Release Notes

Fix for rare error during analysis of synthetic audio in acoustic pipeline

Audio sync issue in SGX Director fixed

Fix for behavior nodes not being triggered in Universal language mode.

Processing support for untrained characters.

Reduced SGX Director redraws while idle.

Fix for failure to process extremely short audio files (<160 ms).

Fix for failure to output batch report files.

Reduction of SGX Director footprint while idle.

SGX Metadata Export is now available as an add-on feature. Users can extract metadata from Speech Graphics event files to mine for various uses. Metadata sequences include:

• Word alignment - may be used for generating accurately timed subtitles.

• Phone alignment - may be used for processes such as de-essing.

• Behavior mode - may be used to influence other events with the character or the surroundings that should be synchronized with the character’s mood.

• Expressions may be used to synchonize other animations of the character with the facial changes

• There is new prosodic metadata – Intensity, Pitch, Stress, and Phrases - that can be used to inform other analyses and drive automations.

Improvements in effort detection

Processing speed improvements

Bug fixes, including:

• Corrected mis-interpretation of fixed pre/post roll with 0 value

• Fixes for processing events with non-latin filenames

Eliminated environment variable for license file, which the installer now copies into the installation folder.

‘Restore Default Settings’ button has been added in Settings

'Recently Opened' list in Director is maintained between sessions

Event zoom is preserved while switching between events

Administrator account no longer required for installation (see new Installation Instructions)

Stereo .mp3 files are now flagged rather than automatically converted to mono, so as to be treated the same way as .wav files

Bug fixes in SGX Director:

• Fix for crashing when trying to stop the event processing

• Fix for license failure after machine wakes up from sleep

• Character control files that no longer exist are no longer shown in the Character resources list at launch

• Muting audio no longer resets play position

• Fix for boundaries not being movable after undocking an event.

• Fixed compatibility issue with SGX Studio UE

• Fix for incorrect zoom after loading an audio file directly

• Fixes for various issues with undocking and re-docking event tabs

• Fix for crash when closing application while there are undocked events.

• Fixed documentation link

Release out of beta

Bug fixes

• Inability to re-show Resources tab after closing it

• Waveform was not rendering for audio loaded directly from an audio file

• Incorrect documentation link

Removed unused Show Log menu item

Export Sequence function is enabled for standard users

UX improvements:

• Run Batch button disabled if license lacks access to SGX Producer

• Improved point hovering sensitivity in event editor

• Improved visual quality of curves in event editor

• Improved organization of batch tab

Bug fixes:

• SGX Director license failure after machine wakes up from sleep

• Crash while clearing metadata if a sequence is selected

• Loss of sequence selection when switching between event tabs

New and improved effort detection model

Batch processing changes

• Batch processing with new input now does not re-process existing events in the target folder. There are now two separate modes: process new events vs processing existing events.

• List input and batch transcript lists have been merged. When using the "File" input option, you can now provide a single input spreadsheet containing comma-separated audio paths and transcripts in .csv format. There is no longer a separate Batch Transcripts field.

Disabled widget for 'Expression Frequency' in SGX Director, since it is not yet implemented.

Fix for dead lock while reloading resources 

Fix for rare 'nan' output animation values when processing in Universal mode

There is a new menu item called Export Sequence which allows you to save the selected sequence (e.g. metadata) as a file.

There is a new menu item Clear Metadata, which clears all metadata in the event.

Misc UX improvements and fixes

Fix for error in first baked muscle when there is a difference between the reference pose and neutral pose

Improved chest_breath muscle properties for new characters.

Fix for batch export issue when files already exist

Torso section added to new characters

Improvements to phonetic models for new characters, especially for Mandarin and Korean

Compatible with output events from SGX Production Tools 4.2

Fixes for importing events with non-latin filenames

Eliminated environment variable for license file, which the installer now copies into the installation folder.

It is now possible to select compound attributes to be animation targets

Installation changes:

• Administrator account no longer required for installation.

• The module file is no longer automatically installed in Program Files.

• Installation instructions have changed

Fixed documentation link

Rename of “Bind pose” to “Reference pose” in menu

Bug fix: Neutral pose in Muscles and Modes tab was not working after resetting bind pose.

Support added for importing events containing audio in mp3 and ogg formats

Release out of beta

Fixes certain attribute types being incorrectly interpreted when adding animation nodes

• String attribute no longer throws warning

• Vector attribute no longer generates duplicate non-functional animation targets

Simplification of plugin tabs

Added support for Maya 2024

Updated to align with SGX Production Tools 4.0-beta.27

Bug fixes:

• Changes to default behavior mode not being saved

• Inability to select animation target when a channel of that name already exists within another animation target

• Loss of scale effects in muscles after retargetting

• Hitting Neutral Pose button causing Muscles panel to scroll to top

Support for UE 5.4

Fixed problem with looping animation when looping is enabled in SGX Director

Ability to load MetaHuman Character Control Files baked from Maya without renaming joints

Behavior modes are now renameable in the plugin

Compatible with output events from SGX Production Tools 4.2

Fixes for importing events with non-latin filenames

Animation sequences generated during the import events process are now automatically added to source control, if it is enabled.

The plugin no longer uses the SG_LIC environment variable to find the SGX license. Instead, there is a new 'License File Path' setting which can be found in the UE editor under Project Settings > Plugins > SGX Studio.

Fixed issue with using a license path that contains non-latin characters.

For UE 5.3 only.

Behavior modes editor added to the plugin

Updated to be compatible with non-unity build configurations

Fixed documentation link

Additional validity checks for loaded character control files

Character selection dialog no longer takes complete focus from Unreal Editor

Updated to UE 5.3. This version is no longer compatible with UE 5.2 or 5.1.

Unimplemented menu items are now disabled.

Added compatibility with non-unity build configurations

Added handling for failed SGX initialization - plugin will now be disabled upon failure and a dialog pop-up will show the reason

Character control files are now selected as part of the Open SGX Studio dialog

Last used character asset and character control file path selection are now persistent between sessions

Improved logging

Added a preview scene settings tab for adjusting the environment and lighting of the SGX Studio preview scene.

Fix for the "Additive" flag in the python command SGXImportEvents

Moving from alpha to beta

Scripting/automation

• Python commands SGXLoadControlFile, SGXLoadSkeletalMesh, SGXImportEvents

• Support for Unreal Engine headless mode. This allows users to import events as animation sequences via python scripts, without having to open the Unreal editor.

Bug fixes:

• Animation sequences not displaying correctly in level sequencer timeline while SGX Studio was open

• Crash on closing SGX Studio window after loading an animation sequence into the level sequencer

Version for UE5.1 also available

Added support for Latin characters in transcripts

Better modeling of Mandarin pronunciation

Bug fix

Better modeling of Japanese pronunciation

Bug fix

Better modeling of American English pronunciation and improved handling of pronunciation variants

Improved alignment accuracy

More robust transcript processing pipeline

Improved handling of punctuation and special characters (tuned to each language)

More accurate pronunciations