Face v2 Changelog

v2.56

• added plugins for MotionBuilder 2024, 2025 & 2026
• switched to a new crash detection & logging system
• improved, streamlined, styled and updated installer

v2.55

• updated to new build environment
• installer and app are now signed by a new EV code certificate

v2.54

• updated internal libraries to latest versions
• updated to FBX 2020.3.1
• updated to FFmpeg 5.0.1
• updated to Visual Studio 2022 with all the latest compiler optimizations

v2.53

• Added MotionBuilder 2023 plugin

v2.52

• Added MotionBuilder 2022 plugin

v2.51

• lots of small bugfixes, prevention measures, optimizations and potential memory leaks based on static code analysis

v2.50

• improved compatibility with more audio devices
• updated internal libraries
• updated code signing certificate

v2.49

• internally now forces the use of desktop OpenGL drivers (which was the default on almost all machines anyway)
  • overruling a QT_OPENGL environment setting that a user or other program may have set
  • a QT_OpenGL setting of “angle” could prevent some GUI widgets from being drawn
• updated internal libraries

v2.48

• fixed issue where “Is Tracked” status was always true

v2.47

• last message log file is now moved to a _old folder at startup so we always keep the current and previous log for debugging / crash reporting purposes
• updated 2D & 3D OpenGL windows and drawing internals to a more modern widget class
• updated to new compiler profiting from new optimizations
• updated a bunch of internal libraries to the latest versions

v2.46

• fixed an issue with “opencv_world430.dll” not loading on some machines in previous version

v2.45

• small update to Remote Triggering
• updated some of the internal libraries

v2.44

• fixed issue with crash report generation/upload

v2.43

• moved all licensing options to their own menu in the top menu bar
• added functionality to the top menu to remove license file (so you can install it on a different machine)

v2.42

• updated the GUI stylesheet
• added MotionBuilder 2020 plugin
• trial now records up to 10 seconds
• consolidated some cross application code
• added option to directly upload a crash report to the Brekel server
• added toggle option to Settings menu at the top for turning High DPI Scaling On/Off on next application start
• started digitally signing executable to help alleviate anti-virus false positives

v2.41

• added error message popup window when a file cannot be written to alert the user more vigorously
• internal changes to movie writer
• internally switched to a different library packaging system
• updated internal libraries to latest versions
• cleaned up dll files

v2.40

• internal changes to movie writer
• fixed an issue where timestamps could sometimes not get reset properly

v2.39

• Unreal Live Link enabled state wasn’t saved/loaded between sessions, fixed now
• added MotionBuilder 2019 plugin
• rearranged MotionBuilder plugins page in the installer
• moved log and all other user settings file to Brekel folder in Documents folder
  • to avoid clutter when using multiple Brekel apps on a machine
• updated to latest Qt and OpenCV libraries

v2.38

• added a fix for a problem where on a small number of machines acquisition threads couldn’t be stopped after a recording
  • which could result in many additional frames
  • which could appear as no animation being exported or with very weird timestamps
• changed video writer to an all new FFMPEG backend
  • made some changes to the supported codecs
  • most files export to an MP4 container now
• changed the preview movie output to H264 MP4 files
• fixed a few small memory leak in the GUI and recording systems

v2.37

• added a PZ2 template for Poser/DAZ Genesis8 figures
• added functionality for live streaming into Unreal Engine4 using their “Live Link” protocol
  • added example FBX file (“UnrealEngine4” folder in installation folder)
  • added chapter to the documentation
  • note: live streaming is not available in the free Trial version, simply request an evaluation version if you want to test this

v2.36

• added functionality to render preview to a movie file
• timestamp in TCP/UDP stream sometimes wasn’t accurate due to floating point precision
  • the timestamp now rolls around every 1000 seconds to leave more room for decimal precision

v2.35

• added additional out of bounds check in memory managment of recorder to prevent crash during export
• switched back to a slightly slower but more robust way of rendering the face mesh
• error checking and reporting in rare cases where an invalid timestamp range is detected during recording
• removed “draw skeleton” from the 2D views as it was causing problems on some machines/drivers
• openGL update of 3D and 2D views are now synchronized

v2.34

• when network streaming (TCP/IP, UDP & OSC) and playing back data on the Preview tab it should now stream the data from the last recording instead of live data

