Questions about FaceGen

[Matter2003]

FaceGen is really, really, really, really, really cool...

[Marc Duffy]

The guys have got the basics up and running, to prove the technology works. Now Aurelio is working on the game for a month again and the caps and shirts and remaining items are being completed.

[dodgerblue88]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

The guys have got the basics up and running, to prove the technology works. Now Aurelio is working on the game for a month again and the caps and shirts and remaining items are being completed.

Wow, so would there be any way to make custom hats/unis for those of us who play with real MLB teams or all they all generic?

And how about when player a switches teams? Will the game automatically update the player photo to show the new cap/uniform for the team or must we do it manually?

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by dodgerblue88

Wow, so would there be any way to make custom hats/unis for those of us who play with real MLB teams or all they all generic?

And how about when player a switches teams? Will the game automatically update the player photo to show the new cap/uniform for the team or must we do it manually?

I have no clue if this is right, but it sounds like it will use the teams logos for the hats and unis and will automatically update the photos whenever a player switches teams.

This makes me wonder though. I read someones comment that generating pictures at a seasons opening slows the processing... does that mean having players switch teams during the season will slow the processing too?

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by ctorg

It seems to me that lining up face type as a percentage with a nation may not be the best way to go about it. It should really be tied to the ethnicity used to generate the player's name.

As an example:

Let's say you have the United States generating names that are 60% Caucasian, 30% Hispanic, and 10% Japanese. Even if you can set the faces to similar percentages, there would be a lot of guys with names like Hideki Kobayashi who look like they are of African descent, and John Smiths who look Japanese.

Is there anything to prevent this from happening?

The random number that picks the ethnicity for a particular player should be the same random number that is used to select the the ethnicity of the photo. Store it with his other data. If the game "rolls" a 73 for particular U.S. player, he gets a Hispanic name through one routine AND a Hispanic face through the Facegen routine. Am I missing something?

[Bobble]

Is everyone in OOTP2007 going to be bald, or perhaps worse, have that ridiculous FaceGen/RonCo sprayed-on hair?

FWIW, back in the day, Layton and I talked about some clever ways to line up the hair (facial and otherwise) with the face.

[Gastric ReFlux]

How well does it generate hobbits, dwarves, elves, and balrogs?

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

dola,

And what about hobbits! No 'face type' for them? The inhumanity!

In the end, the game is going to have to set some limits for FaceGen on how much it can vary each facial feature. If you opened that up to the user in a config file (HINT!), then the user can adjust it as he likes (and make Hobbits if I want).

While I bet there aren't too many of us that want Hobbits, there are other uses. Maybe I want my players to be smiling in their photo. You can set some of the FaceGen smiling parameters higher. Maybe I don't like the extremes FaceGen comes up with (really pale guys, guys with huge round faces, etc.). I can limit the program to more "athletic" looking faces. Those are the kind of things that can't really be solved with an all-purpose "just hit the redo button" solution.

The program is going to have to set limits anyway, just let us have access to them.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally Posted by Bobble

In the end, the game is going to have to set some limits for FaceGen on how much it can vary each facial feature. If you opened that up to the user in a config file (HINT!), then the user can adjust it as he likes (and make Hobbits if I want).

While I bet there aren't too many of us that want Hobbits, there are other uses. Maybe I want my players to be smiling in their photo. You can set some of the FaceGen smiling parameters higher. Maybe I don't like the extremes FaceGen comes up with (really pale guys, guys with huge round faces, etc.). I can limit the program to more "athletic" looking faces.
Those are the kind of things that can't really be solved ith an all-purpose "just hit the redo button" solution.

The program is going to have to set limits anyway, just let us have access to them.

It's possible that the Facegen licensing may set limits on how much end users can tweak things and SI/Markus won't be allowed to give us that much access.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Gastric ReFlux

How well does it generate hobbits, dwarves, elves, and balrogs?

Hobbit League

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Hobbit League

Nice. Again though, it may depend on how much access end users would be allowed to use the facegen code with the game.

[SSG Troyer]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

I have no clue if this is right, but it sounds like it will use the teams logos for the hats and unis and will automatically update the photos whenever a player switches teams.

This makes me wonder though. I read someones comment that generating pictures at a seasons opening slows the processing... does that mean having players switch teams during the season will slow the processing too?

First of all, the plan is that, yes, when a player changes teams, his clothes will change, too.

