I have had some fun taking photographs and such and making characters... still don't have a storyline yet... but learning the program. When using a VECTOR character like Cherry, I can adjust colors on-the-fly and other nice things such as scaling without getting pixelation.

I have several programs that could be used to create a VECTOR drawing like Corel Draw, Inkscape, and SWiSH. I also have Swift 3D which can generate a 2D representation of a 3D object with shading, etc.

So... if I create a vector based character... how do I then bring it into CTA Pro?
Pretend I make a circle (head) rectangle (body), other rectangles (arms and legs) and export them as a SWF, DXF, or some other format. (Tell me which one.) I need to know how to import and link up the bones.

I seem to be missing those instructions... perhaps I'm not looking in the right place. Also... if I want to export something like Cherry for example as a vector object that I can pull into a vector art program and manipulate into a totally new character... how do I do that?

Can you point me to some online tutorials, videos, and/or examples?

By the way... I just installed the 1.2 upgrade... so i am looking forward to outputting something and trying to import it into SWiSH for further animation, manipulation, etc. (With things like physics, etc.)

Thanks!
Jerry


Askjerry... everyone else does.

I'll be honest, it's tedious.  It's not the worst process I've ever had to follow, but...  There is a YouTube tutorial, but he does moves a bit quickly through it, so be prepared to pause, or watch a couple of times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krKJ0a5iFNY

There's also the developer white papers and guides at http://developer.reallusion.com/whitepaper/CrazyTalk_Animator/default.html

BTW, there's a special trick to the eyes, and I don;t quite remember if it's part of these tutorials/documents, or somehwere else.  But a search on the forum should find it...

As far as vector output, it can export a SWF Flash file, but you have to have at least two frames of animation (or idle pose), you cannot export a single frame.  I do not know if it'll work in Swish or not.  The part I haven't figured out is how to export them from Flash, to re-use in CTA.  You have to save each body part out individually, but according to someone else on the forum, the pieces do not requier resizing or re-positioning as is shown in the tutorial. 

When opening the SWF, I select all objects on the stage, right click and choose Distrbute to layers.  Now each object is on it's own layer.  I then delete the first layer, with all the keyframes.  I click in the Symbol library to select all unused symbols, then delete them just to keep all the extra crap out.

I modify some of the symbols, and then... nothing.  That's where I end up.

Since the new CTA swf Exporter, is importing as vector into Adobes Flash no Problem more , but you can not import swf files to swish.

Also I have swish and I think swish is not really the right vector tool for CTA.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
liebe Grüße vidi

meet us here

Soon I'm doing my video for Flash workaround , so you can see it is easier. No split to layers necessary


-------------------------------------------------------------------
liebe Grüße vidi

meet us here

Then I will wait to see it.

I also have Corel Draw and Inkscape which can save in different vector formats including Adobe Illustrator. I just need to know the best format so I can experiment with it. Right now I have only a rough idea what i want to do... still working on a story line and character drawings... so plenty of time to learn the software before I need to actually start animating.

Thanks for the help.
Jerry


Askjerry... everyone else does.

I'm Sorry but my video is only appropriate for adobe flash.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
liebe Grüße vidi

meet us here

Doesn't matter what software you use... I can save mine in SWF or other vector formats to bring into CTA PRO. WHen you get your video finished I will like to see it.

Thank you,
Jerry

Askjerry... everyone else does.

vidi had already posted it

https://forum.reallusion.com/FindPost93499.aspx

I know, but you wrote



That's different.

The video is here already.
Perhaps you misunderstood my posting, it was a response to
wizaerd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjh7n4gfrCc

-------------------------------------------------------------------
liebe Grüße vidi

meet us here

@Tutor - Thanks for that.

As I understand it...

1) From Crazytalk: Export character as 2 frames of SWF animation.
2) In editing tool (like SWiSH Max for me) import SWF.
3) Each body part is now named... and individual... modify as needed and if a group is made, group with that name.
4) Export back out as a collection of SWF objects.
5) From Crazytalk: select body part to replace, replace with part from step 4.
6) Continue for each body part.

I'll experiment with that this week.

Thank you,
Jerry



Askjerry... everyone else does.