Hi all.
I have made some characters in CC2 using front and side view photographs. 
The process was easy but making them resemble the actual people, well, not so much.  
I'm sure that with many MANY more hours on each I would have come closer.
My question is this...for anyone who used the CC2 to make a avatar from photographs and now are using CC3 and Headshot.
How do the two compare?
Is the Headshot plugin as accurate as it appears in the promos or is there still hours and HOURS of fine tuning required like in CC2?
I have an application for Headshot but if it requires hours for each avatar it will not fit my business model.

I think there's a demo mode for Headshot -- why don't you try it yourself and see?

If not then you could always post a photo here and let others show *you* how it works.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Thanks.  I have considered it.
I do have CC2 installed and oft times I find when I install other versions of similar programs it causes issues with my current ones.
I am seriously considering CC3 and Headshot but slow to download the trial verisons for fear they will bugger up my purchased software.
From the videos I've watched and the reviews to-date it does seem like the one-click avatar is very close to the original reference.
I was looking to hear what others may have experienced.
Thanks for your reply...much appreciated.

I am real rubbish at doing what you do in CC2 ie using morphs to make an avatar look like a photo or someone I want them to look like.  I was using Crazy Talk 8 with mixed results so trialled Head Shot and saw it was better but by no means perfect.  I bought it pretty quick as there is no practical alternative for me.
What I have found is the accuracy of the outcome depends on the original photo and the subject.  I am using photos of celebrities off the internet at the moment and they tend to pose with open mouths and do not look at the camera.  Even lighting is also an issue so if half the face is lit artistically it can cause problems.  Then some faces just don't seem to work that well, Donald Trump is beyond me at the moment but Boris Johnson is passable.  Who knows, I have only been playing for a bit so am no expert.
I have watched most of the tutorials and the tutors have skills I never will have such as preparing the photos first and then playing with the morphs to fine tune.  However Head Shot comes with quite a few functions to improve the quality which someone like me can play with easily and I do a minor bit of adjustment with morphs and get recognisable results sometimes so it was definitely worth it for me.  
If you expect it to work as well as in the promotional videos I think you will be disappointed.  If you want something that works well sometimes but is no good at others and have the skills and time to fiddle I think its worth it.
I understand about installing new software and the problems it can cause especially as I originally had horrendous problems with iclone for the first 6 months or more.  I do however have CC2 installed alongside CC3 and have so far had no issues.
Not a definitive answer I am afraid.

There is no trickery used in the promos. The results you see are the results you will get if you used the same photo. Of course if you use a low resolution photo that lacks definition then your results will not look as good as the promos, but with a high resolution photo showing good facial definition then you will have a super realistic character ready in minutes not hours.


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

@Figment

It's a one click of a photo of my son.

Let me address one thing that's sort of being alluded to here, that folks producing excellent results have skills far beyond the "normal" person.

I think that Headshot, as with any halfway decent powerful piece of software, has a learning curve to it.  To get the absolute best results will require practice, but I don't think it's all that steep a curve, nor do I think it's unreasonable for people of almost any level to get good results in a short period of time.  But you *will* get better, even using photos off the web, and while not every image will work if you are trying to do someone famous I can promise you you WILL find an image that does work well.  If you are shooting the photos yourself, as the OP seems to be saying, you won't have a problem at all.  Just make sure you do three things -- subject straight on, camera far enough back so no distortion (at least 10-12 feet is best) and even lighting (no flash but either open shade outside or indoors in even room lighting).  Those three things will almost certainly give you a photo that will work (the fourth -- high resolution -- isn't an absolute but certainly can help.  Nowadays most digital cameras will do nothing other than take a high enough image for you anyway).

If you have ANY need to create your own heads Headshot is not only nice, it's a necessity.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Hi Peter,
I didn't mean to allude to any trickery and if so, please accept my apologies.
My question was more about the skill level required to gain such great results with only a click here or there.
Having used CC2 to attempt to create similar characters I found I had to tweak a LOT of sliders to even come close.
I spent many HOURS in front of the keyboard and got better but never great at this task.
When I saw the ad for Headshot my immediate thought was "CC2 already does that. Did they simply break out the subroutines as a separate product?"
Again, no inference to trickery was intended, sorry if it seemed implied.

I found Headshot to be VASTLY SUPERIOR to the alternatives.

I was almost never satisfied with the CrazyTalk 8 photo-to-face process, but immediately got very good results with Headshot.

As has already been said, starting with an appropriate photo is the first step, and then taking some time to actually investigate and learn at least some of the post-click manual improvement features is time well spent.

I am very comfortable recommending Headshot to any iClone user who wants to create his or her own characters.

---

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

I would agree with Justaviking.

Although I am quite accomplished in getting something usable out of CT8, I greatly prefer the convenience of Headshot, which gives you a pretty good head without much effort, which can then improved.

Further advantages are that the head is suitable for CC3 characters and has the vastly improved skin shader. If you are interested in designing your own characters I think it is a worthwhile investment.

I would recommend for people to watch the YouTube Headshot tutorials, as they explain in great detail how to get the best results.

---