The plan is for the logo and team colors used elsewhere in the game will be the ones used. Andreas has mentioned thay are modeling diffrent style shirts, but as to whether they would be historically accurate ... I have my doubts. This is aimed at those who use fictional universes, anyway, so I (as a fictional-only player) don't think it's that big a deal. That they will (hopefully) sport a uniform bearing some resemblance to what I had in mind for the Morro Bay Ocean, Amarillo Thunder, etal, is great by me.

And as to the processing time ... as of now, it doesn't really add that much time to the run of a season, but then, it's not changing uniforms yet (we'll see with the next few builds what happens there ...). The big hit comes in universe creation. I play large universes (~450 teams, in all levels (P4 3.4, 2meg RAM, 320gig RAID0 HD with 100gig free)), and if I create pictures for every player, the time involved can be upwards of half an hour ... I often use the option to create pictures just for "important players", as the menu calls it. Minimal time (~2-3 minutes extra) taken on creation then.

Oh, and yes, everyone has the RonCo sprayhead, but that's supposed not to matter, since their heads will eventually be covered. Supposedly.

Remember also, that OpenGL supprt is required for FaceGen.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by SSG Troyer

First of all, the plan is that, yes, when a player changes teams, his clothes will change, too.

The plan is for the logo and team colors used elsewhere in the game will be the ones used. Andreas has mentioned thay are modeling diffrent style shirts, but as to whether they would be historically accurate ... I have my doubts. This is aimed at those who use fictional universes, anyway, so I (as a fictional-only player) don't think it's that big a deal. That they will (hopefully) sport a uniform bearing some resemblance to what I had in mind for the Morro Bay Ocean, Amarillo Thunder, etal, is great by me.

And as to the processing time ... as of now, it doesn't really add that much time to the run of a season, but then, it's not changing uniforms yet (we'll see with the next few builds what happens there ...). The big hit comes in universe creation. I play large universes (~450 teams, in all levels (P4 3.4, 2meg RAM, 320gig RAID0 HD with 100gig free)), and if I create pictures for every player, the time involved can be upwards of half an hour ... I often use the option to create pictures just for "important players", as the menu calls it. Minimal time (~2-3 minutes extra) taken on creation then.

Oh, and yes, everyone has the RonCo sprayhead, but that's supposed not to matter, since their heads will eventually be covered. Supposedly.

Remember also, that OpenGL supprt is required for FaceGen.

Important players? It can do just certain players? That's cool. How would it know who is who?

[Andreas Raht]

Latest news: The people wear their hats now, in team colours, and with the logo on it! Rendered of course so that we have shadows and all that
And it *will* be customizable.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

Latest news: The people wear their hats now, in team colours, and with the logo on it! Rendered of course so that we have shadows and all that
And it *will* be customizable.

Way to go Andreas! Keep up the good work. This addition is a gem.

[Andreas Raht]

Regarding the speed: There is an option "Create pictures when players are generated" which will need a lot of time when you create a league. You can also set it to "Create picture on demand". So the picture will be generated when it is about to be displayed on screen, not earlier. When a player changes teams a dozen times, his picture will not be updated, until you open a report or something where his picture is being needed! So the simulation speed will not be influenced by FaceGen at all.

[SSG Troyer]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

Important players? It can do just certain players? That's cool. How would it know who is who?

The ones I've seen are generally ML starters, though some of the off-season news items I've seen have the placeholder. I've also never seen a placeholder on a human-owned ML squad ... and if I ever did, I'd generate a photo from his player screen. In (literally) a heartbeat.

[SSG Troyer]

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

...You can also set it to "Create picture on demand". So the picture will be generated when it is about to be displayed on screen, not earlier...

Oh, so that's what that means! I thought it meant the only pictures I'd get were the ones I specifically ordered up on the player's screen.

Guess I'll have something new to test tomorrow ... (!)

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

Regarding the speed: There is an option "Create pictures when players are generated" which will need a lot of time when you create a league. You can also set it to "Create picture on demand". So the picture will be generated when it is about to be displayed on screen, not earlier. When a player changes teams a dozen times, his picture will not be updated, until you open a report or something where his picture is being needed! So the simulation speed will not be influenced by FaceGen at all.

That answers a question that I had. Thanks, I ,like that answer too.

[Curtis]

How would I know whether I have 'open GL support'? I'm guessing I don't, because I've never heard of it.