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By Bruce (RL) - 12 Years Ago
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Hi Folks
Reallusion would like to thank you for your kind support of CrazyTalk Animator 2 in its early stages. This software contains many innovative new tools that the CrazyTalk development team has devoted a lot of time to, in particular the step into 3D motion compatibility. During this time, we are currently revamping the CTA 2 programming architecture to make it compatible with Mac OS for the impending launch on Mac. Thanks to your feedback and that of our QA team, we have noticed that certain features still have a few bugs to work out, and you can rest assured that we are working hard to patch everything up to ensure maximum usability and functionality. We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused many of you, and hope that you can bear with us while we continue to improve this revolutionary product.
Some Missing Features in v.2
A number of CrazyTalk Animator 1 users have commented on certain features that are no longer available in version 2. The 4 main items are listed here:
1. Body Photo Fitting
In CrazyTalk Animator 2, body photo fitting is no longer a feasible character production procedure for characters with multiple angle profiles. Therefore, we are currently recommending using sprite replacement with separate images. That said, we will continue to consider alternate body photo fitting designs to accommodate both single and multi-angle characters.
Users who need to turn images into a 2D body can still use the tool in version CTA 1 and import the character to version 2 at a specific angle. Also, stay tuned for more tutorials on how to assemble image-based characters such as Onion Man or Ted.
2. SWF Output
SWF is the native format of Adobe Flash, it keeps 2D vectors and images mainly. After adding 3D motion capabilities to CTA2, it requires more advanced 3D calculations which can not be supported by SWF format so far. Instead, we plan to augment the future cross platform output compatibility. Unity can be a better export candidate for that.
3. Motion Blend
This is another feature that has been complicated with the addition of multiple-angle animations. It is often quite difficult to calculate the blend data from different angles, so this feature has been temporarily removed due to unexpected visual defects. We plan to hopefully implement it again in a free future update.
4. Mask Editing for Faces and Props
The masking function has been temporarily removed due to some serious defects that popped up before release. The production team will bring it back in the next major free update. Currently, you can still use another image editor with alpha channels to achieve the same effect.
Known Issues
Thank to the active responses from many enthusiastic CTA users, we’ve collected many bug and defect reports. We have made it a priority to fix critical issues which cause program crashes or inability to complete projects. Prior to the official release notice, we have provided many candidates with patches for immediate fixes. You can download the pre-released v2.01 in Reallusion forum.
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v2.01.1220.1 >> released on 12/20/2013 (in the forum only)
Fixed: Program crash when accessing Content Manager due to User Account Control settings
Fixed: Safe Area shows abnormal blue grids
Fixed: Occasional program freeze when launching from the login menu
Fixed: Clicking the Play Bar cannot move indicator to the target mouse location.
Fixed: Hotkeys unavailable during Facial Puppet recording and preview
Fixed: Left & right eye operation not synced during Facial Puppet
Fixed: Animation data error may occur when stop is pressed at frame 1
- This may result in faulty and unexpected motion issues if further motion editing is performed. To remedy, select character and press the ‘Ctrl-Alt-F’ hotkey to validate the data.
v2.01.1227.1 >> released on 12/27/2013 (in the forum only)
Fixed: Cannot sync the audio keys between Audio modify panel and Timeline track
Fixed: Cannot preview the calibration of “ALL” and “EYE Blink” in Face Fitting Editor
Fixed: Inconsistent animation key priority between the Face & Lips tracks
- Facial track priority should be: Sprite Switch > Viseme > Facial Expression
Fixed: Cannot add camera key when double-clicking on the camera track in the Timeline
Fixed: Objects or characters will disappear if the default camera key (frame 1) is deleted
Fixed: The position of Joint Masks will be reset after changing a body sprite
Fixed: Morph-based head texture update failure after launching texture in external image editor
Fixed: Opacity key cannot be updated instantly on the opacity track in the Timeline
Fixed: The on-screen display will not show correctly after Windows restore
Fixed: Animation data error may occur when Default Pose is pressed at frame 1 from the 2D Key Editor
Fixed: Possible crash with some UAC settings when selecting a puppet profile
Fixed: Program crash and close when Actor Puppet panel opened
Fixed: Program crash under certain conditions when performing face fitting
Fixed: Audio not updated when Undo/Redo is used in Composer
Fixed: World axis disappears when exporting video and images
Fixed: Remove Animation & Reset commands close motion tool panel
Fixed: Loading DRM iMotion & Flattening or Exporting 3D Motions causes occasional crash
Fixed: Motion length incorrect when using Collect Clip command that includes facial motion
Fixed: Double-click in Camera transform track causes objects to disappear from 3D view
Fixed: Certain G2 characters fail to maintain render style color changes when reloaded
Wishful Features
We also received many constructive ideas about possible new features in v.2, such as the auto-motion feature from CrazyTalk 7, Kinect Mocap, and other improvements for facial animation. We encourage you to approach us with any constructive suggestions and ideas, as it gives us a better idea and broader perspective on how to develop our product in the future.
