Attached Link: http://www.daz3d.com/pages/dp/animation/animmain.html

DAZ has successfully used Mimic in our animation projects. In one project over a year ago we were contacted by Film Roman (the animation company behind The Simpsons, King of the Hill and others) to spit out a quick 3D animation of a character in a new 3D animated series they were pitching. They needed something turned around in a couple of weeks, so they came to us. We used Mimic and Poser to produce the animation test for them. We had to build the piece from the ground up in a very short period of time. They were very happy with the results and so was the voice talent for the main character (Tony Danza). Some clips from this animation are on our demo reel on our website under the animation section http://www.daz3d.com/pages/dp/animation/animmain.html. The gangster looking character talking with his back against a wall is the piece is the Tony character.

Also, on our demo reel you will also notice another character (Mr. Finnagan). He is the older gentleman who is talking while he makes a toy robot. We used Mimic to animate his mouth movements as well. See if you can guess which real life actor the character of Mr. Finnagan was designed after. This actor also provided the voice and motion capture (for the dancing sequence). I would love to hear your guesses. As a point of interest this actor also uses DAZ Products with Poser and Mimic.

Anyway, I hope that the community is really happy with this special offer on Mimic. I am sure that anyone who takes advantage of this opportunity will be completely satisfied with this great product. At this price point, even those of you who have not done much animation can afford to do it as well (not to mention it is very easy to use).

Sincerely,

Dan Farr
President, DAZ Productions

• checks calendar to make sure it isn't April *

Woohoo! Good news for Poser animators ... all twelve of us!

So when is version 2.0 coming out? :)

My guess as to Mr. Finnagan would be Dick Van Dyke. I hear that he uses LightWave, also.

Dan, My congratulations! This is great news. I'm glad to see that Mimic has found a good home. I think the community will really benefit from your continued support for the product. Cheers, Steve Cooper Curious Labs

The demo is cool, but I wish the music wasn't so loud. I would have loved to hear Dick VanDyke speak in the clip! It's nice to see Mimic get better integrated into the Poser family. Maybe you'll get a 13th Poser animator some day .... ;-)

I'm with you LD... This is great news.. Now when do we get Mimic 2.0? :) Ed

Damn, this looks like an excellent price. Only a couple problems: I'm not doing animations right now, and I'm trying to save for Poser 5. Darn.

And I think we know why. If this is how things will stay then 12 animators is all there'll ever be?

Does this mean that those of us who paid full price will get a free upgrade that actually works properly with the Vicki and Michael figures? Take care and be well. casamerica

We'll you guys guess it right away. Dick Van Dyke is probably as big of a 3D fan as anybody in the community. He has been playing around with the Pro pack to Lightwave conversions. Maybe someday we can get him to show some of his work (play). Development of Mimic will depend largely on how much the community is interested in that sort of product. We really haven't even had a chance to look under the hood to see what fun things can be done to develop Mimic further. Sincerely, Dan Farr

Dan, I think it's incredibly ironic that you've purchased Mimic, since the WORST results I've had Mimic were when I used it with Mike and Vicky. Their speech capability completely lacks the subtlety that I get using the standard P4 figures. Their lips move unnaturally and their faces are lifeless and robotic. So please, make it a priority to FIX their Mimic readiness. As it is now, Mike and Vicky simply DO NOT work with Mimic in any satisfactory way. Do you have any plans to remedy this? jsemp

since DAZ now has mimic and are already working on version 3 of a certain millenium figure, it can only be assumed that said millenium figure will already have full support for mimic added into the new features when it is done, assuming they plan to support their new product. If she doesnt, well, I would certainly wonder.

Very impressive stuff, Dan. Now where's the flippin' Mac version of Morphos? :P

Definitely Dick Van Dyke ... no question. Fascinating that he is into Poser ... very cool.

