Mimic Lite ~ Questions

N-RArts

Hi,

 I bought Mimic Lite 3.1 because it included Victoria 1. But, I've been looking at the program, and I think I'd like to get some use out of it.

So, does anyone know where I can get tutorials about Mimic Lite. The only ones that I've been able to find are for Mimic Pro and Mimic Live.

Also, can I add later models like Gen 2 and Gen 3 characters to it?

Thanks for any help :)

 

 

Ken OBanion

The Mimic Lite and Mimic Pro programs are very similar; the worst that could happen is if the tutorial references a feature in Mimic Pro that is not present in Mimic Lite.  (And there are a number of them.)

As far as using G2 and G3 figures, this is entirely possible, although it's going to require quite a bit of effort on your part.  Mimic uses 'viseme' files (which have a '*.dmc' extension), which map various phonemes (vocalizations) to their respective 'visemes' (the shape of the mouth and tongue which produce those sounds in an actual, non-digital person) in an animation; essentially, what Mimic (both Lite, Pro and Live) does is to generate an animation of the figure's face and head that corresponds to the string of phonemes in a speech audio file.  (And how Mimic manages to turn an audio file into a string of phonemes is nothing short of PFM -- Pure Effin' Magic!  I can't even begin to understand the algorithms involved, and I'm a coder by trade!)

What you'll have to do is to have the collection of viseme morphs for the character you want to use, and then create a *.dmc file (it's basically an XML file, if that helps) to correspond with your character/figure, which defines the morphs needed to reproduce those specific phoneme/viseme associations, so that when the audio file hits a specific sound (or vocalization), the animation morphs the figure's head and mouth to the appropriate viseme.  Then, when you load the character into Mimic, you need to select the appropriate *.dmc file that contains those associations between phonemes and visemes for that particular figure.  Mimic has always been pretty flexible in that respect; i.e., the ability to add new characters, as long as it has access to the necessary morphs, and when to apply them.

The only ready-made .dmc files I've ever found have been for the Generation-3 figures: Michael 3, Victoria 3, Stephanie 3 Petite, David 3, the Freak.  I've also been able to locate a few for the Generation-4 figures (Michael 4 and Victoria 4, specifically).  But if you have a basic understanding of XML, you should not have too much difficulty in building your own; although, as I've mentioned, it's gonna be a real chore!

As an alternative, if you have the 32-bit version of DAZ Studio, there is a 'Lip Sync' tab in that version (and I have yet to find a convincing reason why it is not included in the 64-bit version), that will do pretty much anything that Mimic Lite (or Pro, or Live) can do, and then some.

Your choice.

N-RArts

Wow... (I've really under-estimated this).  

So far, I haven't been able to find the Lip Sync tab in 4.8 (64-bit). Although I have found a post where it says that Lip Sync isn't included in the 64-bit version. So, I'm downloading a 32-bit version of 4.9, in the hope that it's (still) included. 

Sadly, I don't know anything about coding. I would love to learn, but I don't think I could take it in or remember it. Plus, I'm not sure I'd know where to start. :(

But, I can't imagine that it would be too difficult to set up an XML file... Having said that, my judgement hasn't been too great over this :P

 

 

Charlie Judge

Is it possible to install the included figures (such as Victoria) without installing Mimic Lite?

WendyLuvsCatz

Well using the default mimic file and notepad I have edited it to use for other figures, so its not that hard, I know nothing about XML.

You just change the morph names and figure names to match the one you have.

I do have Mimic pro but some figures can crash it.

the exported Mimic lite pz2 will make your figure speak in the 64 bit too so it is usefull for that, you need a cr2, a Poser companion file though as well as the dmc to use it, you can create those in DAZ studio too for later figures, they may not display properly in Mimic but still produce a working pz2 pose file.