Mimic Pro standalone final version
Omega Man
Posts: 70
I am liking what I have heard about this one, and would prefer it to all the others because it imports video reference to fine tune. Would anyone possibly sell one to me if not used anymore ? Is there a mechanism for that ? Many thanks.
Post edited by Omega Man on
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Not sure if you can be helped but
Are you talking about Mimic for Carrara or Mimic for DazStudio
Many thanks for asking. On further research I believe is Daz Mimic Pro 3 (but uses a Poser format).
I would be very grateful for any help acquiring (buying) if a current owner no longer uses.
We cannot resell it but there is a site I believe that still onsells it for DAZ since Poser users use it, been mentioned
https://www.toolfarm.com/
I however cannot find it there, for what it's worth I own it but half the time need to use notepad to create dmc files anyway, it just makes it simpler when it doesn't crash as some of the Poser figures I loaded do to it.
Mimic lite does video and is a PC+ item with some cool characters
it doesnt create dmc files but you can trst your notepad efforts in it and export pz2 files
Thanks for your kind comments and advice Wendy. I think Mimic Lite only outputs watermarked video (but might be wrong), but Mimic Pro imports reference video for extra timing and tweaking control. There could well be a workflow where background video, or image sequences, could be loaded into Carrara on a timeline for the same thing, using Mimic for Carrara, but I was thinking "quick/compact". Otherwise I wonder if there was ever a giveaway in any of the old 3D mags.
EDIT - I contacted Toolfarm and was informed they no longer deal with the Daz company.
I do have the DazStudio Mimic Pro but have never used it since I moved over to Carrara. I imagine its no good for Genesis at least not without workarounds. From memory clips could be manipulated similar to in a sound editing program that has a line representing volume which can be grabbed and moved up and down or dragged to fade in/out. In mimic the line represents "strength".of motion I dont recall any other particular advantages over Mimic for Carrara apart from the video.
A free utiity I have used is Dag Foreground Utility [ Digital Artist Guild} http://polycount.com/discussion/82688/foreground-reference-utility-awesome-reference-tool there is a link on this page.
I save several "key" images from the video then use them overlayed on Carrara to make adjustments to match - sort of works. Not sure what your ultimate aim is.
well basically in Mimic Pro you load the DAZ default DMC file then you use the various windows to assign the morphs adjusting strengths and bones to each phoneme and facial expression then you can export a new dmc file and if you wish a pz2 file
its actually a rather messy interface
you can and I have done exactly the same thing to the DAZ default file in notepad
you must save as all files dmc not text
and genesis onwards you need a Poser companion file and it displays all messed anyway
many Poser figures also crash it
with notepad as long as its a figure, a cr2 you can actually assign a dmc to anything, I have made a figure out of an object with morphs and used it on it using both Poser and DAZ studio figure setup
I dont think the OP is so much concerned about making his own DMC files
as he is wanting to have a reference video in the mimic pro 3 veiwport
(Click for larger version)
You can use up to genesis 2 with mimic pro 2 for Poser
but you must first export a poser CR2 and .obj file for the G2 male and female
and REMEMBER where you saved them.
I recommend using a default G1-2 with no textures as Mimic pro 3 will ask for the location
and any maps referenced in the exported CR2.
I was using mimic pro 3 with Genesis 2 for my feature length film project for
nearly two years.
Then (thanks to wendy) I was able to introduce G3 Characters to my film project
and had to use Daz studio 64 bit mimic live with pre-recorded audio piped in from a second computer.
This is because G3-8 cannot be exported to a viable poser CR2.
I realized that mimic live gives a really good "base layer" lipsynch
And I decided it was just easier to add facial emoting/expressions with
my utterly vast repository of facial morphs &graphMate as the built in expression editor
in mimic pro 3 only worked for legacy poser figures.
NOT with my Fake Cr2 versions from G1-2
(all other phoneme editing feature will work with G1-2)
So now I only use 64 bit mimic live for all figures and get the results I need .
With due thanks to all, wolf359 is spot on, but I did not want to appear too rambling. What a beautiful interface. I'm not just envious, I am jealous (!).
Also that version was compatible with other software of the era off the Daz grid, which I think would allow for some extra wiggle room. It's a nice discussion.
If you want reference to a video for your lipsinc AND you want to work with Carrara [ you do dont you ? ] then this should work. I only had time to do the set up and not a full lipsinc test with character.
Insert a plane rtotate 90deg size 16x9 or whatever.
Set up two cameras one for the plane and one for character and point them .
Have two windows in carrara interface, one for Cam 1 and one Cam 2 - save setup for future use.
Apply your video to the plane as a texture [ must be avi ] and make sure the plane is selected in the scene tab to have the video play.Although video has no sound we assume it is the same that you import for lipsinc.