Now, the real mystery ... at least to me is: IS DAN FARR MIKE (THE MILLENIUM MAN)? Or more specifically, is Dan's face the basis for Mike's? I saw an article where Dan was holding up a face mold that was to be used in the creation of the Millenium Man and noticed a striking resemblance. Now, whenever I fire-up a model of Mike I think of Dan. (BTW, if this is old news, try not to laugh at me too hard and be gentle.) Care to comment, Dan ... anyone? -Tim

Almost forgot ... Twelve of us?? Are there THAT many?? I was thinking I could count them all on one hand. Well, now maybe we won't be overlooked now that there are more than 10 animators around "these parts." (yaaa, suuuuure) ;-)

2 things... 1) There ARE more than 12 of you out there. I get tons of email from animators everyday...Maybe the rest of them are too obsessive to ever leave their Poser UI window... 2) I had worked at CL for almost a year and seen Michael around lots of places and never met Dan...then I saw Dan at the CL/DAZ booth at Siggraph 2001...if he isn't Michael...? Uh...Yeah... :) Walking 3D. Great news Dan! tori

Heh-heh ... just as I thought. Thanks for the confirmation Tori. Someone else has had to notice this as well. Have there been any posts about this?

Finally - a price that meets my budget. I think I'll have to figure out how to get Mimic. - and this saves me about six months of intensive coding that I really didn't want to do anyway. Hoo-ray. Now if I can get my bank on Mars to issue me an Earth based credit card. Thanks, - TJ

There MIGHT be more than 12 of us. There would definitely BE more than 12 if a patch or upgrade, which has been requested time and time again, that actually worked with Mike and Vicki had ever been released. As it is, it is a major chore to get those figures to work properly in any sort of complicated animation scene that involves Vicki or Mike or both. I bought Mimic to CUT my prep and production time, not to add to it. I will wait and see what Daz does with it. But if we are to simply wait for a Vicki 3 to solve the problem, I will be disappointed. Disappointed since it will not solve the problem with Mike. Or are we to wait for Mike 3? Anyway, I know for a fact that Daz customer support is better than what we got from Lipsync. So I have a certain amount of optimism. But, even Corel, yes, even Corel, customer support is better than what we got from Lipsync. Take care and be well. casamerica

Great news, but what about the Mac version? At this moment it seems only the Windows version is sold by Daz. Will there also be the Mac version and (much more important) will I be able to buy it for the sale price? Thanks in advance Sascha

There IS a Mac version -- hell, I beta'd the damn thing. So what's this crap about it "not available"?

Yepp, I know there is one. Ive downloaded the Beta too.

Wow... this week has been too great! First Eugenius points me in the direction of "Susanna" which allows me to import Poser animations into Bryceland, (under 50 bucks) and now I have purchased Mimic with Daz's special pricing (also under 50 bucks.) I'm sorta hoping that I don't learn about any more great deals here in the Renderosity Poser forum; I don't know that I can afford any more happiness - I know that my wife says that I can't...

Wow, I wonder if Dick Van Dyke is a member here at Renderosity. Will the real Dick Van Dyke please stand up! :) Melanie

Hi Dan, I'm happy to hear that Mimic has a new wonderful home. Congratulations to you and best regards to Reba, Reachel, Rob, Micah and the rest of the DAZ family. -Brian Curious Labs

I'd really like to know if DAZ plans to upgrade it soon specially with people saying it doesn't works well with the Millenium figures.

Dan said they've only just got their hands on it so it'll be a while before we see anything in the way of a patch or upgrade for Mimic, I wonder why Lipsinc sold it? Rob

If Mimic doesn't work with Millennium Figures, it would be of no use to me.

Though it says no mac version, you can put a mac version in your basket. Maybe that note was left behind from when there was no mac version. I didn't buy it yet, but it seems to be available.

Dan: I echo VirtualSite's comment about the Mac availability - my students beta'd the product on our iMacs, so we know it exists as a gold product. BTW - from your site today: "This product is currently not avaailable in Macintosh Format" I think you ought to have your web guys use the spell check. -scara

Just a quick note about the compatibility between Mimic and the Mill figures. Mimic was originally designed for the P4 figures. When we developed Victoria, we changed many of the facial expressions to what we felt were better not realizing that it would create some incombatability with Mimic. Since that time we have built our figures trying to preserve the most compatibility possible. The current state of the Millennium figures offers reasonable compatibility. For the animations that we have done on non P4 figures, Mimic has literally saved us weeks of work.

With that being said, we feel that there will be plenty of room for improvement in the future. Now we can address improvements from both directions. At this time we have no idea how long it will take to implement any new changes. But in the meantime, it is still a very valuable product (even at the full price of $195). Also, remember, DAZ offers a 30 day Money back satifaction guarantee on our products. If it doesn't work for you then return it. I say this confidently because I don't feel that many people, if any, will feel any need to return it.

