How to get the most out of facerig? Best camera, best lighting, best background,etc.

[Abyss_Walker]

I'm very interested in this software. However I know it can only be as good as the equipment and recording conditions.

Any recommendations for a camera? I am willing to spend a few hundred bucks. I want the best quality I can get, and I don't have a camera for my computer now, so I might as well go all out.

Should there be a light source directly on my face?

What about the wall behind me? Does a certain lighting or color situation help the camera get a better picture?

I just want to get the best equipment possible, basically. Thanks!

[76561198162644749]

Hello,

I commend you for asking a very good question!
Let me answer stuff one thing at a time:)
First of all, the camera should be one that has as little noise as possible and a good resolution. 720p is more than enough, 1080p is even better but keep in mind that using your camera at 1080p 30/60fps will be quite taxing for your PC and unless you have a very strong CPU, you might not want to do that.
My personal favorite is the Logitech c920, but I've seen MANY users get amazing results with older models like the c310 or the c260. This is really the 1st camera that comes to mind but we've also used some amazing cameras from Microsoft such as the Microsoft lifecams.
The light should be distributed as evenly as possible on your face. Don't shine it directly on your face, but rather use an old trick that involves shining it on a white surface to have it reflected back at you a more appropriate intensity and more evenly.

The wall behind you doesn't really matter, however it's advised that you don't have any posters with faces on them since at one point (rarely, but still) the tracker might try to "jump" to one of the faces and try to track those instead of you :D Oh, and don't shine the light from behind you as this might make your face look darker and lose contrast (contrast helps the tracker distinguish your facial features better for more accurate tracking)

This is all for now, I'll update later if more things come to mind.

Meanwhile, I will pin this post since, as I mentioned, your question is pretty awesome and these are things every FaceRig user should be asking themselves.

Have an awesome day!

[MarkedOne]

so what about : Microsoft LifeCam Studio ? 1080p, 30fps and has FaceTracking (the camera i mean) doesnt that help the facerig too ??? or its a useless feature and cannot cooperate with the SW itself? Id like a recommendation in a webcam up to MAX 100€ but if it could fit into like 50 that would be amazing ! ... i aleary own a copy of Facerig and some "dlcs" .. pls help me out to get it work properrly and the best as it can :) thank you !

[Egal Matreaux]

I know this is older, but OBS Studio works wonders for recording. I don't bother with the internal renderer of FaceRig. Longest video I've done was about 14mins, and that took about 30mins to put together. Since it was the very first time using FaceRig and OBS, since than I have only gotten faster at the process, love them both so far, beautiful 1080p videos. Can't wait till I can upgrade my monitor to 4k and start producing even better videos.

*EDIT*- Would seem all I needed was Adobe Media Encoder to get 4k videos for YouTube, who knew it was so simple. Saved me a few hundred bucks.

[DrakEmono]

Originally posted by Jujubi, Minion of Machy:

Hello,

I commend you for asking a very good question!
Let me answer stuff one thing at a time:)
First of all, the camera should be one that has as little noise as possible and a good resolution. 720p is more than enough, 1080p is even better but keep in mind that using your camera at 1080p 30/60fps will be quite taxing for your PC and unless you have a very strong CPU, you might not want to do that.
My personal favorite is the Logitech c920, but I've seen MANY users get amazing results with older models like the c310 or the c260. This is really the 1st camera that comes to mind but we've also used some amazing cameras from Microsoft such as the Microsoft lifecams.
The light should be distributed as evenly as possible on your face. Don't shine it directly on your face, but rather use an old trick that involves shining it on a white surface to have it reflected back at you a more appropriate intensity and more evenly.

The wall behind you doesn't really matter, however it's advised that you don't have any posters with faces on them since at one point (rarely, but still) the tracker might try to "jump" to one of the faces and try to track those instead of you :D Oh, and don't shine the light from behind you as this might make your face look darker and lose contrast (contrast helps the tracker distinguish your facial features better for more accurate tracking)

This is all for now, I'll update later if more things come to mind.