v2.33

• fixed a bug that could crash the BVH exporter in some cases when multiple bodies/faces were detected in a sequence
• removed GUI widget to set Oculus Rift rendering, as it wasn’t functional anymore anyway
• switched to latest FBX SDK
• added extra options for writing older FBX formats
• changed FBX file type naming to 2006-2018 naming convention, with internal file format (v6.1 - v7.5) in parentheses

v2.32

• added additional memory validation checks in internal animation curve preparation to prevent acessing out of bound memory in rare cases on some setups

v2.31

• fixed a problem that could cause a crash on export
• tracking FPS was not being smoothed resulting in “low light level” warnings on tiny fluctuations
• upgraded internal libraries for latest security and performance updates
• now compiled with visual studio 2017

v2.30

• fixed crash log files as some filetypes were giving issues with the new mail server
• when using “Record Triggering” the “Append Date/Time” is now respected when it’s enabled on the Master

v2.29

• solved problem with smoothing filter where point could potentially stay lost after disappearing
• updated internal libraries to latest version to take advantage of latest
  • performance updates
  • security updates

v2.28

• “Auto Filename” is now renamed to “Append Data/Time”
  • it will now always respect the manually set filename
  • and when turned ON simply append the date/time to it
• added logger window
  • the info from the black console window is now displayed in a logging window in the GUI of the app
  • logging info is also saved to a log file (in your My Documents folder)
• Added crash reporting feature
  • when a crash is detected log files and debugging info is collected
  • a zip file will be placed on your desktop
  • and a dialog box will ask you to send this file by email so the cause can be debugged

v2.27

• added MotionBuilder 2018 plugins
• 2D and 3D openGL drawing should be a bit more efficient now
• increased size of font in black console window
• file browser windows now handle symbolic links correctly
• fixed a bug where camera could get too close to it’s target
• updated libraries to latest versions

v2.26

• fixed a problem with “error loading aruco130.dll” on some machines (bug was only in v2.25)

v2.25

• redrawing of some of the OpenGL widget should be a bit quicker now
• file browsers should now work with symbolic links
• prevented the 3D camera to dolly past it’s near plane
• updated some of the internal libraries to latest versions

v2.24

• added link to the Unity live streaming example script/scene to the help menu
• fixed problem with poser templates where negative values for neck/head multiplier wouldn’t work.
• fixed problem with neck/head multipliers not saving when changed in the Poser Template Editor

v2.23

• added timestamps to OSC packets
• license installer should now warn if no license key file was found in a zip archive
• “new version available” window now shows full changelog, not just the last change

v2.22

• added option to stream OSC (Open Sound Control) data out to other applications (see documentation on available OSC messages)

v2.21

• solved some audio related crashes on certain machines
• upgraded C++ 2015 redistributable installer to SP3 to avoid problems for fresh installs

v2.20

• option (from the top menu) to slowly flash the sensor’s LEDs during recording
• added options (in sensor tab) for controlling auto or manual exposure of the color camera
• added internal options that try harder to maintain 30 fps mode for the color camera
• made compressed BPC files a little smaller

v2.19

• FBX was always using v7 Binary, fixed now, should respond the the GUI setting

v2.18

• fixed multi threaded race condition in recording code
• fixed console font size for Win10 anniversary update
• small fix in FBX exporter for non-standard frame rates

v2.17

• better support for high DPI screens
• added support for for MotionBuilder 2017
• updated to Visual Studio 2015 & Qt 5.7
• discontinued Oculus Rift support (for now)
• 8-bit audio is no longer supported

v2.16

• audio waveform display now turns red if audio is clipped when volume is set too high
• added a slider for adjusting the audio recording volume
• added the option to play the audio from the selected input over the speakers
• added option to turn of audible beeps at recording start/stop
• network status GUI widget is now correctly updated
• small change to the MotionBuilder internals when switching between TCP/UDP

v2.15

• fixed some memory management in 3D data exporter to prevent crashes when saving files

v2.14

• fixed preview functionality
• enforced Unicode compiler settings to hopefully help prevent crashes when working with special characters in filenames/folders

v2.13

• fixed possible crash at startup
• frame timestamps are measured more accurately now
• mouse-over tooltips are now opaque for better readability

v2.12

• internal changes for Multi-Sensor alpha: http://brekel.com/multi-sensor
• some small change to update mechanism
• C++ redistributable libraries (vc_redist) are now installed in a different way