For you Mac users out there. The Mac version is also available on our website. We had just temporarily turned off the page because we were out of inventory on the Mac version. Oh and Mark, the Mac version of Morphos is up now as well. Happy day for Mac users:)

Tim, I guess you could say that the right half my face is Michael's default head (right mirrored to left). It is something that is kind of bazaar for me since I think some images of Michael look more like me than others. The model was never intended to be an acurate representation but we digitized the only plaster face we had handy at the time (mine).

Oh, there is one more thing that I want to mention. When we offered the Gorrila as our Mystery model a few months ago, the response was so positive that we have decided to try it again. What I am trying to say is that there is another free Mystery model coming very soon. The only hint that I will give at this time is that in my oppinion this new Mystery model will be much bigger than the Gorilla.

Sincerely,

Dan Farr

As Dan was posting the above entry I was ordering the thingie on the DAZ site. There will now be more than 12 animators, there will be about 12 hundred thousand, and none of us waiting for our G5s.

The new Dragon methinks... :)

"When we developed Victoria, we changed many of the facial expressions to what we felt were better not realizing that it would create some incombatability with Mimic." Well, at last we get an admission of something that I've been a little miffed about for a while. I suppose it wouldn't be out of line to point out that both Mike and Vicky have been advertised since Day One as being 'Mimic compatable.' I guess what you meant was 'sort of Mimic compatable.' "The current state of the Millennium figures offers reasonable compatibility." Okay, okay, we'll use your wording. So we'll say that Mike and Vicky are 'reasonably Mimic compatable.' "For the animations that we have done on non P4 figures, Mimic has literally saved us weeks of work." For what I use it for, Mimic is actually more valuable to me than Mike and Vicky. That's why I wish you guys paid more attention to it when constructing your figures. I'm hoping that will happen now that you own Mimic. "With that being said, we feel that there will be plenty of room for improvement in the future. Now we can address improvements from both directions." Good! "At this time we have no idea how long it will take to implement any new changes." Put it on the front burner. It's THAT important. "But in the meantime, it is still a very valuable product (even at the full price of $195). Also, remember, DAZ offers a 30 day Money back satifaction guarantee on our products. If it doesn't work for you then return it. I say this confidently because I don't feel that many people, if any, will feel any need to return it." Dan, fewer people will return it if you advertise honestly that it is only 'reasonably compatable' with your figures. And make a real effort to fix the problems with your figures. I'd like to get more use out of them and Mimic compatability is a must. Thanks for listening. I'm not usually this grouchy, but imagine my surprise the first time I ran the Millennium folks through Mimic and got jerky, robotic, stilted crap back -- thus making them a useless purchase. Been happily using the P4 folks since. jjsemp

I wish I had the patience to learn animation, so I could get in on this great bargin on Mimic, but I just don't seem to be able to handle all the work involved in animating. Praxis, the new dragon is already shown on the site. I doubt that'll be a mystery model. Much bigger than the gorilla makes me think maybe an elephant? We could use a well made elephant. Melanie

Like I said :o)

Totally OT, but I can't resist it (too much coffee!) : If Dan modelled for Mike, which DAZ employee modeled for Vicki - I'd like to meet her? And which one modeled for the Gorilla - if it was Vicki's husband, I would not NOT like to meet her ;o)

jjsemp, ditto. These are, and have been, legitimate complaints. But, hey, those of us who spent $200 for it had better be quiet about it now. Damn rabblerousers. We might generate another "important" newsletter. BTW, can anyone tell me if Mimic will be compatible with Poser 5? Or just reasonably compatible? I just thought it might be nice for those thinking of buying it now to know whether they'll be able to use it after they buy Poser 5. Take care and be well. casamerica

Also, I wonder if P5 has some syncing capability built into it... I guess we would've heard about that by now. I'm a little torn but it sounds like the powers that be are going to get the MM folks and the mimic product to work so it might be a good time to get it...

