As far as time to end of Challenge I am flexible. Would three more weeks be enough , let me know preffered timelines when you can.
I have no idea. But I already have the max number of entries. If I add an animation, I will have to bump one. So it really doesn't matter if I enter ot not. Whatever you decide, it is all good.
Headwax - Clarification please.
I interpreted the instructions to mean we could have 6 still images and 3 animations for 9 total entries. Another reasonable interpretation is as UB implies in which there are 6 total entries, of which up to 3 can be animations. Please clarify. I have no prefernce, just wanting to know. Here are the instructions.
Entries
Up-to 6 images per artist and three animations per artist.
Not a success, but here is a possible hair technique with certain hats worn at a tilt.
I tried to create a Mae West based character but I don't think I've quite found it yet. Fur wrap over the shoulders, big hat, gaudy earrings, blonde hair from a bottle, fancy dress showing off curves.
For the hat and hair, I modeled a hat and then cut and pasted part of the skull from the figure mesh into the mesh for the hat. I deleted polygons under the hat. I created shader domains for where I wanted to grow hair. I planned to combine two separate dynamic hair objects, not two regions within the same hair object. Think it gives more freedom. Anyway, In addition to hair grown on the hair cap, I grew hair from the inside lip of the hat over the exposed part of the skull. Conceptually I think this worked out OK, although the current lighting and shaders blow the whole thing out. Lots of edits coming to the Mae West accessories, I guess, but the hair concept seems to work.
I interpreted the instructions to mean we could have 6 still images and 3 animations for 9 total entries. Another reasonable interpretation is as UB implies in which there are 6 total entries, of which up to 3 can be animations. Please clarify. I have no prefernce, just wanting to know. Here are the instructions.
Entries
Up-to 6 images per artist and three animations per artist.
Hmm. I was sure that it was four entries. But as you have pointed out, I was incorrect.
The bigger point is that I have never entered more than 4. So whether I get any more done or not, I'm not feeling any constraint. This Challenge has been very satisfying.
Surprised that more artists here are not participating.
Diomede, regarding your Lucy and Mae West characters in particular, and all other classic people in general, I recommend looking up portraits done by caricature artists. Those artists really get to the heart of the exaggerated features that make those characters unique.
Getting ahead of myself, I'm sure. But I just loaded an NLA clip into Carrara, a walk cycle for V4. I stretched out the clip and set it to loop for the whole 7 seconds. After I hit play, she did the first cycle, then quickly jerked a meter to her left, continued for another cycle, jerked to the left again, then finished the cycle.
Does anyone have any idea why she is jerking a small distance to her left between cycles?
Getting ahead of myself, I'm sure. But I just loaded an NLA clip into Carrara, a walk cycle for V4. I stretched out the clip and set it to loop for the whole 7 seconds. After I hit play, she did the first cycle, then quickly jerked a meter to her left, continued for another cycle, jerked to the left again, then finished the cycle.
Does anyone have any idea why she is jerking a small distance to her left between cycles?
Still a mystery. It is doing the same thing today using a new V4, new scene, etc. Maybe the clip has a glitch? Probably not, as it is part of Phil's tutorial.
In loading this, I was jumping ahead. But it should have worked. I have a feeling that it is a common issue, like V4 being green when you first load her. Hopefully it will be as easy to fix.
Where is Dart when you need him? :) Hopefully he hasn't fully gone over to the dark side.
Edit - Ironically, I just went outside on a walk myself, and solution popped up in the first few minutes. I was stretching out the walk a random amount, and wasn't being precise enough in setting the length of each cycle. It has to fit evenly in the 24 frame cycle. Otherwise,Carrara will interpolate its best position guess to fit the uneven number. Now it works great!
Wendy, what have you found to be the best way for characters to speak when using Carrara? Mimic? I have Mimic Light, but not the regular one. I assume that Mimic Light - which came with good content - doesn't work in Carrara.