v2.11

• internal changes for Multi-Sensor alpha (coming soon for pointcloud recording)
• small modification on checking if update is available

v2.10

• “Colorize Bodies” for Depth got broken, fixed now
• “Clip Bodies” for PointCloud got broken, fixed now

v2.09

• each video recorder now does it’s compression on a separate thread
• MJPEG codec red & blue channels are no longer swapped
• sensor transform is now correctly saved to the registry when running headless mode
• internal memory management speed optimizations
• more work done under the hood to support the upcoming Multi Sensor add-on
• updated audio dlls

v2.08

• moved Color & Point compression settings to the BPC groupbox under 3D Output Formats
• added a Video tab for recording the 2D views in AVI format
  • select one or more of these video sources: InfraRed, Depth, BodyIDs, Color
  • select from these codecs: XVID, MJPEG, X264, Lagarith, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV, FLV, Ogg Vorbis (note that this may be dependent on your machine’s resources and installed codecs)

v2.07

• added Color & Point compression setting for BPC files With compression enabled filesize reductions of 75% compared to Lossless can typically be achieved Compared to older versions of the software this can even be 85-90%!
• installer now removes files of previous version first before installing

v2.06

• added option to render 3D viewport to an Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset (tested with SDK 0.6.0.0)
• fixed some bugs in the recorder’s memory management, preventing possible crashes
• added option to menu to help with manual license installation
• a Network Triggered recording will now create a folder if it has to
• internal engine updates to support upcoming Multi Sensor Calibrator Alpha
• included Poser/DAZ template for Genesis3 figures
• updated to Qt 5.5

v2.05

• fixed bug in smoothing code that could cause problems especially on fast machines
• added a “Viewport Settings” window under the top “Settings” dropdown menu allowing to customize the viewport drawing and colors
• double clicking the main viewport now toggles it being fullscreen can be disabled from the top “Settings” dropdown menu

v2.04

• fixed bug where Remote Trigger could fire record start signals for formats that were disabled
• incoming signals for Remote Trigger for BVH, PZ2 and FSQ should now work
• added a headless mode
  • allows running the application without a GUI
  • in case you only want to stream data to other applications with minimal overhead
  • in case you just want a machine to be a Record Triggering slave with minimal overhead
  • see PDF documentation for commandline options
• fixed bug where Remote Trigger could fire record start signals for formats that were disabled
• if dropped frames are detected during recording this is now printed in the widget that lists recording length
  • this could for example happen when:
    • computer is too slow
    • disk is too slow (especially when recording BPC pointcloud files)
    • another program is interfering with the recording (for example overactive security software)

v2.03

• facepoints are now oriented to face mask mesh in FBX recordings as well as streaming
• CPU usage is now measured more accurately
• adjusted Lips Pucker shape to protrude lips a bit more

v2.02

• installer will now warn if not running Windows 8 / 8.1 / 10
• added Unity example script and sample scene showing how to stream realtime data
• added zipped Unity assets in case you don’t want to use the UnityPackage
  • for example when non-Unity users want to peek at the C# network code
• added plugin for MotionBuilder 2016

v2.01

• license installation is now done with elevated administrator privileges to avoid problems on certain machines
• PZ2 files were applying wrong neck/head offset, fixed now

v2.00

• first official release
• now provides some additional help when license extraction/copy fails

v0.93 (RC2)

• now saves closest subject’s scale/offset values when “all” is selected
• FBX face mesh had inverted normals, fixed now
• actor calibration and scale/offsets were sometimes reset when face was lost, fixed now
• actor calibration shape wasn’t exported to FBX, fixed now
• GUI wasn’t being reverted correctly when stopping actor calibration, fixed now

v0.92 (RC1)