Dan: I saw a picture of you holding a plaster-cast face somewhere ... I thought it was on the DAZ site. Well, I'm sure it's somewhat surreal for you, but look at it this way ... you're immortal now! :) I think I'll buy another copy of Mimic for another machine since the price is so low, but one serious request: For future versions could you please get rid of the ANNOYING copy protection LIPSinc. incorporated where you have to insert the disc? XVCOFFEE: LIPSinc does NOT an animator make. We might have more users having talking faces -- roughly talking at that. Even with Mimic you still need to animate. Mimic is just a starting place, even for simple talking head animations. I don't think a lot of Mac users realize this, as the software has just been made available to them. Whereas Windows users have had over two years to come to terms with this facet. -Tim

Fellow Mac Users: Wolf359 has posted links to a number of animations using Mimic. If you do a search for his name among the threads you will undoubtedly come across them. I'd been holding off purchase but at this price I don't see how I can. I have to tweak just about everything (including .bvh files) anyway. Anything that gives you a good starting point cuts down on the time it takes to animate - and that's good cause time is precious.

I bought mimic. Its true that you have to tweak the mimic animations but at $48.75 you cant go wrong.

I hope the mystery model is an elephant. An elephant would be a lot more useful to me than a dragon.

Yeah, sorry if it seemed as if I was knocking Mimic ... it's definitely worth it, even at $200. (or $250, IMHO) I didn't want to give a negative impression. Obviously I feel this way or I would not be purchasing a second copy. :)

I put my money where my mouth is and just bought it.

Ahhh the hours I'll save!

And fear not, you will all be assaulted with the fruits of my labor! For I symbolize the unknown animator, he or she that slaves away into the dark recesses of the night using their digital weaponry in secret, hoping against hope that someday the output of our renders will tip the scales of Justice against Evil and that our work will be GOOD!

Let it be so.

Amen.

Melanie and davidrivera - an elephant would be great as the Mystery Model but how about a wooley mammoth? That seems to be the one prehistoric animal no one has made yet and it is definitely bigger than the gorilla.

Rene'

Yes mimic sometimes needs additional tweaking but as one who has done poser lipsynch the hardway i am very glad that us macsters this huge head start. and i am glad that DAZ has saved this program from Oblivion :-) -Wolf359- Founding member of the "12 animators"

Since I want to create an Ancient War Elephant (ala Hannibal) an Asian elephant would be more useful to me (actually Hannibal used North African Elephants but lets not nit pick).

The difference between an Asian Elephant and a Woolly Mammoth is just the tusks and the fur. With all these folks making Vicky textures it shouldnt be too difficult to create a Wooly Mammoth texture for an Elephant model. A good test would be to create a Wooly Rhinoceros texture for Dazs Rhino.

Wouldn't a mimic ready Mike and Vicky heads be a great freebie for those who own them? That would be really big.

Olga: Excellent idea ... not sure how much work it would be for the folks at DAZ, but it seems pretty straight forward. Although, I believe Mike works pretty well with him already, it's just Vicky that is a real problem I think. Wolf, anyone?

Does anyone know WHY Mimic was almost abandoned/lost? I have my own theory, but dare not post it until I have confirmation from a source at LIPSinc next week, for fear of offending a small tangent of users here on Renderosity. I imagine Dan knows the real reason(s).

Yes everyone is talking aboutoblivion and otherwise unavailability in relation to LIPSinc and Mimic. Is there something we dont know? I mean, not that we all care I mean weve got our Mimic, and having to save for it all over again after April has had an unexpected bonus. Perhaps LS are about to embark on a whole new direction thingie.

">Does anyone know WHY Mimic was almost abandoned/lost? I have my own theory, but dare not post it until I have confirmation from a source at LIPSinc next week, for fear of offending a small tangent of users here on Renderosity."< --------------------------------------------------------------- I doubt it had anything to do with porting it to the MAC!!! something any minimally competent programmer could have accomplished inside a week. more likely it had to do with its pricing the program was only of use to poser users ( a relative minority world wide) and costed nearly as much as poser itself ($200 with shipping) and among the poser base it was only considerd an essential tool to an even smaller minority { us twelve poser animators :-) } the economics finally caught up with it is my guess. thinking further about it if DAZ had not bought it it might have become "Abandonware" Like the ill fated Dance Studio then we could all legally pass around CD copies for free. Wolf359 /founding member of the 12 animators/