AdonisFX Muscle Simulation Training Workshop in the MAKING

Great NEWS! Puppeteer Lounge have been granted an Academic license by team AdonisFX! Now it's time to dig in and explore this tool-set. Training Workshop program coming soon!!

ZIVA VFX Not Available

Well... with the downfall of ZIVA VFX, Puppeteer Lounge will no longer feature and train workshops based on ZIVA VFX! Rigging Workshop 4, ZIVA Quad Setup, etc is not available at the moment, but I am looking at other solutions too like AdonisFX...! As for RIGGING WORKSHOP 3 (Muscle Based Setup), we are including a BONUS Material that goes over FAT SKIN Simulation using nCloth dynamics so you can add simulation in your rig deformation!

Dancing Man ~ Learn ZIVA Muscle Simulation

ZIVA Muscle Simulation by Puppeteer Lounge student Rayner Brian Hendry. Learn to rig and simulate realistic character like this at Puppeteer Lounge! ZIVA Muscle Simulation! 

Ziva VFX Muscle Simualtion

Ziva VFX muscle simulation by Puppeteer Lounge student Sanal Deep. Looking forward for the next iteration Sanal Deep.

Bison muscle simulation by Francesco Gioia

Muscle simulation and setup by Puppeteer Lounge alumnus Francesco Gioia. Looking good Francesco! I see a lot of improvement, just make sure that you are not over jiggle the muscle and the way the thigh muscle is collapsing should be take a look at. Overall I like it!

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Mohammad Dorgham | Student Demo Reel

ZIVA VFX Quadruped Setup by Puppeteer Lounge student Mohammad Dorgham. Assignment for ZIVA VFX Hyper Real Quadruped Setup training workshop.

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Sanal Deep | Student Demo Reel

ZIVA VFX Quadruped Setup by Puppeteer Lounge student Sanal Deep. Assignment for ZIVA VFX Hyper Real Quadruped Setup training workshop. Well done Sanal!

Grizzly Asset I Anatomy Model - Rig - Simulation Cache

For those of you learning ZIVA VFX here is a really nice digital asset by Nicolas MOREL to get started with!

Ziva Rapid Face Trainer Result

So here it is the result from ZRT Face Trainer and below are my thoughts:

Looks like its all blend-shape driven process with a base FACS based logic driven face rig setup. Your base model which is termed as "target mesh" gets converted to match the topology of ZIVA base model (termed as "source model") which I believe already has all the necessary face setups and connections. Once you upload your file to ZRT Face Trainer portal, it takes a few hour for the preview result to be published. During the process of training in my opinion ZIVA Rapid Trainer essentially swap the face through some blend-shape algorithm and possibly face swapping AI similar to deep fake to get the result! This workflow is good for fast output for non real (living) human or CGI generated hyper real model and may not be suitable for CGI digital double. In our case we used our in-house 3D scanned digital double and the result doesn't match the real character in terms of facial expression. For CGI digital double face rig based on actual 3d scans of facial expression of the actor is essential. But anyways this looks promising and in my opinion a GAME CHANGER! Finally the Face Trainer just provides you with a video preview, there is no mesh file, rig file or animation file provided with this early access which is a bummer! As I could have dig deeper and also do a nice little render with custom animation 🙂

Lion by Carey Wang Breakdown

Lion by Carey Wang Breakdown from Madhav Shyam on Vimeo.

Beautiful animation and simulation breakdown by Madhav Shyam.

1 Minute of the Most Lifelike RT Character by Ziva Dynamics

1 Minute of the Most Lifelike RT Character by Ziva Dynamics from Ziva Dynamics on Vimeo.

A Conversation with a Ziva Real-Time Character from Ziva Dynamics on Vimeo.

This is truly amazing a game changer! All this in real-time running inside UE5. Hat's of the guys at ZIVA VFX!! Anyways I am currently on a waiting list to try it out! Apparantly the tool uses a library of 4D facial scans with the help of machine learning AI to create life like facial expression. I have a feeling that it is very much like deep fake. Just my thoughts but we will wait and see 🙂

Wrinkle pass overlay with ZIVA VFX simulation by Christopher Macwana

Wrinkle_hires from Christopher Macwana on Vimeo.

Interesting approach of using custom shapes to generate wrinkles on skin simulation with ZIVA VFX by Christopher Macwana.

Bear Fight by Megan Johnson

meganBearFight.mp4 from Anton Blake on Vimeo.

Bear fight animation by Megan Johnson from Monster Emporium Animation School! Really nice!!

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Johnathon Slender | Student Demo Reel

Quadruped Setup and animation by Johnathon Slender. Assignment for Puppeteer Lounge ZIVA VFX Hyper Real Quadruped Setup training workshop. Well done!

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Mitchell Hardy | Student Demo Reel

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Mitchell Hardy | Student Demo Reel from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

ZIVA VFX muscle simulation and character setup by Puppeteer Lounge student Mitchell Hardy. Animation done by in-house animator Nitin Shakya who also trained with us at Puppeteer Lounge.

Francesco Gioia, Rigging/Creature TD demo reel, december 2020

Francesco Gioia, Rigging/Creature TD demo reel, december 2020 from Francesco Gioia on Vimeo.

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Francesco Gioia | Student Demo Reel from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Impressive show-reel by Puppeteer Lounge student Francesco Gioia. Well done Francesco!

Facial Rigging & ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Francesco Gioia

Facial Rigging & ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Francesco Gioia | Student Demo Reel from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.

Facial Rigging with Blendshape Combination System and ZIVA VFX muscle simulation and character setup (Rigging Workshop 4) by Puppeteer Lounge student Francesco Gioia from Italy. Well done Francesco!

ZIVA Deer muscle demo

01. Ziva Muscles Setup of Deer from Christopher Macwana on Vimeo.

Ziva Muscles Setup of deer by Christopher Macwana which is available in gumroad.

Rig Demo Reel Break Down by Chenyu Hsieh

Rig Demo Reel Break Down from Chenyu Hsieh on Vimeo.

Rigging demoreel by Chenyu Hsieh. Chenyu participated in Puppeteer Lounge Ziva VFX quadruped setup training workshop. Well done!

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Ricardo Medina Fernández

ZIVA VFX Muscle Setup by Ricardo Medina Fernández  | Student Demo Reel from Puppeteer Lounge on Vimeo.



Ziva VFX muscle simulation breakdown by Puppeteer Lounge student Ricardo Medina Fernández. Ricardo did a great job with the setup and simulation!