Training Resources
The innovative new features and UI may be unfamiliar to a lot of people. However, a good collection of training resources are not yet complete. We are continually releasing new tutorials and documents, so remember to check back often!
You can find the major training resources below, and this page will be regularly updated to provide you the new information.
http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/Animator/animator_training.aspx
The online help covers the complete feature description and include extensive sample media as reference.
http://help.reallusion.com/CrazyTalk_Animator_2/ENU/Pipeline/default.asp
If you are a Pipeline edition user, you can access the Whitepaper and Flash Template Project to develop your own multi-angle characters and define their Render Style compatibility. Please make sure you register CrazyTalk Animator 2 under your Reallusion member account, and you will be able to retrieve these valuable documents from your personal member page.
How to Register | Log in
We also understand that some of you prefer watching videos, so we plan to launch 2 new tutorials each week until most important topics are covered. Also feel free to provide us with your feedback for future tutorials. Here’s our tentative schedule for the next few weeks:
• Runtime Composer >> late Dec
• Creating reusable perform animation >> late Dec
• Create multi-dimension images-based characters >> early Jan
• Import iMotion (from iClone) and refine it for CTA2 >> early Jan
• Motion Creation Diagram (from 3D to 2D) >> mid Jan
• Create multi-dimension characters from Flash Template >> mid Jan
• Bring in External 3D Motions for CTA2 via 3DXchange >> late Jan
Special Reminder
If users wish to buy 3D Motions (iMotion) from the Reallusion Content Store or Marketplace and use them in the CTA2 Pipeline edition, a copy of iClone is required. iClone already contains hundreds of embedded motions, however all downloadable iMotion data needs to be checked in the iClone registry to ensure it is registered to the proper account.
Lastly, we would like to express that we understand the trials and tribulations that come along with learning a new product. As a result, we can assure you that we will venture to help you to the best of our abilities to solve any technical or product usage issues, as well as work towards improving usability issues so you can enjoy CrazyTalk Animator 2 to its fullest this holiday season.
Best Regards
Reallusion Team
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By perriced - 12 Years Ago
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Bravo Bruce and Peter (et al), a message such as this is what, simply put, makes yours an excellent company and product. Other companies should take note! Thanks loads for your diligence (especially when you should be taking some holiday time off), an highly impressed, Dave :)
Bravo, working like a charm now. Thanks again.
thanks, Dave
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By Unprofessional - 12 Years Ago
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Thanks for all the good work!
Bugs are to be expected in a fresh program with some revolutionary changes.
But I really hope that the Motion Blend will be back soon. I don't know about others, but for me it is absolutely critical. I'm so used to it can't imagine working without it any more. With blending I could make transitions between motions look perfectly smoothly. And it took seconds. The production was really quick and pleasant - drop motion, drop pose, perform blending - all done. It was actually one of the best practical features of CTA!
I believe this is the most needed feature in CTA2 right now. We're really missing it.
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By RicksWorks - 12 Years Ago
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Thank you Bruce and Reallusion. I think the products are absolutely amazing and they have made my creative life better than before. The only products I use more are Premier Pro and After Effects, but I use CTA in the mix as well! I would like to see an alpha channel export, but I work around that by creating my characters on a green screen and then keying in After Effects.
Good job to my friends at Reallusion!
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By theschemer - 11 Years Ago
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Thank you for fixing and adding the mask editor when you are ready to add it back in. And also for the other fixes, but most of all, the honesty in reporting the facts on what is going on and why.
schemer
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By dmr_1984 - 11 Years Ago
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2. SWF Output
SWF is the native format of Adobe Flash, it keeps 2D vectors and images mainly. After adding 3D motion capabilities to CTA2, it requires more advanced 3D calculations which can not be supported by SWF format so far. Instead, we plan to augment the future cross platform output compatibility. Unity can be a better export candidate for that.
• Runtime Composer >> late Dec
• Creating reusable perform animation >> late Dec
• Create multi-dimension images-based characters >> early Jan
• Import iMotion (from iClone) and refine it for CTA2 >> early Jan
• Motion Creation Diagram (from 3D to 2D) >> mid Jan
• Create multi-dimension characters from Flash Template >> mid Jan
• Bring in External 3D Motions for CTA2 via 3DXchange >> late Jan
I don't know why, but the dummy template .swf file doesn't seem to work (neither does the .fla file), but comes up with errors, has anybody else tried? Anyway, I didn't seem to have a problem manually changing the character to make it my own.
In case anyone asks, this is to do with CTA 2 Pipeline.