Meanwhile, I will pin this post since, as I mentioned, your question is pretty awesome and these are things every FaceRig user should be asking themselves.

Have an awesome day!

Hello

I wanted to ask something about the camera... So, I checked about the webcams Logitech c920 and c310. Can you tell me the real difference between the two? (beside the price and the fact the c920 can do 1080p, as well as their price?)

And I saw you say a 1080p cam would require a lot of CPU usage for facerig... I'm not a pro about hardware, so I would ask to know your opinion. (or anyone able to answer)
I have an Intel Core i5 4460, and I was wondering if you think it's far enough for using a 1080p camera with it without problem, assuming I would be running a recent game in ultra at the same time, and would be streaming it. (I'm afraid it's a lot to handle, but I was still wondering...)

Thank you very much

[Egal Matreaux]

I imagine the resolution of the camera is a factor, because it has to process the whole image at a certain framefrate, pending your settings. So a full 1920x1080 image is much larger and takes more CPU power to process than it would on 640X480, cause the image is much smaller.

I started with the Logitech c270 and it worked barely, needed to have proper lighting, a black backdrop and I had to manually adjust the camera settings.

I am now using the Logitech C930e set to the 940x560 (something like that) and have the camera within a foot of my face, direct eye line. Works with no adjusting lights or anything, just turn it on and go.

[DrakEmono]

Yes, I understood that a bigger image would take more CPU, but I was mostly wondering if someone can tell me if with the CPU I have, and in the situation I said, it would be better to focus to 1080p or 720p, as I'm looking for the best mix of performance and result possible.

So... Yeah, I guess I should avoid c270 unless I need a perfect setting and environment... How about the c310? Is it nearly the same as c270 or still much better?

[Egal Matreaux]

I went for the c930e for two reasons, first was local selection was limited, and second, it was literally the only 1080p logitech webcam that streamed in 1080p, rest streamed in 720p.

What matters is the framing of your face, it should fill as much of the screen as possible. On full 1080p my face is pretty small on the screen even being a foot away, it would have to be inchs away, so a lower resolution is not only easier on the system, but better for tracking as your face fills more of the screen. That's what I have found, I've done a bunch of different tests to tweak it with a cheap camera, it's better to spend the extra few bucks if you are at all serious about it.

[Egal Matreaux]

I've more or less got the hang of it and the leap controller, putting up 4k vids on YouTube now.

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

[yIDe7]

I personally use the Ps3 eye camera, it gives me 60fps at 640 x 480 which seems to be enough to make facerig work well. This compared with the cam from my laptop which was comepletely unusable. It can also do 120fps at 320 x 240, but the noise is intolerable.
And the best part about it? It costs only 5$, that's like nothing.

There is also the ps4 eye camera, which can do 1280 x 800 @ 60fps (costs around 40$), but you need to rewire the cable in order for it to work on the pc. It also needs to be connected to a usb 3.0 port. My computer only has usb 2.0, so I couldn't try it.

[LadyMatrix]

Should the camera be zoomed onto your face would it give the program more detail or leave it as it is?

[FurRiffic]

Originally posted by LadyMatrix:

Should the camera be zoomed onto your face would it give the program more detail or leave it as it is?

The camera, while not zoomed in, should see your face fully but as best screen-filling as possible. Zooming in most of the time only makes it more pixelated and does not enhance detail (except when it is a physical zoom, done by turning a lens or something)

[LadyMatrix]

Originally posted by FurRiffic:

Originally posted by LadyMatrix:

Should the camera be zoomed onto your face would it give the program more detail or leave it as it is?

The camera, while not zoomed in, should see your face fully but as best screen-filling as possible. Zooming in most of the time only makes it more pixelated and does not enhance detail (except when it is a physical zoom, done by turning a lens or something)

Thank you

[Poobah Gorg]

How well would a Logitech C615 work?

[Xbandar]

What about the mic?

[cad80_99]

Originally posted by Pete:

will this work with twitch and l4d2 running at the same time????

i will give it a try and let you know. i know it works if you use a 2 pc setup as this software can run with steam in offline mode.