Editor's note: Although the printed article indicated there would be updates as regarded some anticipated product changes and other news anticipated as we went to press, no further info was received to post here.

Shape Animation for 3DS Max r1

3DA#30 Review by Michael Koch / All Images by the Author

Alias/Wavefront PowerAnimator, Softimage 3D, and LightWave 3D 5.5 offer the ability to set multiple morph targets and animate the strength of influence of each morph target independently. Called Shape Animation in Softimage, Shape Shifter in A/W, and Morph Gizmo in LW3D, this tool is invaluable for character animation, especially complex facial animation.
___ The ability to mix several morph targets together gives greater flexibility than conventional single-target morphing provided in Kinetix 3D Studio Max r1 [and r2--Ed.]. So this was a much requested add-on tool until Spring 1997, when Platinum Pictures released MorphMagic, the first such plug-in for Max. Before then, the only way to do shape animation was by extensive use of mathematical expressions, such as I explained in "Expressive Expressions" in 3DA#28.
[interface] screen shots for the three plug-ins (51.7K download), including MorphMagic Set Keys dialog not included with print article
[demo] shape animation at work (85.9K download)
___ Luckily, Max users today can choose between three different shape animation plug-ins. Besides MorphMagic, which comes in Pro ($495) and Light ($295) versions, Lambsoft has released Smirk 1.0 ($595), and Ishani Graphics recently made available Mix 1.6 (shareware, $32).

MorphMagic

MorphMagic works as an object modifier assigned to a base object in a neutral pose. After you have created the needed morph targets (e.g., by using FFD modifier or Bones), each target is assigned to a weighted channel in the MorphMagic rollout, which is provided with a slider to control and animate each respective influence. You can define limits of motion for each channel independently, or restrict morph calculations to the vertices currently selected on the target.
___ MorphMagic has a Set Key button to set keys for several channels at once. The new version 1.2 beta has a very comfortable setup menu for this function, which lets you restrict key creation to certain channels and define the Bezier In and Out key types for the keys created. Even the point of reference for morph transformations can be changed from the default local coordinate system to any vertex on the base object.
___ These are neat details that help raise MorphMagic's functionality. Without a doubt, however, the main features making this plug-in unique among competitors are the material morph capabilities, the progressive morphing mode, and the recently added (1.2 beta) load/save/import function for animation data files. Unfortunately, of these, only animation data file support is available in the Light version.
___ MorphMagic Pro ships with a new Multi-Blend Material type, which looks similar to Multi-SubObject materials. The difference is that, after you have filled the material slots with materials for the morph targets, and you have assigned the corresponding material ID numbers in the MorphMagic modifier, the materials will morph automatically along with the geometry.
___ The idea in progressive morphing is to morph sequentially through a series of targets just by moving a single channel slider. There is even a smoothing feature implemented to make transitions curved rather than linear. This can be of great help when a normal linear morph doesn't look right; just insert an intermediate morph target and adjust smoothing as required. You even can use this tool to accomplish bones-like animation (e.g., the fingers of a hand) by carefully choosing intermediate morph targets.
___ Last, but not least, the 1.2 beta can load/save MorphMagic animation data files, and import Alias/Wavefront and Gepetto animation files. This ability can be used to build your own animation channel library, where you can load and save selected channels, or you can first animate a low-polygon-count model and later transfer the animation data to the high-res version. Since shape animation with large models slows screen redraw considerably, this technique is a great leap for productivity.

Smirk

Smirk's core functionality is very similar to MorphMagic's, so I will focus more on differences. Smirk offers a Preferences menu where the controller and Bezier In and Out key type can be chosen for newly created keys. But there is no dedicated "set key" button for keyframing several channels at once, like in MorphMagic.
___ In fact, most of MorphMagic's numerous features can't be found here. You can't change the reference point for the morph calculations, restrict morphing to selected vertices, or define channel limits. These would be nice, but you usually can live without them. For sure, however, you will miss the abilities to morph materials, do progressive morphing, and load/save channel data. (The up side is that Alias/Wavefront animation data file import was added recently, and the next release promises motion capture data import.)
___ While Smirk doesn't look like a serious competitor for MorphMagic at present, there is something that makes it an outstanding piece of software--the ability to add or substract vertices for the neutral base object, and propagate the changes through all the morph targets!
___ This is called "topological meshing," and it is incredible. Imagine this: While working on a facial animation, you find that part of the mouth doesn't morph correctly for some of the targets because you didn't create enough polygons somewhere during the modeling process. Make a copy of the base object, refine the geometry to your satisfaction, go back to the original base object, and click on Update Geometry in Smirk. And, voila!, the base object and morph targets are all updated.
___ For MorphMagic or Mix users, there is no way to solve such a problem other than to trash the animation and morph targets already built, and basically start from scratch again. (With MorphMagic, you could at least save the animation data.)
___ Since you can change geometry while keeping the animation data in Smirk, you also can use geometry updating to animate with a low-res model and later change to the high-res version.
___ MorphMagic uses only fixed targets, while both Smirk and Mix allow use of targets that are animated (by bones, etc.).

