Faceposer: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:25, 23 May 2025

Faceposer playing back a complex scene with multiple actors.

Faceposer is the SDK tool used to produce choreographed sequences for the Source engine. It can create facial expressions (including lip-syncing), manage skeletal animations, the position and movement of actors in the world, and any map triggers that need to be fired during a scene.

See Choreography creation for a step-by step guide to creating choreography in the Source engine.
See Faceposer reference for a quick-reference guide to the different parts of the Faceposer interface.

Note:To use Faceposer with your own 2013-based mod, you'll need to set the VPROJECT environment variable to the game directory of your mod.

The simplest way to do so is to create a batch file or shortcut launching the executable with the -game launch parameter pointing to the mod's folder.

Note:All imported audio should be WAV files encoded as compressed 4-bit MS-ADPCM or uncompressed 16-bit PCM. The sampling rate can either be 11025 Hz, 22050 Hz, or 44100 Hz.

Issues

Faceposer (in pre- games) has missing icons for the Play / Stop / Pause buttons. To fix this, extract this to your SDK's bin (or hl2 / gamedir) folder. Another way to do this would be to extract the files from gfx/hlfaceposer from the game's main VPK. This is fixed in Scenemaker.
The Phoneme Extractor is broken by default. This can be fixed by using the Lipsinc Speech API instead of the default Microsoft Speech API. This is fixed in Scenemaker.
The Textured Render view only displays missing textures. Try using Smoothshaded or Flatshaded instead. This is fixed in Scenemaker.
Faceposer has some trouble loading debug materials, and will spam the Output window constantly when it uses them. This can cause the program to stutter quite a bit. You can try replacing your MaterialSystem.dll with this to silence these errors. This is fixed in Scenemaker.
Faceposer will also, in semi-rare cases, spam the Output window with Invalid controller index, and eventually crash. It is unknown what exactly causes this.
If models fail to load, or Faceposer is no longer starting/perpetually crashing, try deleting the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\faceposer registry key, and delete the hlfaceposer.rf file inside your SDK's bin folder.
If your mod uses custom shaders, Faceposer will fail to render any materials that use them when it's launched via VPROJECT. You'll need to launch Faceposer with the -game parameter pointing to the game directory of your mod.
Similar to HLMV, opening folders inside of the "Load model..." browser will give you an error if said folder only exists within a VPK. A fix would be to input the model path directly whitout exploring folders.