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By Peter (RL) - 11 Years Ago
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dmr_1984 (1/13/2014)
I don't know why, but the dummy template .swf file doesn't seem to work (neither does the .fla file), but comes up with errors, has anybody else tried? Anyway, I didn't seem to have a problem manually changing the character to make it my own.
In case anyone asks, this is to do with CTA 2 Pipeline.What is the error you are receiving? There is a known issue with a missing sprite in the Dummy template but this shouldn't affect your own custom characters. The missing sprite issue should be fixed in the next update.
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By Ibis Fernandez - 11 Years Ago
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Which sprite is missing? Just curious.
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By dmr_1984 - 11 Years Ago
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Peter (RL) (1/13/2014)
dmr_1984 (1/13/2014)
I don't know why, but the dummy template .swf file doesn't seem to work (neither does the .fla file), but comes up with errors, has anybody else tried? Anyway, I didn't seem to have a problem manually changing the character to make it my own.
In case anyone asks, this is to do with CTA 2 Pipeline.What is the error you are receiving? There is a known issue with a missing sprite in the Dummy template but this shouldn't affect your own custom characters. The missing sprite issueshould be fixed in the next update.
This is what I get each time...
========================
Update SWF success!
Unsupported SWF tag found.
Conversion results may vary
Are you sure you want to import this file?
Unsupported tags:Font tag: (44)
Text tag: (41)
========================
I don't know if anyone has come across this, but I maybe the only one
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By Peter (RL) - 11 Years Ago
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toontitan (1/13/2014)
Which sprite is missing? Just curious.It's the 270 Left Ear sprite.
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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Hopefully we can get the swf import issue resolved very soon. I get it with every swf I try to import in (props.) See attachment.
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By Peter (RL) - 11 Years Ago
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RicksWorks (1/15/2014)
Hopefully we can get the swf import issue resolved very soon. I get it with every swf I try to import in (props.) See attachment. There is no issue with SWF import. The process itself works fine. There is only a missing sprite in the sample template. When you create your own character you just need to make sure you add all your own sprites and you will be good to go.
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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Perhaps, but I am having an issue trying to import Flash props that I have created in external programs. See the example I have attached.
The first example is what it should look like.
The second example is the warning upon import.
The third is what it looks like after import into CTA2 Pipeline.
It was exported as an SWF8
So now tell me, what is wrong with this?
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By Peter (RL) - 11 Years Ago
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RicksWorks (1/16/2014)
Perhaps, but I am having an issue trying to import Flash props that I have created in external programs. See the example I have attached.
The first example is what it should look like.
The second example is the warning upon import.
The third is what it looks like after import into CTA2 Pipeline.
It was exported as an SWF8
So now tell me, what is wrong with this?My previous comment was regarding Flash Character Creation using the Dummy Character.swf. If you are creating props from SWF, please tell us which "external programs" you are using so we can check this. Thanks.
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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Flash CS6 and Xara Designer Pro X
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By Ibis Fernandez - 11 Years Ago
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I see. I haven't gotten to that angle yet in my first model design. LOL
But another question, How important is is to include all pieces in an angle. Does the software account for items that are left out on purpose? Or should I strive to include all pieces even if that piece maybe would contain just an invisible element for the sake of having "something" in there for CTA to use as a placeholder.
Main reason i ask is cause its kinda overkill to have to include such things as the eyes in the 180 view or in poses where certain parts wouldn't even be displayed anyway.
Right now what i been doing is just replacing the parts with a little dot, cause I've been scared of blowing up CTA if it doesn't find an item it was expecting.
By the way im currently developing my own plugin for Flash that will provably make the reliance on the FLA template obsolete. Do you think the RL store would allow for such a thing to be sold via the market?
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By Ibis Fernandez - 11 Years Ago
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The head nud is also missing in the bottom angle of the template. How important is that?
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By InfoCentral - 11 Years Ago
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RicksWorks (1/16/2014)
Flash CS6 and Xara Designer Pro X
I would like to work with Xara instead of CS6. How is that working out?
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By InfoCentral - 11 Years Ago
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Bruce (RL) (12/27/2013)
Some Missing Features in v.2
A number of CrazyTalk Animator 1 users have commented on certain features that are no longer available in version 2.
I would like to suggest making Animator 1 available at a greatly reduced cost to registered users of Animator 2. This way the features would be available to everyone. You would avoid some headache trying to add these features in the short run although I think it should be available within the program eventually.
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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Hey Info... Xara Designer Pro 9 is fabulous. I have been using Xara products for years and pretty much use Designer 9 as an Illustrator replacement. It will import and save AI files and such. I suggest you check it out.
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By HD13 - 11 Years Ago
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I was sooo, sooo hoping for a Mac version.
(I e.g. just lost all my iClone installation on a partition of my Mac due to new OS issues, it is SUCH a hassle and so bad performance using bootcamp. I gave up on iClone for mac (actually on iClone all together) for practical reasons, although I own most of the current toolchain versions.)