Mix 1.6

At $32 for shareware registration, Mix has the best price/performance ratio in its category. You get a full shape animation plug-in with a maximum of 150 channels and a reasonable feature set. Mix provides controls for defining channel limits (global for all channels at once) and restricting morphing to selected vertices (for each channel independently). Although there is a button labeled Progressive Mixing, it doesn't work like MorphMagic's progressive morphing mode. It is only an alternative (and, in my opinion, not very useful) mix algorithm.
___ Ishani Graphics has announced two additional plug-ins called mixMotions and mixForge, which will be free to registered owners. These should be available by the time you read this article. MixMotions basically allows you to assign dummies to Motion Groups which can be controlled by group spinners. For each dummy, you can define the amount of rotation/translation/scale in relation to the group spinner. The dummies then can affect geometry with the help of linked XForm modifiers or Bones, for example (pretty much an easier way to do what I showed with slider setups in 3DA#28).
___ MixForge uses source and target objects to create a new object with the target shape and source vertex count, to enable virtual morphing between objects with different vertex counts.

Playback speed & conclusions

A responsive work environment is an important requirement for working both productively and creatively. To get a rough idea of the differences in calculation speeds, I set up the same two 100-frame animations for each plug-in using a demo face from Smirk with all targets hidden, and played back in shaded 1/4 view. Here are the results as tested on a single-CPU Pentium P6 233MHz machine with a Symmetric GLyder-MP 3D accelerator board.
Shape Animation Time Test
   Plug-In         Secs.   Frames/Sec.
   =======         =====   ===========
1,800 polygons
            20 channels
   Smirk            8.0      12.5
   MorphMagic Pro  10.5       9.5
   Mix             18.0       5.6
5,100 polygons
            10 channels
   Smirk           13         7.7
   MorphMagic Pro  17         5.9
   Mix             30         3.3
            20 channels
   Smirk           13         7.7
   MorphMagic Pro  21         4.8
   Mix             50         2.0
___ Under all circumstances, Smirk is the clear leader in speed. Using low-res models and only a few morph targets, MorphMagic comes close but, for complex models and numerous targets, MorphMagic definitely loses ground. The inexpensive Mix plug-in can't really compete for speed. It needs roughly two to four times longer to play back animations. Keep in mind that results on dual- or quad-CPU machines should differ, since MorphMagic is multithreaded (also promised soon for Smirk).
___ So, which plug-in is best? That's a tough question. MorphMagic Pro has by far the most features, highlighted by material morphing, progressive morphing, and animation data file support. It has the most flexibility. If you can't live without material morphing, MorphMagic is what you want. Unfortunately, it does not have something similar to Smirk's time-saving geometry update feature.
___ Smirk is like a sportscar: lean, specialized, and incredibly fast. It provides only the important tools needed to work fast and creatively. Smirk is the choice for a solid and fast production tool, if you don't necessarily need to morph materials or use some other bells and whistles.
___ Without question, Mix is worth the $32 registration. You get a robust shape animation tool that provides all the needed basic features. With mixMotions and mixForge updates, you even get some tools not available elsewhere. If you can do without the more advanced features of the commercial plug-ins, and if you don't plan to work much with high-resolution models and numerous animation channels (or if you are a very patient person), you can save a lot of money by choosing Mix.

Michael Koch is a freelance artist in Mainz, Germany, where he also is working on a BS in physics.
___ The head used to illustrate this article was an earlier version of the model used for this issue's cover image. Not shown here are the wireframe and side views of the model, nor the image demonstrating how FFD was used to create morph targets, all of which appear in the print version of this article.

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