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-{{Language subpage}}
+{{LanguageBar}}
-[[Image:Faceposer multiactors.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Faceposer playing back a complex scene with multiple actors.]]
-{{hlfaceposer}} '''Faceposer''' is the SDK tool used to produce choreographed sequences for the Source engine. It creates [[Flex animation|facial expressions]] (including lip-syncing) and manages [[skeletal animation]]s, the position of actors in the world, and any map triggers that need to be fired during the scene.
+[[File:Faceposer multiactors.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Faceposer playing back a complex scene with multiple actors.]]
+{{faceposer|4|nt=0}} is the SDK tool used to produce choreographed sequences for the Source engine. It can create [[Flex animation|facial expressions]] (including lip-syncing), manage [[skeletal animation]]s, the position and movement of actors in the world, and any map triggers that need to be fired during a scene.
 *'''See [[Choreography creation]]''' for a step-by step guide to creating choreography in the Source engine.
 *'''See [[Faceposer reference]]''' for a quick-reference guide to the different parts of the Faceposer interface.
-{{Note|In order to open Faceposer in SDK 2013, use the Faceposer.bat file in located in the bin folder. Using the shortcut .exe will give you an error asking for Vconfig!}}
+{{Note|To use {{faceposer|1|nt=0}} with your own 2013-based mod, you'll need to set the ''VPROJECT'' environment variable to the game directory of your mod.{{clr}}
+The simplest way to do so is to create a batch file or shortcut launching the executable with the <code>-game</code> launch parameter pointing to the mod's folder.}}
-{{Note|To use Faceposer with your own 2013-based mod, set the VPROJECT path to the game directory of your mod.}}
+{{Note|All imported audio should be [[WAV]] files encoded as [[compression|compressed]] 4-bit MS-ADPCM or uncompressed 16-bit PCM. The sampling rate can either be 11025 Hz, 22050 Hz, or 44100 Hz.}}
 == Issues ==
-{{todo|Clean up the grammar here, and verify if everything is correct here.}}
+* {{faceposer|1|nt=0}} (in pre-{{l4d}} games) has missing icons for the '''Play''' / '''Stop''' / '''Pause''' buttons. To fix this, extract [http://steamreview.org/external/vdc/faceposer-icons.zip this] to your SDK's bin (or {{code|hl2}} / {{code|gamedir}}) folder. Another way to do this would be to extract the files from {{path|gfx/hlfaceposer}} from the game's main [[VPK]]. This is fixed in [[Scenemaker]].
+* The Phoneme Extractor is broken by default. This can be fixed by using the [[Phoneme Tool#Using Lipsinc Speech_API|Lipsinc Speech API]] instead of the default Microsoft Speech API. This is fixed in [[Scenemaker]].
+* The Textured Render view only displays missing textures. Try using Smoothshaded or Flatshaded instead. This is fixed in [[Scenemaker]].
+* {{faceposer|1|nt=0}} has some trouble loading debug materials, and will spam the Output window constantly when it uses them. This can cause the program to stutter quite a bit. You can try replacing your <code>MaterialSystem.dll</code> with [https://drive.google.com/file/d/13m2JCA3kBFJqQRuGoWfw1Jn7ilXtLIVJ/view?usp=sharing this] to silence these errors. This is fixed in [[Scenemaker]].
+* {{faceposer|1|nt=0}} will also, in semi-rare cases, spam the Output window with {{code|Invalid controller index}}, and eventually crash. It is unknown what exactly causes this.
+* If models fail to load, or Faceposer is no longer starting/perpetually crashing, try deleting the {{path|HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\faceposer|icon=reg}} registry key, and delete the {{path|hlfaceposer|rf|icon=file}} file inside your SDK's bin folder.
+* If your mod uses custom shaders, {{faceposer|1|nt=0}} will fail to render any materials that use them when it's launched via VPROJECT. You'll need to launch {{faceposer|1|nt=0}} with the {{code|-game}} parameter pointing to the game directory of your mod.
+* Similar to [[Half-Life Model Viewer (Source)#Issues|HLMV]], opening folders inside of the "Load model..." browser will give you an error if said folder only exists within a VPK. A fix would be to input the model path directly whitout exploring folders.
-* Incorrect model image probably made in {{photoshop|3.1}}, with HLMV, or with the incorrect size will make the "Load model" menu freeze and turn white, you will need to stop the {{path|hlfaceposer|exe|icon=exe}} process to fix it.
-* In SDK 2006/Orange Box (2007/2009/2013?) version, the Play/Stop/Pause (►/■/‖) buttons are missing their icons by default, and display as white boxes instead. To fix this, extract [http://steamreview.org/external/vdc/faceposer-icons.zip fix] to the proper folder, details [[Choreography_creation|here]].
-* Models may not load at all. To fix this, go into regedit, and delete {{path|HKEY_USERS\..\Software\Valve\faceposer}}. Another solution is to clean the {{path|hlfaceposer|rf|icon=file}} file in your SDK's bin folder.
-* To make faceposer '''Phoneme Editor''' extraction work (if you are using anything newer than Windows XP) there are plenty things you need to do. Let's work with Source SDK 2007 as the most stable revision. For some reasons there are lot's of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R38qlnow6eI info] how to make it [https://www.moddb.com/engines/source/downloads/windows-vista7-phoneme-extractor-13 work] with <code>Microsoft Speech 5.1</code>, but its the wrong approach. (it doesn't work properly anyway and it's quality is far from ideal). Go to [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Phoneme_Tool#Using_Lipsinc_Speech_API here]. Take <code>lipsinc_data/</code> from anywhere, even the leaked Half-Life 2 build, copy it to {{path|..\SourceSDK\bin\source2007\bin}}, copy {{code|ims_helper.dll}} and {{code|phonemeextractor_ims.dll}} from {{path|Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer\bin}} to {{path|..\SourceSDK\bin\source2007\bin}}, you can edit <code>GameConfig.txt</code> to add your mod here and launch faceposer through steam or just add a .bat file with "-game" to your mod (to make it work you will need many things! like to unpack proper shaders from <code>Source SDK Base 2007\vpks</code> (otherwise lips won't move) and other stuff, also don't forget [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Can%27t_find_steam_app_user_info this], write the [https://steamcommunity.com/app/420/discussions/0/864971765497379056/?l=russian&ctp=5#c648817377943105270 correct] {{code|gameinfo.txt}} for old source engine games. Change "''Speech API''" to "''Lipsinc Speech API''" in Faceposer, it should work now.
-* If all fine in Faceposer, but in game lips not moving and you use sounds from other games or old engine versions just don't forget that Faceposer formats also can be changed from one engine version to another, go to <b>Phoneme Editor</b>, then press <code>Redo Extraction</code>, if you want to get less size, try use "''export word data to'' {{code|.txt}}", then you can import it and then commit extraction to your sound files, same rule spreads on {{code|.vcd}} scene files, just resave them.
-{{Note|Always make sure that your audio is encoded to 16 bit mono ADPCM/PCM format (stereo also work though). Otherwise you won't hear anything in game and lips won't move.}}
 {{SDKTools}}
+[[Category:Choreography]]

Faceposer: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:25, 23 May 2025

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