Lately there's been a lot of talk about what rendering capabilities Iclone could do with. Especially since the Iray renders from CC3 started piling up, and recenty there was a post about whether Iclone could produce a result like Adam, rendered in Unity.
But in all the time I've seen discussions about how to take Iclone to the next level, I've never seen anyone talk about wrinkle maps.
I've posted my WIP scene from my movie a few times now and honestly while making this film, the thing I'd wan't Reallusion to add to Iclone more than anything is wrinkle maps!!
This tool has come a long way with it's facial animation. But no matter whether you use facial motion capture or painstakingly hand animate the faces, there are serious limitations to the levels of emotion you can convey without wrinkle maps.

Below is a strong example of it's use in Maya.


And below are a few of the awesome cutscenes done for the game Injustice 2.
IMO Iclone can achieve similar levels of character fidelity except Injustice 2 makes use of wrinkle maps, as do many modern AAA titles.

Notice how the wrinkles on the cheeks, nose, and forehead adds to the performance.

So yes, while it's important to have shiny looking renders, just a small reminder not to fall behind with the characters that are actually telling most of these stories.

So are you just talking bump/texture maps?  Because you can import these easily from Daz and add them to any character.

I showed this in another thread on CC - let me see if I can find it.  Here it is (a week or two ago):

https://forum.reallusion.com/385466/Help-with-customization-of-head#bm385503

Save that out as a CC map and apply it to any avatar and you have old.  Same is true of dozens of others (and I've done this).  Now, if what you're asking is should RL supply some of these maps rather than us having to have them in the first place: sure, by all means.  The more the better.  But you can do it yourself, now.

---

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

Yes and no. Wrinkle maps are generally made from normal maps. However they represent wrinkles that show up ONLY when certain faces are pulled, like the wrinkles that appear on a forehead when eyebrows are raised (look at the first video).
Wrinkle maps are normal maps that dynamically come in and out as certain face shapes ramp up and down.

I'd argue you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a bump/normal map that deforms as the face moves.  I get your idea -- you're saying that when a facial muscle moves that it creates a crease, but unless you are doing extreme closeups (which most won't be doing) I would defy you to tell the difference (then again, I suspect the more wrinkles someone has to begin with the less actually form when the facial muscles move).

---

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

Hmmmmmm; I wonder?
I have some thoughts on this that I will try out when I get home tonight to see if I can do that first video with iClone?

Edit
I do agree though that having this capability on characters by default would be a handy.



i7-3770 3.4GHz CPU 16 GB Ram   
GeForce GTX1080 TI 11GB
Windows 10 Pro 64bit

"Snappers" facial rig... if you haven't seen it in action this video is rather impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_FALeUc8c

Wow, amazing quality "Snappers facial rig... if you haven't seen it in action this video is rather impressive."
I hope the Realusion team can aspire to this one day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
View my latest Iclone project THEY ARE HERE Renegades versus the overlords 

Here is my first trial of getting wrinkles on the forehead.
Really just checking to see whether it might work so the texturing needs a better attempt than what I did here, but not too bad I think.
Someone who can texture well should certainly get it better than this.
Also, I just read Keleytoons post here and he had already mentioned my thought for this so its based off his suggestion.

Thought I would throw some pulling faces into it as well. Not really something I have needed so far so a huge learning attempt from me LOL



i7-3770 3.4GHz CPU 16 GB Ram   
GeForce GTX1080 TI 11GB
Windows 10 Pro 64bit

Thanks for the test, Delerna.

That would be pretty cool if it could "fade" in and out, or "morph" as the eyebrows raise and lower.  That would open up a whole new world of creative possibilities, and additional work for the artist.  Interesting topic.

---

iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Hoping I am understanding what you meant by fading in and out
Actually, it does fade in and out. Looking at it again now I think it is fading out too fast. Also seeing that I shouldn't have made it fade out all the way.
I was making the displacements strength fade between 60 and 0 during the animation, Now I think between 60 and 30 is what I should have done. 

Here are some images of the strengths ….geez the texture needs better work, I spent something like a whole 5 minutes drawing it....rolling eyes at myself.
Using gradients to draw them should mean something more like the image in the first post should be possible. The good thing is the image can be changed and re-added to the characters head until it suits the more proper projects animated scene than what is here without having to reanimate it each time a change is made.



i7-3770 3.4GHz CPU 16 GB Ram   
GeForce GTX1080 TI 11GB
Windows 10 Pro 64bit