Audio files

Mike Quinn

Mike Quinn

0
Audio files

Hi there.
I'm a character animator and am REALLY loving all the great tools in Cheetah 3D so far. The program is absolutely amazing!

There is just one thing I need super quick, which as you can guess from the title is to be able to import any kind of audio file. I need my characters to talk. I just need to import reference audio, nothing fancy.

How can I do this? Help me to finish my animation.

Thank you so much!

Mike
 
Mike Quinn said:
Hi there.
I'm a character animator and am REALLY loving all the great tools in Cheetah 3D so far. The program is absolutely amazing!

There is just one thing I need super quick, which as you can guess from the title is to be able to import any kind of audio file. I need my characters to talk. I just need to import reference audio, nothing fancy.

How can I do this? Help me to finish my animation.

Thank you so much!

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike,

Sorry but C3D can't handle audio files. That has to be done with another program. Even if it's not the best program to do this, have you tried iMovie yet ?
 
Yes, basically I have a lot of lip synched dialogue. Post production sound I have covered with Apple Soundtrack. How about slaving a Quicktime or MP3 to C3D? I guess you would need some sort of time code lock.

Maybe in the next major release eh?

Thanks for the info.

Mike
 
I think what he wants is to be able to load an audio file and display it in the timeline, and probably be able to mark up cue points in it (and/or import them from another program).

The audio file would -- essentially -- be a time reference (for a take) the way you can load image references for modeling. Ideally it would play back when previewing the take.

I'd vote this up, as it would make C3D a LOT more useful to animators.
 
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use this program
http://www.lostmarble.com/papagayo/index.shtml
then using the morph tag, shape the mouth into the various positions, labeling each morph with the sound it makes, the names HAVE to match those in the file
make sure the key all changed parameters is on
then run this script in tools to import the file from papagayo
this script is still undone and needs a bit more work
I have used it as it

Todd
 

Attachments

  • Import LipSync.js.zip
    894 bytes · Views: 485
Thanks for the tips guys. All very helpful. I'll certainly have a play with the Papagayo software - glad to see they have an OSX version.

It's not a perfect solution as I still have to perform body language moves and emphasis without any audio to go by but it gets me part way for sure. I can at least use the lip synch file (and mouth animation) as a guide for the rest of the body, then just do renders and add audio externally for "tweak checks".

Cheers!

Mike
 
Nope, but if you're done with your render, then it might work as a final animation solution to output to movie format. Actually, it does work with iClone 3D, but I can't speak for how good that program is.
 
Yes Please!

Audio files would be a BIG help. I'm doing 3D titles for my feature film and want it to move with the music... kinda tough to do without this option.

Have to say though, Cheetah is the most stable and easy to use app out of all of the software bundles I'm using for this project!
 
Obviously you can have your audio open in a separate editor -- you can even have it open in iMovie and then put test renders into iMovie synced to the audio to check how it plays (almost any serious animator will render very low quality animatics to get pacing right before wasting time on high end rendering).

I'd suggest that for serious animation (e.g. titles for a feature film) the lack of motion blur would be a far more crippling problem than the lack of audio support.

I'm not against audio support of some kind, but really -- if you're doing any kind of serious animation you should be planning stuff in some kind of frame-accurate way ... and you don't need C3D for that.
 
podperson said:
Obviously you can have your audio open in a separate editor -- you can even have it open in iMovie and then put test renders into iMovie synced to the audio to check how it plays (almost any serious animator will render very low quality animatics to get pacing right before wasting time on high end rendering).

I'd suggest that for serious animation (e.g. titles for a feature film) the lack of motion blur would be a far more crippling problem than the lack of audio support.

I'm not against audio support of some kind, but really -- if you're doing any kind of serious animation you should be planning stuff in some kind of frame-accurate way ... and you don't need C3D for that.
Click to expand...

That way does work, I agree. An audio waveform import option (with the audio sound audible per frame) would be helpful though, as it would allow experienced lip synch animators to avoid those extra timing sheet steps and animate directly in Cheetah, saving a bit of time.

I imagine it's a big task, and if the demand isn't high enough... but it really would be a very welcome feature for animators especially (even though I time my sound FX externally, since there's so many sfx files compared to a single file of dialog per shot).

The MORPH feature in Cheetah is excellent and easy to get the hang of, An audio importer added to the timeline display would be a perfect companion as mentioned above.
 
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ToddWR said:
use this program
http://www.lostmarble.com/papagayo/index.shtml
then using the morph tag, shape the mouth into the various positions, labeling each morph with the sound it makes, the names HAVE to match those in the file
make sure the key all changed parameters is on
then run this script in tools to import the file from papagayo
this script is still undone and needs a bit more work
I have used it as it

Import LipSync.js.zip (894 Bytes, 59 views) Attachment

Todd
Click to expand...

This would be awesome, but when I plug the script into tools in Cheetah 4.7, Cheetah crashes each time. Any update or suggestions for the script? Thanks.
 
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