Exocortex Species Beta

[Eric Thivierge]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to announce and post some demo videos of a product Chris Covelli and I have been working on with Exocortex. We've taken Chris' original "GrowRig" system and re-written it from the ground up building out the stability and feature set for the plug-in. We're currently in beta and would love to get some more people testing out the product and giving us feedback. 

Exocortex Species:

Species is a "Character Creation System" for Autodesk Softimage that can drastically speed up any character artist's workflow. By combining the usual rigging and "basemesh" modeling steps of the standard character pipeline into one easy to use and versatile system, Species enables the user to make large scale adjustments to a template character's proportions using a unique "Proportional Rig". The user can then generate a production ready Animation Rig with the newly resized mesh automatically enveloped.

Our first component of Species, called Hominid, can be used to quickly create whole libraries of unique humanoid characters that can share and swap many different attributes like blendshapes, envelopes, UV coordinates, hi-poly sculpting details and animation sources. This system can be used with the provided basemeshes or, in just a few steps, with a mesh of your own design.

Tutorial Videos:
http://vimeo.com/exospecies/videos

If you're interested in joining the beta please email kylev...@gmail.com or ethiv...@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Adam Sale]

nice work Guys. I was hoping the grow rig system would expand. 

I like that its a more realistic Morpheus rig, though I imagine theres a lot more under the hood that we haven't seen yet. 

Adam

[adrian wyer]

really excellent tool..... look forward to it's release!

 

a

 

Adrian Wyer
Fluid Pictures
75-77 Margaret St.
London
W1W 8SY
++44(0) 207 580 0829

adria...@fluid-pictures.com

www.fluid-pictures.com

 

Fluid Pictures Limited is registered in England and Wales.
Company number:5657815
VAT number: 872 6893 71

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[Chris Covelli]

Thanks guys,

Glad you like it.  We're working hard to get it done and make it awesome!

If you're interested in joining the beta please email kylev...@gmail.com or ethiv...@gmail.com

-Chris

--
Chris Covelli
http://kylevargas.net/

[adrian wyer]

would love to join the beta, but what with vray, arnold, city engine and others, my beta roster is very much in danger of taking over any time i have set aside for actually working!!!!

 

a

 

Adrian Wyer
Fluid Pictures
75-77 Margaret St.
London
W1W 8SY
++44(0) 207 580 0829

adria...@fluid-pictures.com

www.fluid-pictures.com

 

Fluid Pictures Limited is registered in England and Wales.
Company number:5657815
VAT number: 872 6893 71

[Chris Covelli]

Haha, that does sound like a lot on your plate! :-D

[Adam Sale]

Any plan on facial rig integration on this?

[Chris Covelli]

I think we've had at least one other request for it so we may be considering it.  Do you mean facial rigging for animation or proportional controls to alter the face?

[Adam Sale]

well a bit of both I suppose..
An On Face set of controls to pull and push the face around, and a base set of shapes on top of which those controls float.

So a proportional set of controls when building the shape for the char.. and the same type of control for animating said face.

[Chris Covelli]

I guess as long as we can do it in a way that doesnt prevent the user from making their own modeling tweaks on the character.  We'll definitely look into it.

[Eric Thivierge]

I think having a face rig would be awesome. I'll look into that once I'm finished building out the planned feature set to see how sketchy things will get once the user starts customizing the base mesh and moving the topology around. One feature that we don't have a video for that I'm currently working on is a way to swap out our base geometry to then be able to use a user supplied mesh with the system and to build a rig for as well. With that having an out of the box face setup might be a bit to locked down since the possibilities are pretty endless.

I'll definitely have a look. Thanks for the feedback Adam!

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Sam Bowling]

Looks very nice!  It looks like the shapes are controlled a lot by the rig, if I were to send one of these to mudbox (using the send to feature), would it retain it’s shape, or would it go back to the default shape?  Also, on Vimeo Video #3 seems to be missing.

 

 

From: Eric Thivierge

Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 5:53 AM

To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com

Subject: Exocortex Species Beta

 

[Eric Thivierge]

Hey Sam,

I've been meaning to test the send to functionality. Admittedly I've been mainly focussing on building out the feature set and not testing that aspect. I'll put it on my list of to do's and report back my findings when I get some time.

Video 3 is missing indeed. Technically we have a #3 and #3.5. I recorded them and I'm waiting for my internet service to be setup. Should be within the week. Working off of my cell phone internet via tethering currently. ;)

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Andy Moorer]

This is wonderful to see, I'm a fan of GrowRig, and species looks awesome. Good job guys!

On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 5:53 AM, Eric Thivierge <ethiv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Adrian Lopez]

Absolutely awesome.. cant wait for this to come to fruition.  Loved the "GrowRig" system and was really hoping it wasnt dead.  Anxious to see how well this will hold up under a zbrush/mudbox workflow..

