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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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I hope I am posting here in the correct forum. I am searching for the proper Real Illusion product that will animate a talking photo of my two-headed turtle. Will Crazy Talk 7 do the trick, or will I have to use another product, and if so, which product will suffice. Thanks
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By AverageJoe - 11 Years Ago
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Yes and no. Yes, CrazyTalk is the application to use to transform a photograph into a talking character. However, with that said there are quite a few caveats. One of which is the position or pose the turtle (aka character) is in. Typically the character should be fully facing the camera. This is not a hard & fast rule, it really depends on the photograph in question. And secondly, CrazyTalk 7 can only do a single head or character at a time. With some creative editing in post production you could make it work, but it will require significant effort on your part in a video editor or compositor to get both of the heads talking.
What I would do is make 2 separate projects, one for each head. Have your audio recording with both side of the conversation between the heads, and in CT animating the appropriate head during the appropriate pieces of the conversation, making use of both the Talking feature, as well as the Listen feature. Then do the 2nd head, reversing the times talking & listening for the second head.
Take both clips into an editor and with some good masking and audio syncing you should be able to make it look like the two heads are talking to each other. Simple enough to describe, not so simple to actually do without some real effort though.
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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks for your input and I totally understand your instructions regarding two separate projects. The next question I would have if you could answer would be concerning the product Crazy Animation/er 2 Standard edition. I believe this product can do two heads at once. Will it do entire photos? or are characters required? The other question is more specific with any of the two products, Crazy Talk 7 and CTA2 Standard...it pertains to eyes. Turtles have eyes on the sides of their heads. Mammals have them in the front of their head. Could eye movement be attempted with much work, or not?
Thanks in advance for your assistance in helping me decide which of the two products to purchase
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By AverageJoe - 11 Years Ago
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CrazyTalk Animator 2 is specifically design for doing full figure 2D animation and is much more work getting something working. In regards to your 2 headed turtle picture, no you would not be able to animate both heads in CTA, you'd have to create two separate characters. The other issue is CTA expects that you'd be removing the head or face from said photograph to place onto a full 2D bipedal character. With some creative work arounds, you might get something to work, but it would most likely be a significant effort, with lots of tricks to get it to work.
As far as the eyes on the side of the head, it's not something I've tried, and not sure how well it'd work out. If I had to wager a guess though, I'd say no.
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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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Understand completely. So it looks like I should experiment with CrazyTalk 7 Pro and go from there. Sounds cool. Thanks again for the input.
ZackandMack
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By AverageJoe - 11 Years Ago
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Can you share the photo in question? Maybe it'd spark a creative solution...
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By jlittle - 11 Years Ago
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Yes, you would have to create two heads and attach each of them to a character but you can make all but the head invisible so that you have just the "floating" heads which you can then place over the original photo. Depending upon how much head movement you want some touchup to the underlying photo might be required.
You could even remove the neck and make it a prop which you could then move as needed.
A lot depends upon the angle of the picture of course.
I've taken a photo and animated three heads in it that way without any issues.
Jeff
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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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Already purchased CrazyTalk standard with the basic suite to test things out. Thanks for all the input. Maybe I might switch to CTA2 Standard and work with that also.
As for a photo. Was unable to post one here, but head to FB and see ZacknMack, or Zack and Mack.
ZackandMack
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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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We wanted to thank all you humans for your help in getting us vocalized. We wanted to post our first effort using Crazy Talk 7 Standard. Our human doesn't let us out of the tank very often, so we did what we could. Hope it satisfies. And yes, we are a real, two-headed turtle.
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By AverageJoe - 11 Years Ago
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Nice job... If I may offer a suggestion though... The jump from the natural eyes to the animated eyes is a bit garish... Instead of leaving the listening head with it's natural eyes, you could animate him in listening mode, so the eyes remain the same regardless if the head is talking or not. Also, when the first head is done talking, instead of going back to the natural eyes, leave them on the animated ones. Then it's not so drastic of a change for them during the clip. Just a suggestion though. Either way, great job.
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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks for the input. Using Crazy Talk Standard. Had to animate one side, then the other and then assemble the parts in iMovie. How can I animate the eyes for both heads at the same time? Open to suggestions. Perhaps animate one side, put in listening mode for part of the time then talk other part of the time, same for the other side then run the clips together one under the other in iMovie? Will try. Otherwise I will try something else.
I am on the road so I may not be able to get back readily for a bit. But thanks for the help in advance.
Zack and Mack
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By AverageJoe - 11 Years Ago
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I think my first initial post describes how...
Cut your audio up into the different pieces of the conversation. Import the first audio clip. If it's the specific head's part of the conversation, lip synch it. If it's not, use the Listening reaction. Then import the next audio clip, if it's that head's turn to talk, lip synch it, if not use the Listening mode. Do this until you're done. (BTW, you may be able to do it with one clip, assuming that CT Standard allows you to switch between lip synch and listen mode on the fly. I'm pretty sure the Pro version does. A single audio file would make the timing better and easier to deal with in post). Export to video. Do the 2nd head in a 2nd project the same way, just reversing when the head lip synchs and when he listens. Export to video.
Load up in your video editor both clips. Use whatever masking magic your video editor provides to ensure both heads are visible on their own layers (or in the appropriate place in the frame), mute the video on both of them, and load in your audio into your editor to synch it up with the video. Export out.
The key element while in CT is to record the same head for the duration of the entire conversation, regardless if they're talking or listening. This way their eyes are the correct animated eyes for the duration of the clip. Another benefit, the non-talking head can react to what the other head is saying, by nodding in agreement, winking, etc... It will give it the impression that it's a singular clip, and the heads truly are conversiong together.
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By ZackandMack - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks again Will try it out and let you know....
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