[Freddy]

@Freddy,
I have to review the technical terms, but in simple terms, I remember there was a pair of inverted black and white monochrome images that are the exact opposite of each other used in this rendering.  The point being that they may not be modified separately since they have to match black to white and vice versa.   So if you modify one, then make a copy, invert it and regenerate the second one.

I am not sure if this applies to your workflow.  I am just brainstorming.  If this sounds familiar then I will research it in more detail.  In any case, I like this idea, and I think the results may turn out to be efficient and realistic.

What you are saying does light a bulb in my head - I think you mean alpha maps ?

I don't think Helix allows the use of that technique at the moment. I was using OBJ format models with their associated material file. Only some materials/texture features are supported at the moment.

I may leave Helix for now as I have tried the hair model in Unity and it looks much better - more like the Daz Studio render and the transparency works fine.

I took a screen shot of her in the Unity editor, it's an improvement I think, also the skin tones come out better

EDIT: Actually that's a different hair model, but already you can see the transparency works well. This hair was the same one as I used in that static render you posted about today.

[Art]

Borrowing from Yoda,
Pretty she is!!

[8pla.net]

UPDATE:

Here is an updated video.  I've rolled back some of the optimizations
which did not apply to the solution I went with.  So there are more
visemes for the time being.   I tested, for the first time, the YouTube
option to make it a 3D video.

https://www.youtube.com/v/QTSmDhOKgw4&rel=0

Do you think the optimizations should have been left in the video? 
(Both versions of the video are still up there for comparison.)

Thanks for your feedback.

[8pla.net]

Close-up

EDIT OUT 1411911247:  Originally, there was a transformation of a geometric figure here, which dilated the lengths of the sides by the same factor.  However, this dilation was considered unpleasant  (See next post).  So, it was edited out.

Image is quoted from Freddy's post above.  This is the same image (same filesize) enlarged using bbcode tags.

[Art]

And the reason you just made me think something had gone awry with my eyesight?!

Just as in photography, the image gets blurry, fuzzy, distorted when zoomed or enlarged.
But you knew that?

Just wondering...

[8pla.net]

@Art: 

The reasoning was to visualize the future of Freddy's avatar...

A life sized android.   

Apologies!   

[Freddy]

Sorry you lost me there...

But I think the added visemes are better, not sure.

Don't know if this is useful to you :

Visemes - for Character Animation

[8pla.net]

But I think the added visemes are better, not sure.

This comment in particular was helpful.  It led me to suspect an error was present.
Well, there was.  I found a pair of visemes that were in there backwards. 

https://www.youtube.com/v/TYpB_RVdv2s&rel=0

So I swapped them and rendered a new animation with batting eyelashes.

[Freddy]

I think it's better, perhaps less blinking may be more effective though

I made some progress on my 3D model in Unity. I spent 2-3 days getting back into Blender and learnt how to rig a model for use in Unity. I was able to get some free motion capture animations and now she can walk 

It's very basic at the moment, this is just me in learning mode, but the effect is pretty good.

[Data]

The motion capture animations work well   

[Art]

Agreed, mocap appears smooth and fluid with a very lifelike body lean toward each side as each step is taken...nice.

One very minor pick. her feet slide to the left ever so slightly when she walks but this is not your fault as I have seen such effects much worse in many popular games and visualizations. Most of it has to do with the internal physics routines and not having collision detection within the engine.

Again, I wouldn't sweat it at this early stage in your development but my honest, unbiased, professional appraisal cost you absolutely nothing.
Hey! Free is good right?!

Then again, the Pilgrims thought so and look where that got us!

[8pla.net]

Can someone please explain to me

how to embed a video here on this site?

[Freddy]

Thanks chaps

@Art, yes there is a bit of drift - these are freebies and not perfect - I have my eye on some more professional ones that look near perfect.

I can't decide if I should be able to walk her around or have her as someone to 'meet' if you get me. I have a first person controller that works well. So say she was in a house, you could go in the house and talk to her. I think I will do that as moving her around via the keyboard in third person may break any illusion of her being in control of herself. Dunno, not sure. 

@8pla - it looks like you worked it out. You just paste the YouTube url from it's address bar. But for it to work you need to remover the 's' in https that YouTube uses.

[8pla.net]

@Art:  I suspect it may be fast render settings, which are so convenient to work with.  Only a few seconds to finish the rendering.  Sometimes I may let high quality videos render overnight while I sleep, with a fan blowing on my computer to prevent it from overheating. 

[Art]

And thus was born another great idea and business opportunity...

the wonderful, Render Farms. Where a group of computers are tasked with rendering a large project together, usually with each doing a piece or part of the final product / render. Especially useful for large scale animations, movies, etc.

I imagine it akin to SETI where thousands of individual personal computer "examine" packets of information thus equaling the computing power of several super computers working for quite a long time.

Just rambling...which old people often do....