Have I overlooked something ?
The video import feature in mimic pro 3 will replace the soundtrack& phonemes
in the mimic pro timeline with the sound from the imported video
so you could accurately synch your expressions and phoneme adjustments with
the actual video of the voice actor who is providing the dialogue.
Mimic pro 3 was quite a nice peice of kit in its day.
But alas that Day is past.
Here is an example of the G2 male lipsynched with mimic live
and with my hand key facial morphs for the "devious grin"
layered on top.
Bringing in sound with the video is a great feature ! Makes life easier. You refer to "Mimic Live" which I think is 64bit and a later version than my Mimic for Poser which I think is 32bit.
Ooseven, your workaround in Carrara looks quite good. If the avi file retains frame accuarcy, that is a great way for all sorts of reference. Though wolf359's image does come from Mimic Pro and not Mimic Live. That little video feature is great I think, or maybe just the kid in me sees a certain novelty value in it.
well I tend to find that video feature flakey at best but that may be a limitation of my PC maybe
the whole program tends to freeze up and crash a lot for me hence my preference often for notepad
Since Mimic Lite was so cheap, I got it but couldn't immediately find any text files in the folders. If it isn't a can of worms for you Wendy, how are you amending any data ?
OmegaMan - you could do exact same thing in Carrara Mimic - in fact I'm gonna try it though I dont have Wolf359's character to work with. May take me some time to get a result posted.
kewl what you use to convert mp4 to avi?
the default dmc file will be somewhere
am not sure actually where as I have it in so many places
is a .dmc file
in plain text can open in notepad
save as all files .dmc not .txt afterwards
if you read it will see values and morph names etc you change those to suit
the point is Mimic needs a cr2 figure
notepad you can create a dmc file to drive anything
and Carrara mimic is worth it
can use anything in an animation group
I used it to animate objects to voice
If you extract sound from the video as .wav [ easily done with "aTube Catcher" ] then load it on the Carrara timeline it should sinc.
For converting video formats [ and sound too ] I use FREE program "Video to Video" http://www.videotovideo.org/ There are others but I like this and have usedit for a long time
I use Hitfilm express@Omega Man Just for clarification
You do Plan on using figure models Before genesis 3 yes??
or Does mimic for carrara support G3/8??
it does, I use it all the time
it actually supports anything as I said either by creating NLa clips or populating itself with NLA clips using a dmc file
it has phonemes you can manually assign NLA clips to
those clips can be anything animated even a ball bouncing or a displacement value
so if you can be bothered you could have displaced wrinkles on a texture map dial up with phonemes
I will be honest and say I don't fully understand the Genesis ecosystem. Every time I try to look into it I keep picking up on incompatibility between versions. I was lucky enough to get some Fenric plugins, but noticed on his page the description "These products were all written before the train-wreck known as Genesis was created by DAZ". I'm not 100% sure what is the reasoning, but am guessing due to eventually hitting an element of "workarounds of the workarounds".
Though I do like Dart's figures, which I think are Genesis based, so obviously people are using them successfully..
With Mimic Pro I was thinking it would give access to Carrara, Poser, and with the Pro Pack for earlier versions of Poser could leapfrog into other software like Lightwave - custom figures going back and forth as necessary, combined with the video preview window for dialogue (I really should stop mentioning that, and Ooseven's solution does look good). Wendy's workflow seems quite impressive - voice control like the holodeck (!). Your own thoughts are very interesting too, thank you for the uploads.
I now have the Carrara 3 and 5 books which between them have a head and figure tutorial section. In theory these could be made in Carrara, rigged in Poser, then drop into all sorts of workflows. That was the (possibly flawed) thinking anyway.
maybe a little help, here you can find the Mimic Pro for Carrara manual (pdf) > http://carraracafe.com/download/8524/
I still have to make good my claim to duplicate wolf's video in Carrara - Have worked on it though some problems which will cover later -Thought I knew it all ha ha ! but I'm on a learning curve.
Just wanted to say I have not gone to sleep though a bit tired from some parties i attended over th weekend
-
Meanwhile Wendy - quote "populating itself with NLA clips using a dmc file" Can you say where I might find a G8 dmc file ? I looked in Dim Installed content G8 Folder but didn't see anything.
I have G and G2 dmc's
Omega Man - there was nothing in my message Inbox though got Daz email. Will reply soon.
in your library under general / mimic configuration files
Wendy said - in your library under general / mimic configuration files
No such folder Wendy But nothiing Daz surprises me anymore !! Relegated to the " too hard basket" for now
did you install the Genesis 8 starter essentials?
oh hang on no
you use the Genesis 3 dmc still should be in that folder though
must be something different about your content set up
unzipping the folder for Genesis 3 starter essentials should find it