What's new in SGX 4.5?

Character setup optimization

SGX 4.5 simplifies character setup and gives the user more control. In particular:

• Character setup is now training-free: there is no neural network to train for the character. Previously, this training step was done by our team. Now that dependency no longer exists.

• Character control files are now smaller, due to the absence of the neural network.

• Users can now fine-tune critical aspects of the character’s lip sync through the new Closures Editor in SGX Studio. This involves refining Closures, such as lips coming together for p, b and m.

Note that character control files created with SGX Studio 4.5.0 or later are compatible with SGX Production Tools 4.5.0 or later.

Unreal features expanded

The SGX Studio Unreal Engine plugin has many more features, putting it close to feature parity with the Maya version (the main exception being that muscle poses cannot be edited in Unreal).

The plugin now includes two new interfaces:

• Muscle panel for access to muscle sliders

• Closure panel for editing closures

A variety of new items have been added to the menu.

• Import > Modes

• Set neutral pose

• Reset reference pose

• Tools menu

• Print muscles

• Print animation targets

• Key muscle poses

• Key muscle deltas

• Create muscle deltas PoseAsset

• Key expressions

• Show reference pose

• Reset reference pose at loading

The command-line interface has a new function: SGXImportPose.

Pose-based animation

SGX Studio normally imports animation by keying animation targets. In SGX 4.5, a new import mode has been added, instead keying Unreal Engine’s Animation Pose Assets. SGX muscle displacements are converted to Pose Assets using the new Key muscle deltas function. Then SGX Events can be imported as weights on those poses, using the new Pose Weights animation import mode. This approach gives animators full visibility of the underlying poses involved in the animation.

Reference pose control

The reference pose is the base pose to which animation is added. Previously, it was possible for this to differ between Maya and Unreal. In SGX Studio 4.5, the reference pose is now retained across platforms, so that imported animation is guaranteed to look the same in all versions of SGX Studio.

To provide additional flexibility, there is also an option, Reset reference pose at loading, which automatically changes the reference pose to the local scene pose. This is particularly useful when extending an existing Character Control File from one character to another. The second character might have the same rig but a different reference pose.

SGX Director improvements

Improvements in the SGX Director user interface include:

• Steppers and drop-down menus are protected from accidental edits caused by scrolling

• Muscle activations are now displayed in the event editor

Language improvements

SGX 4.5 performs better handling of unrecognized characters and numerals in transcripts, for reduced processing errors and better phonetic analysis.

Additionally, along with SGX 4.5, a set of new language modules has been released, with the following improvements:

• Korean 2.0

  • Pronunciation improvements

  • Support for English words in transcripts, written in Latin characters but articulated with Korean pronunciation

• French 1.4

  • Pronunciation improvements

  • More robust handling of transcripts

• Italian 1.4

  • Pronunciation improvements

  • Support for diacritics in transcripts

  • More robust handling of transcripts

• Multiple languages update

  • English_GB_EAW 1.3, English_GB_SCT 1.3, English_US 2.3, German 1.3, Polish 1.4, Portuguese 1.3, Spanish_ES 1.3, Spanish_MX 1.3

  • More robust handling of transcripts

If you'd like to know how SGX can elevate your next project with high-quality, emotionally rich facial animation powered by audio alone please get in touch here.