Unfortunately there isn't a workaround directly in CT7 but you could setup two projects and then use video editing software and the Chroma-key feature to blend them together.

So for example you could setup one project with a character on the right side with a green background. Then a second project with another  character on the left and a green screen background.

Then after exporting you could take both pieces of video into your video editor, overlay the two pieces of video and remove the green screen background. This would place your two characters side by side in the same video.

You would have course have to work carefully with the timing of any vocals you use so you don't have the characters talking over each other.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

CrazyTalk 7 is all about fun character animation and cross platform compatibility with our new CrazyTalk 7 App for iOS devices. If you need multiple characters and other scenery elements then we do recommend CrazyTalk Animator for this purpose. CTA is a complete 2D animation studio.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

You're absolutely right!

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Many of your answers can be found by reading the product manual.

The online manual and the online help are NOT the same thing

While I have thought 'CrazyTalk' was (and is) a software with good to great potential, it does seem CT7 is indeed limited / (crippled) when compared to CT6.

Reallusion's business model and approach for CT7 seems to be a bit skewed**. To assume that CT7 should be marketed toward / optimized for iOS devices (CT7 App) is frankly somewhat short-sighted. iOS devices do have a moderate following of users, but it is not the leader and as of this email, iOS is beginning to lose some of its steam (clout) regarding setting the benchmark for using and introducing leading edge technology.

**Minimally, Reallusion should have given CT7 a 'different' product designation rather than implying (by name association) that CT7 is a step forward from CT6, when it is apparent the opposite seems to be the case. CT7 is NOT CT6 with feature enhancements (as is reasonably assumed when upgrading from a main product version to a new release - i.e. (Adobe) Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, etc).

It should be noted (when using the CT7 standard version (7.2.1724.2)), that the EXPORT features and options don't seem to fully work > AVI hangs (and won't output > XP SP3) in CT7, MP4 sometimes creates files that corrupt the audio playback and 3rd party conversion tools don't always readily recognize the compiled MP4 file from CT7 and there is no 'web' SWF/FLV export option (probably because iOS doesn't support 'Flash®' files) which was (is) available in CT6.

It is as if Reallusion decided CT6 is the BIG brother and CT7 is just a sibling and regardless of how hard it may try, it cannot currently match the features and capability of the older version.

CT7 is a good product, but it is missing the mark as to what it can do, when looked at honestly. CT7 looks and feels more like a 'Tool Set Module' rather than a full-featured mainstream product upgrade.

It is my opinion as a designer and user of CrazyTalk that its past success has been its ability to balance function and performance with flexibility. CT7 'feels' too rigid when it comes to 'thinking and creating animation / talking heads outside of the box'.

Reallusion certainly has the right to market as it sees fit its products, but in this case, someone really didn't think this all the way through (at least from the perspective of CLEARLY indicating the objective of the software to its customers) and/or how it might be received by your 'loyal' users.

It also has been suggested that one should consider CTA (animator) and while technically it may offer more capabilities than CT7, CTA's interface and overall design as well as its use is not as intuitive as other CT products (past and present) and can be a source of design irritation when confronting deadlines.

Hopefully, at some point, Reallusion will reconsider and revisit the objective of CT7.
Despite my comments, I appreciate Reallusion's commitment and efforts. These comments are meant as constructive criticism and nothing more. (Be kind to one another...)

Reallusion has a track record of listening to their users, I think the milestone was crossing over from pc to mac, as that was a big request from users prior to CT7, I'm guessing with future versions they will port over more functions based on demands. I have no doubts that they will improve it based on feedback. so your comments and feedback, I'm sure are appreciated. To be honest, I'm sure mac laptop / desktop computers as a whole are on the decline as well, with the new gaming pc fads. Mac is more the leader in portable technology at the moment.

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Thanks for the feedback.