I really hope you will release the mac version soon. Actually, currently I am desperately trying all respective trial versions of any other animation apps that properly support macos.
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By TGL - 11 Years Ago
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RE: Ricks Works post about: CTA2 prop import question/issue:
This is a month old, so please forgive me for dragging it up if it's been resolved.
I was curious if the numbers in your desired results was an actual font or were they "outlined" and same for the lines - if they were stroke or shape.
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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Actually, they were all pre-rendered in After Effects, exported as an swf, imported into Flash CS6 Pro, then exported as an swf movie. BUT, still not importing from Flash as expected they would. CTA just needs the ability to import avi with alpha (or any other format that would support alpha without having to buy yet another product,) and all would be good.
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By InfoCentral - 11 Years Ago
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RicksWorks (2/14/2014)
Hey Info... Xara Designer Pro 9 is fabulous. I have been using Xara products for years and pretty much use Designer 9 as an Illustrator replacement. It will import and save AI files and such. I suggest you check it out.
Nice, I found and installed my Xara Designer Pro 7 and I also purchased and installed CTA1 to fill in the gaps missing in CTA2.
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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That's awesome! You should be all set now! Xara makes some great products.
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By InfoCentral - 11 Years Ago
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I see they just released Xara 10
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By RicksWorks - 11 Years Ago
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Yes! And I just upgraded to Version 10 Pro. It is worth checking out for sure.
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By jbyun - 11 Years Ago
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Peter,
Can you please clarify RL's reasoning for dropping SWF Output ?
You mentioned:
After adding 3D motion capabilities to CTA2, it requires more advanced 3D calculations which can not be supported by SWF format so far
Why is RL even trying to fit 3D calculations in SWF ? CTA2 can continue to do the advanced 3D calculations. Then, SWF can contain a series of vector rendered frames.
SWF is the native format of Adobe Flash, it keeps 2D vectors and images mainly.
Isn't SWF a great format for resolution independent, cross-platform renders ?
we plan to augment the future cross platform output compatibility. Unity can be a better export candidate for that.
Which Unity are we talking about ? Game engine ? Did you mean you want to give a 3D output such as FBX or COLLADA ?
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By Peter (RL) - 11 Years Ago
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jbyun (11/23/2014)
Peter, Can you please clarify RL's reasoning for dropping SWF Output ? You mentioned: After adding 3D motion capabilities to CTA2, it requires more advanced 3D calculations which can not be supported by SWF format so far Why is RL even trying to fit 3D calculations in SWF ? CTA2 can continue to do the advanced 3D calculations. Then, SWF can contain a series of vector rendered frames.
SWF is the native format of Adobe Flash, it keeps 2D vectors and images mainly.
Isn't SWF a great format for resolution independent, cross-platform renders ?
we plan to augment the future cross platform output compatibility. Unity can be a better export candidate for that.
Which Unity are we talking about ? Game engine ? Did you mean you want to give a 3D output such as FBX or COLLADA ? Hi.. Exporting to SWF was included with CTA1, but unfortunately due to the implementation of 3D motions in CTA2, we have found that exporting to SWF is not a viable option at present. However if we can fully overcome the problems involved and the export gives satisfactory results, then of course we would add this. Right now that is not the case. Our Unity references are indeed for the popular game engine. Please see the Unity Plugin for CrazyTalk 7 below as an example of how we are using 2D animations in Unity. http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/unity.aspx
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By talshachar - 9 Years Ago
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I'm new on Reallusion, two weeks ago I have spend $500 on "CrazyTalk Animaotr 2 Pipleline Biz Bundle" just to find out I can't do all those great features of CTA1 standard you had for $50. I understand it's because of 3D features you put on CTA2 like multi dimension animation. But CTA2 is sort of a 2D Iclone or a 3D CTA with 2D limitations like body photo fitting which is missing on CTA2.
Your great 3D software is "Iclone", and your great 2D software is "crazytalk animator". but CTA2 in neither, it's half Iclone and half CTA1.
so I think you should either like someone mentioned here, sell us CTA1 for reduced price with the ability to export from CTA1 to CTA2. or I would also suggest if you could at least let us to trade in CTA2 for Iclone, since I spend $500 on CTA2 which I don't have much use for it without "body photo fitting" (since CTA2 is just a 2D Iclone) I would be happy to add the difference in prices in this case another $200 and purchase "Iclone 6 studio pipeline suite" which is $700 right now on your online store.
Please find a quick solution to this situation since right now CTA2 is useless for me, I see posts here from 3 years ago that you said you will put some addons to CTA2 to do body photo fitting etc. but 3 years passed and it's all the same.
Thank you
Tal Shachar
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By mauricio_58 - 9 Years Ago
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agree... I miss my $500 bucks
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