real time, in game integration. Using only a webcam, your players facial movements will now be animated on their avatars in real time.

This will soon be a required feature for a slew of different applications. MMOs, virtual worlds, instant messaging and any game that needs real time facial animation should be looking seriously at Mixamo right now. This year it will put your game above the competition, next year it will be mandatory for not looking dated.

These are all obvious uses, but I believe a whole bunch of new opportunities just opened up for those who are more experimentally inclined. In a crowded marketplace, new opportunities are always nice. I’ve spent some time thinking about this whole pipeline, and what it means for the future of our craft. I believe that enterprising developers and content creators will use it to create new experiences that have not existed up to this point.

Here are seven ideas to get you thinking about ways to use this amazing tech. Please feel free to add your own in the comments.

Paid actors within interactive experiences

The first time I was introduced to this concept was in The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. There are many ways to do this, and I think that when it takes off we will see some really different implementations. Is it virtual theater with the players taking part? Is it the videogame version of a tabletop RPG, mentioned below, but with a paid Game Master? Are unpaid actors practicing their Macbeth? Does an actor drop into your game for two minutes to make you haggle with a real person? I don’t know what all will come of this, but the possibilities are huge, and they weren’t here last week.

Realty T.V. Video Games

Imagine a space battle game in the Descent Freespace or Tie Fighter vein. Player pick from a huge number of available avatars (thanks to them taking minutes for the developer to create.) They then play with a webcam pointing at their face. The drama is high because viewers are seeing the players’ real emotions. When they shoot down an enemy craft, and whoop with joy, their avatar does the same. When they get blown away and thus eliminated from the show, their avatar is yelling in anguish as it dies, mimicking the player’s frustration.

Maybe we don’t even need the drama of combat. In the spirit of Survivor, how about a Robinson Crusoe game where the players are all trying to survive together. With appropriate shortages, player bickering is soon to follow. Being able to see players’ facial movements, even though they are laid on top of an avatar, gives viewers a window into their feelings. Some will be reviled, some loved. Betrayal will surely follow, drama will overflow. It’s going to be wonderful!

Video Game Tabletop RPGs

Tabletop RPG style games within a virtual world are suddenly a possibility. Imagine a game where the adventuring party spends most of its time bickering, trying to figure out what it is doing, and twisting the Game Master’s carefully laid plans into a broken heap. We love it! It is the social aspect that has been missing, and up until this point there was no way to recreate it satisfactorily. Now the players can see each other’s face move while they speak, transforming avatars from plastic masks into believable elvish versions of their friends.

With voice modulation, the GM can play the part of many different NPC’s, all with pleasing facial movements to go along with the spontaneous and probably ridiculous dialog. Imagine the time savings of throwing that whole thing on the GM’s lap! I suggest premade scenarios with nice scripts for the GM, rolling by like a teleprompter. That is, when the players do her the service of sticking to the plot. The rest of the time she will have to roll with the players in a way that we cannot approach in a premade story.

YouTube and Twitch Shows

It is now possible to broadcast your version of the real world nightly news as an alien or giant troll. Co-anchors can do so remotely. You could have an elf in Seattle and a troll from D.C., interviewing the castaway in Berlin who was died of starvation during this weeks game.

High Quality Story Creation on the Cheap

This isn’t groundbreaking for AAA studios, except for the low price point. It is completely groundbreaking for those of us who have never had access to high end 3D content, though.

Voice actors become voice and face animation actors. Imagine the speed of story asset creation when your voice actors can generation animation files as they read their lines. By the time they are finished they will be submitting not only the dialog, but also the facial animation to go with it! If you have a voice actor who can change her voice, as some can, she can create all of the dialog assets for multiple characters in one sitting. She can also do it remotely, and send the files to you.

Remote Therapy

Why would someone using this do so instead of just using a webcam? I don’t know that it will happen, but I can see some potential reasons. One is anonymity. Perhaps using friendly avatars for people with trust issues may be a good use. Another possibility is situational based therapy. It may be useful for treating things such as war related PTSD. Being able to see the patient’s facial reactions while going through a battlefield simulation may be helpful. Mostly, I included this to try to break us out of the box and into some totally unexpected directions.

Machinima

Movies (and cutscenes) just got a major production value upgrade. With access to facial animations, will we see a surge of new Machinima? Will it change to encompass more slow paced drama, heavy with dialog? Could we see a blending of Machinima and theater, allowing different actors to render their interpretation? With the movie already created, a single actor could host a live performance of their portion.

In theory new artists should be able to go in and replace previous performances with their own while leaving the rest of the movie intact. Viewers could vote on the best, allowing a definitive version to evolve over time.

I think we are looking at a fast approaching renaissance in 3D interactive and non-interactive media, single user and multi user. I do not doubt that you have some great ideas that were outside of the realm of possibility last week. This week, some of them are possible.

Take a look at Mixamo.com and see which of your unrealistic dreams are suddenly achievable. If you don’t have time to do them yourself, write about them in the comments so someone else can give it a go.(source:gamasutra)