If you compare the character animation features of CrazyTalk 7 to CrazyTalk 6 then you will see there are huge improvements. It may be lacking some of the extra features of CT6 but the main use of CrazyTalk has always been in facial animation and this is where the huge improvements have been made in CT7.

I also think that you may not fully appreciate the huge growth in the Smartphone and Tablet market. Tablet sales in particular are growing at an enormous rate while PC sales are declining badly. It would be extremely bad business practice to ignore this growing market, especially with a product like CrazyTalk 7 which works fantastically well on these small touch devices.

We will of course keep listening to our customers feedback and I thank you for sharing yours.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Peter,

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I have no doubt that some of the technical 'backbone' of CrazyTalk did mark an improvement (C77 vs CT6). As mentioned, I use and enjoy the software from both an experimental and practical work environment perspective.

For ease of use and overall quality of output, (for the price), there is really nothing on the market that compares. Kudos to Reallusion for that.

My observation, was more from the marketing and category strategy that Reallusion chose to use when it came to launching CT7. I stand by my comment that I feel CT7 should have been given a unique Product ID instead of placing it in the next generation of CT mainstream product identification.

As you stated, your focus for CT7 is geared more for the mobile / portable arena, which is fine, for clarity I felt it should have been something like your CTA product, for example CTM7 (CrazyTalk 7 Mobile) or CTMS7 (CrazyTalk 7 Mobile / SmartDevices).

For Production work, Desktops are NOT going to go away, for playback/real-time use, SmartDevices are the computer/device of choice. In doing a series of benchmarks, the output of the animation (for obvious reasons) can be fairly significant in size (and NOT ALL Data Plans are the same resulting in a need to limit (throttle-back) the amount of animation we might otherwise offer to 'hard-wired' internet connected devices (via cable and/or satellite gateways) . Playback on Mobile devices can be a bit dicey. Tablets and high-end processor devices with a fast internet connection (4G+) are reasonable choices and ideally local delivery (apps) or desktops offer right now, the best playback to quality ratio.

Short snippets of animation and low-bandwidth output options help, but many of us who produce the animation, are always looking for ways to 'push the envelope' while minimizing the best we can the amount of bandwidth required. Compromise is our friend.

My entire reason for starting this discussion was that I simply felt, CT7 despite the technical improvements over CT6 was not an 'apples to apples' comparison. On its own merits, CT7 is a great product. The little bit of 'sour' taste (as an end-user), was that CT6 offers (even today) more platform, design and playback options than CT7 and as a result (perhaps unfairly) CT7 is taking a few lumps from your end-user base.

Peter, I've never really understtod this push of CrazyTalk into the app market place. What is it that a CrazyTalk app does that makes it so desirable on a phone?

CrazyTalk 7 originally began life as CrazyTalk For Mac. It was to be Reallusion's first foray into native Mac software and so had no numerical identification. However once it was announced with the new auto-motion features, it became clear that PC users also wanted to take advantage of these exciting new features.

So now came the dilemma. For PC users the product range had already received a new product ID in the form of CrazyTalk Animator. I think it was at this point that the decision was made to try and make it clear that this product was not CrazyTalk Animator 2 but a new version of the original CrazyTalk series. Rightly or wrongly it became CrazyTalk 7 which personally I feel is the right choice. Giving it a completely different name would have only been more confusing to customers.

Of course everyone has their right to an opinion and we do thank you for sharing yours. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Because market figures tell us that there is a growing user base who don't want to be tied to a desktop or even a large laptop, but want to use apps like CrazyTalk while lying on the sofa, in the loo or when out and about.

It has to be remembered that a vast number of CrazyTalk users just want to have fun with the product. They don't make serious movies they just want to make their dog talk or make other family members do crazy stuff. This is the user base that the CrazyTalk 7 App is aimed at.

It may not work for a product like iClone or even CrazyTalk Animator but for CrazyTalk with its easy to use interface then it is perfect. You only have to look at the success of "Talking Tom" which has been downloaded over 40 million times to know there is a demand for this type of fun app.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com