Adrian

--
Adrian Lopez

CEO.Producer.Director

Liquid Light Digital

www.liquidlightdigital.com

[Adrian Lopez]

I'm noticing the videos only seem to showcase the male figure...is the female not ready yet?

[Chris Covelli]

The female figure is ready, in the videos so far I've been working with the same character who is male.  Im sure in at least one of the next few  videos I can demo the female rig.

[Sam Bowling]

Please keep us informed. This looks like it could be very useful for jobs that are on a real short deadline(most of the stuff I do).

 

 

From: Eric Thivierge

Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 1:51 AM

To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com

Subject: Re: Exocortex Species Beta

 

[Chris Covelli]

Heres a video running through the Female PropRig as per Adrian's request.

http://vimeo.com/31969045

Enjoy!!

[Andy Moorer]

Oooooo...

Now do a horse! ;)

[Chris Covelli]

Of course! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83M60qeRyMc

:-P

[Alan Fregtman]

Tastes like raisins you say??

Sold! :D

>>>>> Looks very nice!� It looks like the shapes are controlled a lot by the

>>>>> rig, if I were to send one of these to mudbox (using the send to feature),

>>>>> would it retain it�s shape, or would it go back to the default shape?� Also,

[Sam Bowling]

OMGWTF? 10 hours?

 

Might want to make sure no kids are around when you play this. Might not want to play it at work either =)

[Chris Covelli]

If you think thats cool, just wait till i make a demo vid on how the lemonade is made!

>>>>> Looks very nice!  It looks like the shapes are controlled a lot by the

>>>>> rig, if I were to send one of these to mudbox (using the send to feature),

>>>>> would it retain it’s shape, or would it go back to the default shape?  Also,

[Adrian Lopez]

Thanks for that, Chris..  we have a few projects coming up that would make great use of Species, and the characters are weighted heavily towards the feminine.  Do you have any idea on the launch date and pricing?

Adrian

[Eric Thivierge]

Pricing is still under consideration and same as the release date. We want to make sure all of the features are built out and stable before launch. :D We'll post that info as soon as we lock it down.

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Eric Thivierge]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to mention that we're using Softimage 2010 SP1 for development as to allow users who are still a few versions behind to be able to use Species. Thought that might be of some interest. 

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Andy Moorer]

lol @ Chris. I asked for that.

Seriously though, it's great to see this system being developed further, I think it has great potential, and I really like how it blurs the line between character modeling and rigging.

[Chris Covelli]

Thanks Andy,

Ben, Eric, and I all appreciate the kind words!! :-D

-Chris

[Eric Thivierge]

A new video demonstrating the "Replace Mesh" utility:
http://vimeo.com/32506215

Description:
In this video we show you how to use the Replace Mesh utility that comes with Species. This feature allows you to swap out the default meshes that come with the Species PropRig and use your own. From that point you can re-size the PropRig with your custom meshes and generate an animation rig from it and be animating in no time!

[Chris Covelli]

New video, Species Training #8 - Adding Detail

http://vimeo.com/32580261

Description: In this video we will show you how you can export your Species Character into sculpting packages like Zbrush or Mudbox, detail your character, and then get your newly sculpted mesh back on your PropRig or AnimRig.  We also touch on some of the advantages of creating characters from Species with the same topolgy.

[Eric Thivierge]

Here's a new video with some Mocap applied to the AnimRig built through the Species system. Was a great surprise to see this working. Also kudos to MOTOR which makes using .bvh and .fbx mocap so easy.

http://vimeo.com/33397460

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Chris Covelli]

Thats so cool!!  Look at him go!!! :-D

[Tim Crowson]

That looks sweet!
-Tim C.

--

 

 

[phil]

would you say it is getting close to shipping,  I am very interested in purchasing.

 

Phil

[Chris Covelli]

No guarantees, but we are trying for sometime in January.

On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 3:52 PM, phil <phil.h...@jamination.com> wrote:

would you say it is getting close to shipping,  I am very interested in purchasing.

 

Phil

[Ciaran Moloney]

Dude, he's totally traveling.

[Eric Thivierge]

Haha, love it Ciaran! Like Chris said we're aiming for January at some point. I'll be traveling / away from my computer for a few weeks towards the end of December for the Holiday so that will take some time away from wrapping things up.

If anyone is interested in purchasing Species please email me off list. :)

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Currently: Digital Artist, Rigging at Animal Logic
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Adrian Lopez]

Awesome, Eric!   This brings up a question.. will the Species rigs come with their tagging templates to make the mocap transfer process easier?  I've gone to war with MOTOR many times and ultimately, it won.  Sounds like a video is needed on this one! :)

Just bought in to the beta, cant wait to get started!

Adrian

[Eric Thivierge]

We have to do further tests in relation to the Mocap setup, my video was a really quick and dirty run through and I don't have much experience with production level Mocap use on rigs. If everything seems to be working solidly with further testing we'll provide as many assets as we can to help the process.