• added “Set Neutral” button to main GUI so you don’t have to open the “Animation Unit Scale/Offset” tools for it
• animation units are now correctly displayed on mouse-over in the animation unit widget
• subsequent actor calibration work now, no longer need to restart the application inbetween
• actor calibration helper text is now drawn in the 3D viewport
• removed mirror functionality since it didn’t work properly for exported files
• toggling of pointcloud drawing no longer hides face in some cases
• many options (output formats, networking etc) now display information in the tool section title bar
• tips and documentation are now displayed in the statusbar when you mouse-over buttons/settings

v0.91

• included PDF documentation
• removed CPU RDRAND check at startup as it may have been too restrictive

v0.90

• neck/head default rotation now matches global space
• neck joint is now smoothed along with the head
• MotionBuilder plugin now correctly creates face points
• MotionBuilder plugin now streams neck transform data
• MotionBuilder plugin now records data in characterFace node
• fixed crash after actor calibration
• extended BETA period (no new license needed)

v0.80

• implemented Preview tab, for replay of the last take after recording
• added toggle for drawing face points
• number of recorder frames/secs in GUI is now actually updated during recording
• added additional check for required CPU RDRAND support
• added “genesis1” PZ2 template

v0.70

• body joint drawing in 2D views should be more stable now
• depth gamma is now set to 0.1 by default
• when not drawing pointcloud CTRL+A (frame pointcloud) now frames the faces instead (like CTRL+F)
• beter initialization for new faces (should no longer distorted vertices in rare cases)
• changed some things in the network protocol so it’s easier to read from user’s code
• updated MotionBuilder plugins with the new network protocol
• added warning message at startup when CPU doesn’t support SSE instruction set needed for face tracking
• added “ben” PZ2 template
• added “jessi” PZ2 template
• added “katie” PZ2 template
• added “M4” PZ2 template
• added “ryan” PZ2 template
• added “simon” PZ2 template
• added “sydney” PZ2 template
• added “V4” PZ2 template
• added message to request help testing PZ2 templates

v0.60

• implemented PZ2 export
  • included “genesis2” template (tested with DAZ 4.7)
  • included “alyson” template (untested, multipliers may need tuning by beta testers)
  • included “james” template (untested, multipliers may need tuning by beta testers)
  • if you have characters with different templates please send me an exported PZ2 file
  • you can create new templates by searching for things like “brow”, “lip”, “mouth” in a PZ2 file from your character
• arrow drawing in viewport during actor calibration got broken in v0.50, fixed now
• default camera view is a bit further away from the model now
• browse button for BVH should work properly now
• optimized internal body and 2D face processing
• TXT & CSV now exports neck & head position/rotation

v0.51

• bugfix to prevent crashes in face drawing code
• bugfix to prevent cases when face would not draw
• bugfix to prevent animation unit display to draw data for faces that aren’t tracked anymore

v0.50

• implemented BVH recorder (not as accurate and complete as FBX)
  • exports head joint (position/rotation)
  • face joints (as rotations)
  • rotators for each animation unit
• FBX now also exports neck joint
• download link from help menu now points to beta downloads page (instead of non-existing retail one)
• OpenGL view uses a longer lens now, better suited for faces

v0.40

• multiple actor workflow is now supported
• File > Exit from the top menu now works
• added actor calibration status information for each of the 6 subjects
• you can now load/reset actor calibrations for a specific or all subjects
• you can now load/reset scale/offsets for a specific or all subjects
• added status info (min/max) during auto tuning
• added toggles to enable/disable particular animation units for auto tuning
• tweaked Lip Stretch shapes to have a smoother falloff
• symmetry constraint got broken, fixed now

v0.30

• implemented new Animation Unit widget, can display data from multiple faces now
• FBX now contains nulls for each animation unit with data applied in translate Y (for apps that don’t deal with the blendshaped mesh well)
• FBX now contains joints for moving parts of the face (note that the mesh in the FBX uses blendshapes for deformation)
• fixed “Resample Frame Rate” for all outputs (didn’t actually work before)
• file save dialogs now say “Save” on the button
• increased speed for text drawing in 3D and 2D viewports
• animation unit clamping is now ON by default
• fixed crash on “Reset Actor Calibration”

v0.20

• implemented Cryengine (FSQ) file format
• implemented TXT file format
• implemented CSV file format
• renamed “Build Actor Representation” to “Actor Calibration”
• “Actor Calibration” data is now loaded into the tracker to help tracking accuracy
• removed deformation sliders in “Actor Calibration” since it’s a bad to manually tweak these
• removed “Synchronize Streams” toggle from the GUI since it needs to be handled internally for face tracking
• when floor can’t be detected this is now mentioned in the GUI on the Sensor tab
• compacted the GUI margins a bit
• added resizer bar between 3D viewport and animation unit bars

v0.10

• initial public beta release