Hello,
The animated video I am making is a 45 minute monolog, which I am animating by hand.
Bc max length of each sequence is about 12 minutes, my final video has to be composited from different projects.
If I just export each project and shove them together in a video editor, it of course looks choppy.
How can I bypass the time limit of crazytalk8 in a way that I get animations sequences that seamlessly connect?
Thank you,
Rosie

Hi Rosie

A CrazyTalk 8 project can be a maximum of 15 minutes long so this should be long enough if each sequence is only 12 minutes long.

And as long as you end each project on a natural pause in the speech you should not notice any choppiness when you edit all the videos together to form the 45 minute finished product. Most video editors will also allow you to add transitions, fades, titles etc between each sequence to give it a more polished look.

You can adjust the length of the project in the Time Setting panel shown on the page below as number 11.

https://manual.reallusion.com/CrazyTalk_8/ENU/Default.htm#Resources/CT8/01_User_Interface_Introduction/Play_Bar.htm


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Hi Peter,
Thanks so much for your reply. I didn't explain very well, let me try again--
The final video is a 40 minute continuous monolog, with no transitions or fades. Because the maximum project length is about 12 min, my final video will be have to be composited from about 4 projects. 
Even if I break the projects up by the characters natural pauses in the speech, the choppiness comes from the visuals-- I can't figure out how to get the character back into the same exact position. So inevitably, one sees seams during the 40 minute monolog at each point where a new project starts.
1. If I could copy paste between projects this would solve the problem. Is this possible?
2. If there was a neutral position, or zero, that I could begin and end each project with, this would help. Does this exist?
3. OR-- In other animation software, I could just copy a piece from the end of one project, to the beginning of the next to create a section of overlap. But with crazy talk automotion, I can't seem to access all the keyframes. I use 'default listen mode' to import the mp3 file, then I lip sync phoneme by phoneme. I tried making an overlap by creating a copy of my first project--- opening the copy and deleting the first 11 minutes of animation. Then I moved the last minute of lip-synched animation to the beginning of the timeline, being careful to also keep the transform keyframes linked as well. I expected that the auto-motion would stay the same, but it didn't fully work. The body position (from the transform key frames) stayed the same, however the facial movements (automotion) are different once placed at the beginning of the timeline-- the moments of blinking are different, and weird eyebrow raises are happening. 
So I am wondering if you have found any good hacks for getting around the 12 minute limit.
THANK YOU, I have been struggling to figure this out for a long time. 

Thank you for this idea! 
I will try it out. I was using listen mode because talk mode was crashing the program, even tho my mp3s were no longer than 2 minutes and I have plenty of RAM. 
I will also try Lip sync only mode.
Glad to know you are here to offer guidance! Your help is appreciated.
Thanks, Rosie

Hi Peter,
How do I create a custom motion with recorded facial expressions that will be saved and useable in different projects?
I have searched through the manual, and also youtube tutorials, and haven't been able to find info on how to do this.
Thank you!
Rosie

Hi Peter,
Thanks for working with me on this! This is a hugely useful tool.
For anyone who comes back to the thread and needs more detailed instructions-- what I had to do was:
1. record the puppet clip using face puppet
2. move the red arrows (the ones which are like bookends in the playback bar) to the precise area you want to create a voice script for 
3. then follow peter's instructions
This is great for projects that are longer than 15 minutes for building an area of overlap, or if you want to animate a different character with the same lip sync/motions you already made.
I am wondering if there is a maximum length?
Many thanks, this solves big problems.
Rosie