Wendy, what have you found to be the best way for characters to speak when using Carrara? Mimic? I have Mimic Light, but not the regular one. I assume that Mimic Light - which came with good content - doesn't work in Carrara.
PhilW seems to prefer to just use visemes.
What is your experience?
I use the Carrara plugin but mimic lite can export a pz2 if you have a cr2 the genesis 1&2 Poser companion files look funny in it but the exported pose works
I could not load the Genesis + Poser Companion cr2 in Mimic Lite, I have used them with Pro but have Poser and think I saved geometries, I generally use Mimic for Carrara so never been an issue, I suggest you use DAZ studio 32bit Lipsync and save a pose checking only pose controls for head
Thanks for the 2nd attempt with Mimic Lite, Wendy.
The thing is, I'm looking for something that is less complicated than creating from visemes in Carrara, not more complicated.
At this point I am focused on V4. If using Mimic Lite means loading an old 32 bit version of DS, I am out. For me, it is simply easier to use visemes manually. Time consuming, but easier.
Is there a newer (NEWER) product that is easy to use and works well? Right now I'm not seeing it.
I think that it is time to just follow Phil and not ask any more questions. Not likely to get a finished product before the Challenge is over, but that is secondary to actually learning a good workflow.
Like most threads, there was a lot of bloviating. Sometimes it is really hard to get anyone to answer the actual question asked. Fortunately, Pjotter stepped up. :)
it only really means installing any version of D|S 32 bit, I use the current 4.20 beta
because that is where DAZ has all the configuration files for some of their core figures like V4 and M4
they don't redistribute them all separately
I cannot share those files or I would
lipsync is not supported in the 64bit and Mimic Live which also has those files has been pulled from the store so you simply cannot get them otherwise
installing a program is not hard
you don't have to actually use D|S
if you do want to do lipsync in D|S and don't own Mimic Live it is the only free option
I think it's actually the only non Genesis 3&8 option now
anyway good luck, you have chosen a very difficult way to try and do lipsync in Carrara
I honestly couldn't do it, mimic generates a heap of NLA clips in a split of a second the length of the timeline for the dialogue, the Mimic lite pz2 keyframes all the morphs need in a split second and so does DAZ lipsync
trying to manually do all that will be a truly arduous task if you want to speak a sentence
though I guess you could edit the default dmc files in notepad for other figures
I actually do that for some Poser figures that crash Mimic Pro
it's less tedious than keyframing each viseme along the timeline for every word spoken
Comments
Headwax - Clarification please.
I interpreted the instructions to mean we could have 6 still images and 3 animations for 9 total entries. Another reasonable interpretation is as UB implies in which there are 6 total entries, of which up to 3 can be animations. Please clarify. I have no prefernce, just wanting to know. Here are the instructions.
Not a success, but here is a possible hair technique with certain hats worn at a tilt.
I tried to create a Mae West based character but I don't think I've quite found it yet. Fur wrap over the shoulders, big hat, gaudy earrings, blonde hair from a bottle, fancy dress showing off curves.
For the hat and hair, I modeled a hat and then cut and pasted part of the skull from the figure mesh into the mesh for the hat. I deleted polygons under the hat. I created shader domains for where I wanted to grow hair. I planned to combine two separate dynamic hair objects, not two regions within the same hair object. Think it gives more freedom. Anyway, In addition to hair grown on the hair cap, I grew hair from the inside lip of the hat over the exposed part of the skull. Conceptually I think this worked out OK, although the current lighting and shaders blow the whole thing out. Lots of edits coming to the Mae West accessories, I guess, but the hair concept seems to work.
The fur wrap is a separate rigged figure.
Hmm. I was sure that it was four entries. But as you have pointed out, I was incorrect.
The bigger point is that I have never entered more than 4. So whether I get any more done or not, I'm not feeling any constraint. This Challenge has been very satisfying.
Surprised that more artists here are not participating.
