Our next task is to load a custom face on the character with an image. This can be a photo or a computer generated image with a forward looking facial shot including friends and family!
With the Dylan character selected:
Click on the Head tab.
Click on Load Image and load the Fighter image or browse to a face image of your choice. The Fighter facial image is in the FaceFront sub folder of the template folder if you have previously navigated away from this default location:
Tip
Resizing trick for your character
While iClone limits what you can do to change the scale of a character in one session, there is a trick that will allow us to shrink or enlarge our character to suit our needs. Reduce or enlarge your character to the maximum amount allowed by the sliders then save that character. Reload the character and the sliders will be reset and you can again modify the character to the maximum allowed by the sliders. Repeat this process as many times as necessary to achieve the proper size character:
Click on the Next button.
Scale the facial fitting outline to the photo:
After scaling and moving the facial mask we will continue with lining up the mask.
Line up the mouth and nose as best you can. Don't worry about the eyes yet. The eyes will be adjusted on the next step of the process. When you move or scale the face fitting outline pay attention to what is happening on the left-side pane. The left pane will show you how the image is fitting to the head. Move the facial fitting outline until you are satisfied with the mouth and nose fitting:
Click on the Next button.
Move the eyes up to where they cover the eyes of the image.
Move the nose to fit while watching the results on the left side.
Move and resize the mouth for fitting to the mouth area.
Note
Make note of the Mirror checkbox. When you are moving the eyes, initially you may want to keep the MIRROR box checked, then uncheck the box to move individual parts of the outline.
Click on Edit Side on the top and make any adjustment to the side of the face while keeping track of the changes in the left pane.
When you are satisfied with the results click on OK.
You will then be presented with a save file dialog window. Browse to the location you wish to save the face with your preferred name and click on the SAVE button.
Note
If you don't like the results of your initial face fitting then it is recommended that you try again. Once you have fit a few faces you will start to develop your own style for this feature. Perseverance pays off with facial fitting.
Click on the Actor tab and the Hair button.
Adjust the scale and positioning of the hair to fit the new head properly.
Note
The position of the hair to the head pivot point is saved as part of the head attribute. The Reset button will restore the hair to its default position in most cases, depending on how the hair was constructed.
What just happened?
We have just loaded and fit a customized face which will change the overall shape of the head to match the face features we used during the fitting process. Even though we may change out the hair, we adjusted the existing hair to fit the face.
Not all photos will face fit in the same manner. You may have to go back a step or two and modify the placement or you may have to fit the eyes first then fit the nose and mouth in the next step. While this is indeed a powerful face fitting tool it will take some trial and error experimentation to get used to how it operates. You will develop your own style of facial fitting as you use iClone.