Hi

I'm using PoserPro2010. I've only been at it for a couple of weeks and my primary focus at the moment is using Talk Designer, plus learning my way around the animation pallate.

Thought I'd try importing a wav sound dialogue file into Poser and set it to the Ben 2 character from Poser 7 library, which I'll be using in a current animation project. I was able to do it ok, but obviously the lip synchronization is not as close as I'd like it to be, not bad, just not accurate enough to be convincing. There are a couple of things I need to figure out.

1. As it stands on my first couple of attempts, the audio is slightly "ahead" of the animation video, (kinda like watching an old Bruce Lee movie if you will :-)) I'd like to tighten things up so they're more accurately synchronized. I know there are several ways to approach that, however I would like to get familiar with the animation pallate anyway, so I thought maybe I could do the editing in there. TD does eliminate alot of tedious work and gives me a good head start by generating the necessary morphs.
   I'm thinking of going with the animation pallate to edit and adjust unless any experienced users here may know of a good alternative method without having to create morphs from scratch?

2. I've spent the past couple of hours just reading through the manual on the animation editing controls, the animation pallette, and also there's a "graph" you can use as well. I'm guessing if I can eventually get a handle on those tools I'll be able to tweak the lipsync so that the timing is closer. Problem is, it's fairly complicated at this point in time, but I think with some practice I'll be able to get it.  I haven't found a tutorial just yet that is dedicated specifically to either adjusting the Talk Designer's lipsynch controls, or editing with the Animation Pallate.

3. I read in the manual that when you import an audio file, TD opens and automatically sets the beginning frame number to 1, and then based on the length of the audio, it will set the end frame number as well.  Well, TD opened alright, but the end frame number remained at 30, which at 30FPS that is only a 1 second animation. The audio was about two and a half seconds long, so when I hit play it only played for 1 second and stopped. I had to try manually entering different numbers into the frame end field until I finally found that 80 would fit the entire audio. Is there a setting I'm not aware of to enable the automatic TD detection for length of audio?

My only other dilemma is if I recorded two identical sentences, one at normal speaking speed, and the other speaking at a faster rate of speed, will poser account for this? Reason I ask is because of the Bruce Lee movie effect I'm getting. In my test with the Ben character, after the audio has already finished, the Ben character continues to move his mouth slightly a couple of more times.

I'm mostly looking for some direction as to how to "tweak" the lip synch a bit tighter, as I will be doing quite a bit of this type of character animation in the future. I have more animation questions, but I don't want to wear out my welcome here. :-)
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

MM

 One question: Did you watch an actual rendered version of your test? I'm asking because the preview isn't always accurate when it comes to the speed and that may be why the audio seems "ahead"

Hi Trekkie Grrrl

Thanks for the reply, yes, I rendered it to an avi file and still the same. I forgot to mention that this was only one fairly short sentence of dialogue audio. I also typed in the same sentence in the supporting text field in TD, but that didn't seem to change anything. Surprisingly it actually seemed a little better "without" the added supporting text.

If the lip sync is correct but consistantly off , I resynch in a video editor when doing the final clip.
I have used mimic , which generates an animated pose file, and on the animation timeline you can select and move those keyframes back to match the sound file.

Hi markshum

I was just looking at Mimic Pro the other day, looks like it could be worth getting at some point. There's also a Talk Designer Assistant plugin I saw that might help as well.  That is a good alternative suggestion you have to use a video editor if I can't get it done within Poser.  I know I have some options, just have to experiment a bit to see what works best. Thanks

MM

Even moviemaker which is free with windows xp can be used. I like the options of cuts and fades the editor gives when assembling scenes.  I render out maybe 5 to 10 seconds at a time and then piece it together.

I used Ben again, and opened Talk Designer. I loaded a wav file to use for the lipsynch. The wav file is only one sentence of dialogue (about 3 seconds long). If I want to tighten up both the audio and video so it doesn't run past the length of the audio file,  do I just lower the end frame number, and if so, do I change it just in the TD window, or do I also need to change it at the bottom of the screen in the animation preview section? Or am I better off rendering the way it is and cutting it in a video editing program? I just don't want my changing the total frames to affect the accuracy of the lipsynch. It's not that accurate to begin with, but I don't want to throw it off by making changes to the frames.

I've been advised to leave the "skip frames" un-checked, which I did. When un-checked the preview gives almost a "slow motion" type of effect and I can't determine if the lipsynch is accurate unless I do a render.

Anyone have some experience with TD that could give me some tips on how to master this tool I'd appreciate it, thank you! Late here, will check back in the morning.

MM