I tried Facshift before they died, I had very good result with the kinect one. 
I really don't understand how can people believe having "Avatar" result with only 500$ :ermm:
I suggest you to contact AAA  people or compagny working with professionnal results. You NEVER get professionnal
result even with 20 K budget when mocap. You always have to re-work .
The particularity of Reallusion product is the EZ-buton phylosophy. The Reallusion pricing VS the easy learning/quality production
is very low.

That's the price of their headgear as a bundle and not the price of the GoPro camera itself. The Gopro Hero Camera itself is about $325 dollars on Amazon. It's not so much the brand of camera, but the specifications that you would need to pay attention to when it comes to a camera purchase. Basically, they're saying that using your old Desktop webcam might work but you're going to get the best results from an HD Camera. It works off the quality of the video, so the better the quality, the better the results for the most part, but it isn't brand specific. Analyzer works off video and not a direct feed from the camera, that's what the live server component is for and why it costs so much. You could, if you like use video from a digital slr if you were so inclined to do so. You can match or surpass the quality of a Hero 4 video output with some of the latest cell phones. If I recall correctly, you can shoot 4k video on the Samsung Galaxy S6.

The one other thing I wanted to clarify was I realize not everyone is a student or faculty member, but there's no reason they can't become one if they want to gain access to the kind of software that will help them take advantage of this. One community college credit course could gain you access to a $6500 software package for 3 years!   I put it out there because people might not realize that they can gain access to better tools with a little creative problem solving. For me in Virginia, that's Maya, 3DS Max Motionbuilder --all for the cost of one 3 credit class, which I would have taken anyway --if you want to be even smarter, you could select a class on video lighting or film making so that you actually gain some more useful knowledge while you're at it. 

I tried the demo with my phone's front-facing camera. It worked great! You do want reasonable and even lighting though.

It's true, Faceware works with off the shelf webcams. But even Faceware will tell you in their videos that it's not recommended. You will get so-so results. What is recommended is the GoPro headcam ($2000) to get professional results. If you want top results, there's the ProHD headcam ($13000-$20000).
And then there's the software, The re-targeter, which is free if you use the learning edition, it is a plugin only usable  if you have either Maya or MotionBuilder.. There are
many people in this group who are not students and who won't be able to afford those programs. Faceware might be usable without the re-targeter, but with so-so results.
Whichever way it goes, I'll bet my top dollar that the price is going to be more than a couple hundred bucks, especially if you want quality results.

My latest movie THE GOLDEN MAN, and a few others: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIl1EqVCKitZzLqaNnLK0BA

I believe you guys are missing a small piece of the picture. You can use Faceware without shelling out $2745 for the Faceware live software. It's true --Faceware live is expensive when you look at the price sheet, but there is another option. Faceware also consists of two Offline Components  --Faceware Analyzer and Faceware Retargeter --which can be used inside Maya, Max and Motionbuilder. The key takeaway in this is that you can get a copy of Retargeter and Analyzer in a Personal Learning Edition free of charge. Now if you don't have Maya, Max or Motionbuilder --you can still get the software for free if you are willing to take a few extra steps. If you are a college student, or work for an educational institution, you can request a copy from Autodesk free of charge. you don't even have to be a full time student --you just have to have a current student id and an edu email address. It's a bit of a round about way if you don't have Maya, Max or Motionbuilder but it's a surefire solution if you do. 

http://facewaretech.com/products/software/ple/

https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/entertainment-creation-suite-ultimate

There is also one other option that might work, though I haven't found anyone who's actually used it and the videos for the product are scarce. There is a product called zign track 2 which does facial motion capture. I am not sure how good it is, or whether or not it's worth a look but it's affordable for the entry level at about $199

https://zigncreations.com/products/zign-track-2/


Check it out. It may get you into the facial motion capture you've been wanting. 

I am a bit concerned.

We will get the curve editor. We have body mocap (if we pay the $$). We will also have a very good rendering system in a few months. I feel that the only thing that's REALLY missing for storytellers is the ability for facial Mocap. So I find it a bit hard to believe that the company will let go of the last big feature we need, only for a few hundred dollars. It's standard companies practice, and I don't blame them.

No, you won't be paying 2K for this.  Remember, the suit (the $$$ stuff) is the hardware needed.  You have to have those controllers.  ALL the facial mocap works with off the shelf cameras AND captured video.  You can see this in the samples everywhere.  That's the whole point of this facial system, that it can work with ANY video source.

So even if the software is $500 that will be the only cost.  But I don't think it will even be that expensive, as the licensing of this is much cheaper.  Again, I'm guessing a few hundred dollars.  Bet you a dollar that will be the range.                               

What you say makes sense and calmed me a bit. If the price is indeed what you mention, I'll be so happy that I'll give you more than 1 dollar!!!! :D



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My YouTube Channel
Phoenix   ;)

No, you won't be paying 2K for this.  Remember, the suit (the $$$ stuff) is the hardware needed.  You have to have those controllers.  ALL the facial mocap works with off the shelf cameras AND captured video.  You can see this in the samples everywhere.  That's the whole point of this facial system, that it can work with ANY video source.

So even if the software is $500 that will be the only cost.  But I don't think it will even be that expensive, as the licensing of this is much cheaper.  Again, I'm guessing a few hundred dollars.  Bet you a dollar that will be the range.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

(Okay, the software is free if you don't use it commercially

mmm , if you want make business with Reallusion product , it's coherent to pay for that...

That's what I'm afraid of.

The PN Suit, in all it's glory and despite being the cheapest MoCap suit available, is still over 2.000 $.

Face MoCap won't be cheap. It's the big chance of all the companies in the world to earn big $$.

It won't be easily accessible to the average hobbyist... :(


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Phoenix   ;)

The Faceware plugin is going to cost mucho dineros. Look at the perception Neuron plugin: it's $500, plus the suit and the neurons. It's well over $2000.  That gives you an idea. With Faceware, you'll have to buy maybe at least their software, if not some of the hardware. Thousands and thousands of $. (Okay, the software is free if you don't use it commercially).
Prepare to have a heart attack.


My latest movie THE GOLDEN MAN, and a few others: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIl1EqVCKitZzLqaNnLK0BA