I do feel bad about not participating for Carrara's sake and keeping it alive
but my reasons are beyond that, it stems from a reluctance to compete in general and also I don't want to owe DAZ anything as very peeved off at them
in spite of tossing them coin even yersterday
I enjoy seeing what everyone is doing though
Haha on the Lucille Ball skit :) 23 percent inkahol...
Ah the time Period - let's make it three weeks then.
I'll update the time tomorrow.
I think it's worth extending it because people are still doing work.
As far as Entry Number ;
Each artist can Have Six Images, and 3 animations
Not that I expect three animations from anyone !!
I'm very glad that people are enjoying this Challenge.
I've done a few animations and they have been very very bad so I have no posted them :)
I guess I should have watched Phil's animation tuts.!!
Not to worry Wendy, you can still wip up an animation and put it on this wip thread if you want
Put a pause on Mae West. Here are Chico and Harpo.
Diomede, regarding your Lucy and Mae West characters in particular, and all other classic people in general, I recommend looking up portraits done by caricature artists. Those artists really get to the heart of the exaggerated features that make those characters unique.
This is a random one on pinterest.
Thanks, UB.
~ and then ~
Incomplets , but alrites _ thanx
Getting ahead of myself, I'm sure. But I just loaded an NLA clip into Carrara, a walk cycle for V4. I stretched out the clip and set it to loop for the whole 7 seconds. After I hit play, she did the first cycle, then quickly jerked a meter to her left, continued for another cycle, jerked to the left again, then finished the cycle.
Does anyone have any idea why she is jerking a small distance to her left between cycles?
V4 doing the Time warp?
Sorry, no, I don't know what is causing the cycle problem. Could the first frame not be at 0,0,0? Check the X value. Just a guess.
gotta crank the sound up with that one
remember going to the drive-in to watch it ... when we had a drive-in!
Still a mystery. It is doing the same thing today using a new V4, new scene, etc. Maybe the clip has a glitch? Probably not, as it is part of Phil's tutorial.
In loading this, I was jumping ahead. But it should have worked. I have a feeling that it is a common issue, like V4 being green when you first load her. Hopefully it will be as easy to fix.
Where is Dart when you need him? :) Hopefully he hasn't fully gone over to the dark side.
Edit - Ironically, I just went outside on a walk myself, and solution popped up in the first few minutes. I was stretching out the walk a random amount, and wasn't being precise enough in setting the length of each cycle. It has to fit evenly in the 24 frame cycle. Otherwise,Carrara will interpolate its best position guess to fit the uneven number. Now it works great!
Yup, about the same as V4 being green. :)
green? unless you mean Poser shaders with the bluish diffuse multiply
(which needs fixing in DAZ Studio too)
Yup, that one.
Wendy, what have you found to be the best way for characters to speak when using Carrara? Mimic? I have Mimic Light, but not the regular one. I assume that Mimic Light - which came with good content - doesn't work in Carrara.
PhilW seems to prefer to just use visemes.
What is your experience?
I use the Carrara plugin but mimic lite can export a pz2 if you have a cr2 the genesis 1&2 Poser companion files look funny in it but the exported pose works
Any chance that you can do a Mimic Lite tutorial? :) Is Mimic Lite a standalone product? Basically, I know nothing about it.
Does anyone know why Daz pulled the Carrara Mimic plugin from the store?
can try, not sure I have it installed on my Win10 with my Nvidia card for Shadowplay but of course could install it
it's on my Win7 AFAIK
you basically load a cr2 from your Poser Runtime, the corresponding dmc (Mimic Configuration file)
import a wav file
then you can export a watermarked video and or a pz2 pose (to your Runtime library Poses)
it cannot create dmc files like Mimic pro
and the latter, because DAZ and all the Carrara stuff they discontinued
I open Mimic Lite. It is a stand alone program.
Beyond that, it is alien. :) Unfortunately, your description left me with more questions than answers.
I probably need to explore some other options, or just use the visemes/keyframes in Carrara.
I did a lip sinc in DS back in 2014 that was easy to do and looked terrific. It can't be that hard in Carrara.
