Comments are always welcome. :)

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Tried to add a post and got "please add message to post" ... I tried 3 times with same problem.

Know this isn't what you're asking, but I can't get your add new post option to work ...

Here's my message:

Well, I give up. When I call up the Timeline all I get is Voice & Motion CLip ... not the bank of options shown in the tutorials.

And I've looked over every inch and can't find the button that's supposed to give me a submenu.  Is this on Pro only? If so, I feel Crazy Talk is a bit weak for the money. Also there are no SFX. Do these have to be purchased separately?

I got the DVD version of CT 5. 

The "please add message to post" error you are getting happens sometimes when there is a lot of HTML code at the top of the post and an error gets thrown up even though the rest of the post may be all text. Try using plain text at the top of your message to avoid this happening.

With the standard edition of Crazytalk you do only have limited features on the timeline. If you have looked at some of the screenshots or videos you may have seen features that are only available in the Pro version. I'm not too sure what you mean by submenu?

You can check the difference between the two versions from the link below.

http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/ct_matrix.asp

You do have Motion Clips and Puppeteering (no solo feature control) in CT5 so you can still create full facial animations. Should you wish to upgrade to Pro you can do so for a discount price from your Premium Members page.

http://www.reallusion.com/member/program/memberreg.asp

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

at the moment, it's not a feature I use a lot.

I find it a little 'hit & miss'. It's difficult to fine tune expressions with this method, as it seems to happen all too fast, and the method of controlling the expressions (using the mouse) is a little random. Also, I may just not understand how to use the feature properly, but from what I can see, once you've recorded a motion using the puppeteer method, you can't go back and correct or fine tune a section using the edit mode. From what I can gather, you either use the puppeteer mode OR the edit mode for a given section of the timeline. You can't for instance record a section using puppeteer mode, and then go back to specific time, and edit just that one frame, using edit mode as it appears to be ghosted out.

I'm finding I'm primarily using the edit mode for this reason. It's a much longer process, but allows me a much more accurate method of animation. Although I still think the puppeteer mode is good to have as an option, however it would be good if you could go back and edit the recorded puppeteer mode animation using edit mode. Maybe you can ?? But I can't figure out how to do it...

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Well, I'm new to Crazy Talk, so I've never had to rely on the older methods.

I've taken to the puppeteering quite quickly and it does seem to be the best way of doing things. However, I should say that I find it best to us the feature in a few passes, each pass controlling just one or two facial features, keeping in mind the expressions I want to build as I play through the script (I don't bother with the preset selections). So, I'll start by creating just the head movement, lifting the head where I'm going to raise the eyes and brows, lowering it where I want to scowl, etc. Then I'll do the eye movements, then the brows, then add more to the mouth for smiles etc.

It can take a while to build a 10 minute You Tube film but it is worth the effort for the control it gives you and still seems a bit faster and better controlled than the older method.