StrobeRoom 1.13 goes back to the standing poses. We used to place a standing hand the same way for everyone in the cast: so far in front of the chest, so far out from the hip. That suited some people and not others. A hand floated in front of a dress, sank into a sweater or stood out past an arm. So we changed how a standing hand is placed: against the body and the clothes of the person it belongs to.
Also in this update: Eric, Claudia and Carla get facial expressions, so everyone in the cast has them now. The app holds less on the graphics card. And we have a first look at the next 3D set. The meter reads the same as before on every built-in setup.
Arms crossed
This was the pose that was wrong on everyone. We sent each wrist well past the middle of the body, further than a forearm reaches from an elbow at the side. The elbow was pulled across the chest, and one hand ended up in the air beyond the other arm.
Now the forearm comes first. The elbow comes round to the front of the ribs and the forearm lies across the body, pressed in a little, as crossed arms are. Then each hand is laid on what is under it: one on the chest, the other on the opposite arm above the elbow. The pose also stands with the weight on one leg now, like the other standing poses.
- Top hand in the air past the arm → resting on the arm
- Gap from that hand to the arm 5 to 54 mm → touching
- Stance straight → weight on one leg
The gap was measured on all 20 people in the cast.
Same person, same place, same camera and light.
Hand to chin
We held an open hand up at a spot worked out from the jaw joint. On some people it sat beside the cheek, on others in front of the neck, and often it touched nothing. The other hand hung in front of the body.
Now the chin rests on a loosely closed hand. We find the chin on the head itself, under the lower lip, so the hand follows when you turn or tip the head. The other arm crosses the body and holds the elbow.
- Hand at the chin open, up to 48 mm away → closed, under the chin
- Other hand 15 to 126 mm off the body → holding the elbow
Hands in pockets
The pocket was at one fixed place in front of the hip. That worked on jeans. On a dress, a skirt or a coat the hands sat in front of the cloth as fists.
Now the pocket is where the arm reaches the front of the hip with the elbow a little bent, on whatever the person wears there: trousers, a skirt, a coat. Under a waist-length jacket the hands go into the jacket's own pockets. The fingers and knuckles go in and the wrist stays out. This pose stands with the weight on one leg now as well.
- Forearm into the hip, typical 43 mm → 5 mm
- Wrist up to 44 mm off the cloth → at the cloth
- Stance straight → weight on one leg
Hands together, hands on hips
Hands together had the same cause. On a slim person the hands hung in front of the body, and on a loose sweater or a belly they sank in. Now one hand is laid on the body and the other on top of it, the way we have laid a seated person's hands on the thighs since 1.11. Hands on hips are laid on the waist in the same way.
- Hands together, deepest into the body 84 mm → 35 mm
- Hands on hips, gap to the waist up to 23 mm → 1 mm at most
Both are the worst case across the cast. In hands together the typical hand now touches without going in.
Expressions for Eric, Claudia and Carla
The three scanned people had no expressions. A scan is one frozen moment, and until now they kept the face they were scanned with. They can now do all five, like the rest of the cast: neutral, soft smile, smile, serious and talking, each from 0 to 100%. Their upper eyelids also follow the eyes when they look up or down at the lens.
- People with expressions 17 of 20 → 20 of 20
Less graphics memory
Some of the maps that describe a surface use only one or two of the four colour channels we kept them in: roughness, cut-out shapes and baked shading. We now keep just the channels that are read. The picture is the same, and the app holds less on the graphics card.
- Textures, two people in the apartment 2.8 GB → 2.6 GB
- Textures, a scanned person's portrait 974 MB → 878 MB
Next 3D set: a cafe
Our 3D artists are currently working on the next 3D set, a cafe. These two pictures show the work in progress: the room blocked out in grey, before materials and light. We're very excited to launch it in our next major update.
How we tested it
We photographed all 20 people in all eight standing poses from four sides, before and after: 640 pictures each time. We also measured every hand against the body it belongs to: how far off it floats and how deep it goes in. An automated test poses everyone in all 13 poses and measures where an arm or a leg goes into the body or the furniture. Every seated pose measures exactly as it did in 1.12, so only standing people changed. We checked that a pose comes out the same whatever height you give a person, and that the hand stays under the chin when the head is turned.
Known issues
- In hand to chin, the fingers of the hand that holds the elbow can show past it.
- Clothes are solid. Where crossed arms press on a thick jacket, the sleeve goes into the cloth where a real one would crease.
- The three scanned people show less of their teeth in a full smile than the rest of the cast.