Thanks for the attempt.
you can use the lipsync in DAZ studio 32 bit and save it as an animated pose file too
use the Wizard
browse to your cr2 and dmc files
the ones you want may be in several places
you need D|S 32bit installed for M4 for example and it will be in C:\Program Files (x86)\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins\dzmimic\Configuration_Files
or wherever you installed it
others can be in your library\General\Mimic Configurations or a host of places
I have copied mine to all one folder
you can use Voidtools Everything or Windows explorer and search *.dmc to find them all and copy to a folder
I am not kidding when I say they are all over the place
I grabbed M4 from here
again your cr2 files are whereever in your runtime libraries characters, I have a few libraries
load a wav file and check all the settings you want
and analyze Sound file
then OK
you can play it to check it works then export the pose (pz2 file) under file
I put mine here in my library\runtime\libraries\pose
so can easily load it on my figure in Carrara from the browser
I could not load the Genesis + Poser Companion cr2 in Mimic Lite, I have used them with Pro but have Poser and think I saved geometries, I generally use Mimic for Carrara so never been an issue, I suggest you use DAZ studio 32bit Lipsync and save a pose checking only pose controls for head
RE: NLA Clips, Loops, and alignment.
editing an NLA clip that has problems with looping. PJotter and 3DAge offer good suggestions.
came across the following discussion while looking for something else. Might be helpful to include here.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/40163/combine-nla-clips
Thanks for the 2nd attempt with Mimic Lite, Wendy.
The thing is, I'm looking for something that is less complicated than creating from visemes in Carrara, not more complicated.
At this point I am focused on V4. If using Mimic Lite means loading an old 32 bit version of DS, I am out. For me, it is simply easier to use visemes manually. Time consuming, but easier.
Is there a newer (NEWER) product that is easy to use and works well? Right now I'm not seeing it.
I think that it is time to just follow Phil and not ask any more questions. Not likely to get a finished product before the Challenge is over, but that is secondary to actually learning a good workflow.
Thanks for posting.
Like most threads, there was a lot of bloviating. Sometimes it is really hard to get anyone to answer the actual question asked. Fortunately, Pjotter stepped up. :)
it only really means installing any version of D|S 32 bit, I use the current 4.20 beta
because that is where DAZ has all the configuration files for some of their core figures like V4 and M4
they don't redistribute them all separately
I cannot share those files or I would
lipsync is not supported in the 64bit and Mimic Live which also has those files has been pulled from the store so you simply cannot get them otherwise
installing a program is not hard
you don't have to actually use D|S
if you do want to do lipsync in D|S and don't own Mimic Live it is the only free option
I think it's actually the only non Genesis 3&8 option now
anyway good luck, you have chosen a very difficult way to try and do lipsync in Carrara
I honestly couldn't do it, mimic generates a heap of NLA clips in a split of a second the length of the timeline for the dialogue, the Mimic lite pz2 keyframes all the morphs need in a split second and so does DAZ lipsync
trying to manually do all that will be a truly arduous task if you want to speak a sentence
though I guess you could edit the default dmc files in notepad for other figures
I actually do that for some Poser figures that crash Mimic Pro
it's less tedious than keyframing each viseme along the timeline for every word spoken
eggflip
Diomede - you are having lots of fun with those figures that you creating - look fantastic !!!
Headwax - 3 weeks sounds good, thinking of doing another animation !!!
ed3D - your clown is coming along nicely !!!
UB - hope your animation is working out !!!
Wendy - thanks for your help !!!
Stezza - Eggcellent !!!
yes DAZ studio 4.20.1.38 (May 20, 2022)
Genesis 8
an iPhone 10+
https://www.daz3d.com/face-mojo--facial-mocap-retargeting-genesis-3-and-8-bundle
DAZ has not touched Carrara for almost a decade and Michael and Victoria 4 even longer
there is no new technology for legacy content, Lipsync and Mimic were the last innovations