Creating faces via Facegen and Blender

[DT33]

Hello all,
I've been creating some faces with Facegen and they look pretty good already.! For some reason though I cannot succesfully convert them to rx3. I'm following this tutorial by Josue_LMM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LuGt_lSbPA
I do everything exactly as shown but when I get to the export at the end the rx3 files I end up with are too big. Like 205kb or 207kb instead of 173kb. The only time I was able to export a 173kb head file was when I did not change UVMap to 'base' but instead left it as it was ('UVMap').

Also, in either instance I was not able to import the generated rx3 file into blender. I am able to load it into Creation Manager but the head is not the Facegen head - it's the head from the generic model file (that you import in the very beginning of the conversion process). :/

Speaking of that model file...where exactly is that from? I've downloaded 3 different model sets...-->
Model - DaNt E. Zalazar & Josue_LMM
Model V2 - DaNt E. Zalazar & Josue_LMM
Facegen_FinalVersion_Sepak (extra file)

None of them are called head_000000_0.rx3 - but instead head_0_0.rx3 or head_1234_0.rx3. Does this matter?

With the rx3 head from each of these sets I can't get it to work. What am I doing wrong??
Please help. I really want to create some faces for Fifa 14 with this method and I feel I' m so close.... (I used to make some Faces long time ago, Fifa 03 and 04....man, we've come a long way since then! lolz) (Would have been cool to have something like Facegen back then )

 

[DT33]

Bumping this. I tried again but the problem still persists. Again, the problem ist that after all importing and saving I end up with the generic head model. Not the facegen model. For some reason Blender doesn't appear to be saving (or merging?) the facegen head. Am I missing something? Please help!

 

[DT33]

Oh wow, I was able to get it to work! But unfortunately it creates a new problem.!!

For some reason - as already described - my heads will not properly export. But I found out that once I also enter "col0" and "col1" in the "vertex colors" field (just like it says with the original head sample file) it will succesfully export my face!

BUT! In the game it shows up bad The head shape is fine but the face texture is always too dark. Sometimes it even glows! Meaning it quickly changes from dark to light and back. Looks pretty funny actually....but it's also creepy and just sucks.! What am I doing wrong?

See here, this is with Michael Bemben I made (German/Polish player who was very active in the German leagues). At first, I have the original head sample model imported (head_000000_0_head and head_000000_1_eyes). Then I import the obj files from facegen (eyes + head).

As you can see with the original sample head it says at UV maps "map0" and in Vertex Colors it says "col0" and "col1" - with "col0" set as active rendering. This is the way it gets imported.

Now with the facegen model of Michael Bemben (and others of course) it says in UV maps "UVMap" and the vertex colors field is blank.

According to the video tutorial you erase the sample head files (eyes + head) and rename the new head and eyes (from facegen, in this case Bemben) with the same names. (head_000000_0_head + head_000000_1_eyes) You're also supposed to rename "UVmap" to "base".
Well, I do all that -->

As you can see I can also display the texture of that face. This is the texture that was created by Facegen.

(For a comparison:

)

I will refine these textures later.

Anyway, when it is set this way its supposed to export the head but in my case it doesn't! It just exports the original sample head file.!

BUT: Once I do the following which is to also add the same vertex colors entries of the sample (col0 and col1 with 'col0' being active) -->

It then exports it succesfully!

BUT! In game it then looks like this!

Why is it so dark? I get this with all the other faces I made already and using that method!

Here's Jo Kuffour I made with the same method (Kuffour is a Ghanaian who played for teams like Bristol Rovers, FC Gillingham and Wycombe Wanderers):

Compare:

In blender the texture looks fine (though don't mind it overall - like I said I will improve these, as a matter of fact I already have made HQ textures for most of the faces I created) but in game it is way too dark again! Oddly enough, when you see the players from afar during the game the texture actually seems to be as intended (bright enough) but once you get a close up e.g. from a goal celebration the face is just too dark!!

I tried a few things already such as NOT renaming UVMaps to "base" but that doesn't change anything in game. :/ I also tried "map0" as an entry (as that is what the sample head is showing) but that doesn't make a difference either! I also tried different sample heads from the various download packets out there. But that all doesn't work!

Maybe I'm on the wrong track here and it may have something to do with the facegen textures?? I have noticed that they usually have weird gamma. But no matter how I set the gamma correction in facegen or how I change the texture file in Paint Shop Pro the problem persists.

I would really appreciate your help guys as I already made several faces that look good (and I'm gonna improve them a bit further in blender if I haven't already) so I can enjoy them and also share them with the community, yes? Thanks a lot!

 

[DT33]

Oh and by the way - in Creation Master the faces show up fine! It's just not in game :/

 

[DT33]

Yesssssss, I figured it out! Sweet!

Improved Texture and head:

The problem was the mesh paint. I had to add it via the Vertex Colors field. In the video I refered to that step is somehow being omitted....or for some reason it works in his case but in mine it doesn't. He posted a Fifa 15 facemaking tutorial where the steps are clearer and in full and if I follow that (for Fifa 14) the faces show up correctly!

HOWEVER! I still seem to have a problem...sometimes the faces/textures show weird in-game, especially with weather conditions like snow...also at night. Especially with black faces. It's like the faces glow a bit or are too bright. And no matter how much I change the texture (reduce contrast and brightness) I still get this problem....does this still have to do with the mesh paint? UVmap??

-->

(This was before I improved the texture and head...it appears to be better now with the improved version but I'm getting this with a lot of other faces)

I've already made a lot of other faces (all for my team I transfered in career, 1.FC Saarbrücken): Djimi Traore, Francis Kioyo, Carlos Tenorio, Erwin Maturana, Eric Addo, Daniel Yeboah, Gilles Ekoto Ekoto etc!!
As you can tell I'm really into black/african players, I really enjoy doing those. I mainly focus on players from lower leagues though or lesser known players from National Teams. But it depends!!
(Obviously Tenorio and Traore are not "lessers", just kind of at the end of their career in Fifa 14 )

Tenorio:

Maturana:

Kioyo:

compare:

Ekoto-Ekoto:

compare:

Some of these are still a work in progress, especially the texture. Hence I could really need some feedback regarding the weird glowing thing. I would like to share these faces! And more to come.! Thanks a lot!

(As an aside, when I use the SAME textures on regular Fifa heads, like one that is a close match, I do not get these texture problems!? So clearly it appears to be a problem during blender or facegen when creating a new head/texture) This is here Razak Pimpong where I already made a custom texture on a Fifa head model match - no problems whatsoever! -->

I am going to make his custom head soon. (Provided if I can figure out the problem or if I can get help here)

Compare:

Again, this is not even my custom head! Looks pretty good already, eh? So yeah, that's kind of a good way already to get rid of the generic faces by just replacing their textures. But a real head is best of course.

 

[DT33]

Ok, apparently one needs to use Mesh Paint 1 for both colors or Mode 2 and then Mode 1. I assumed it should be first Mode 1 and then Mode 2. Latter gives the bad lightning....
When I use Mode 1 on both I do not have this! At least for the most part! I still get this problem every once in a while, also that the neck is too dark. Will try out the other mesh paint method too and see what the best results are.

For reference, see
http://soccergaming.com/index.php?threads/facegen-model.180797/page-2#post-5206249