A couple more images I am posting. The top image is similar to the bottom image and layered over a background I also did with 3Delight.

The bottom image (Took 18 minutes to render), this is the jpg of the png. My plan was to import the png into CrazyTalk version 4 or 6 by Reallusion. There I would animate the face and import a wave file of the actress' voice over. Then I would export the image sequence and import the sequence in the movie editor. I would layer the image over the background and export the rendered movie clip.

http://www.ronjames.ca/video/

im using crazytalk animator 3 to pose the characters and get facial expressions that are more natural  i have a host of daz3d items but iwas told i could not allow the artist to download the items i bought to their system

I am creating a graphic novel i'm not a huge fan of the daz3d poses and expressions  crazytalk animator is a long trip out of the way to achieve my goal

My primary wish would be to have an artist create the illustrations i need for my book... i am open-minded about which concept works best  

For Gen4 characters and up can anyone recommend a voice program so characters can speak and their mouths move in sync with the words? I know there is a few programs but which one is the simplest and does the job the best? what is the most commoly used? thanks.

nonesuch00, I am always puzzled by this

I was an utter n00b to computing when I got my crappy Dell laptop in 2008 and one of the earliest things I installed on it was Carrara 5 pro which was on a magazine disc, I bought iClone 3 after learning of it through Crazytalk which was factory installed on my laptop for webcam avatar creation and used carrara 5 to create terrains and stuff in before I even learnt DAZ studio existed I imported those terrains then into iClone.

Maybe because I found Carrara first I find it easy, I had no preconcieved ideas of what a 3D program was supposed to do.

and DS3 crashed all the time on my laptop so rarely used it, bought Poser and used that later too only used DS after getting my Desktop years later.

2008 is eight years ago. After 8 years you will find use what you know easier than learning something new. I felt that way too about learning first Fortran, then Pascal, then C, then C++, then Java, then C# to say nothing of all the situation specific programming and scripting languages I had to come to grips with to do a one off job.

But we are talking about a  noobie in 2015 and in my opinion is they can get to where you did cheaper and easier using the CG Cookie course in 2015 and to be honest, that's what the majority of them choose or freebie tutorials on YouTube and there are alot of good ones. Carrara and iClone are pracitically unknown by many people as even exsisting as options today, even amongst many DAZ Studio and Poser users. Maybe DAZ has big plans for Carrara and it's suite of tools still yet.

nonesuch00, I am always puzzled by this

I was an utter n00b to computing when I got my crappy Dell laptop in 2008 and one of the earliest things I installed on it was Carrara 5 pro which was on a magazine disc, I bought iClone 3 after learning of it through Crazytalk which was factory installed on my laptop for webcam avatar creation and used carrara 5 to create terrains and stuff in before I even learnt DAZ studio existed I imported those terrains then into iClone.

Maybe because I found Carrara first I find it easy, I had no preconcieved ideas of what a 3D program was supposed to do.

and DS3 crashed all the time on my laptop so rarely used it, bought Poser and used that later too only used DS after getting my Desktop years later.

not me but I have seen it done using Crazytalk

I've done hours of research on this CrazyTalk and Animator thing, and for anyone considering the Animator, here's a perfect video to show you how easy and fun it is! And yes, your Summer discounts stack so now's the time to try it. Note CrazyTalk only does heads, if you want bodies then it's Animator or Iclone. This newest version has taken the "flat" out of the animations, the characters for instance can flick their hand "back" as in 3D space. There are other videos which explain that, but here's the best beginner video that I've found.

CrazyTalkAnimator video (2.0 is latest version btw)

So I'll add this to my "gonna learn it." 

Sorry for double posting, not sure how you edit. It looks like to use animator with iclone you need the pipeline version of animator which is does not appear to be sold here

http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/Animator/animator_feature_pipeline.aspx

Not sure about that- it refers to version 1 and it might be built into version 2. Who knows at this point, lol.

This is SO stupid to have Animation forum blended with the Art Studio forum. The two are totally different and those people deserve their own forum. (We're happy to have them with us, but they are doing something with a totally different focus than us with static images.)  This kind of post should be in an Animation forum, but I felt if it were posted in Art Studio it wouldn't get seen by most people, and this is the main promo today.

Sorry for double posting, not sure how you edit. It looks like to use animator with iclone you need the pipeline version of animator which is does not appear to be sold here

http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/Animator/animator_feature_pipeline.aspx

I've found this comparison chart http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/default.aspx As far as I can tell they are similar but CT7 is focused on the face and it does things CTA doesn't do. CTA does a few things CT7 doesn't do. I - who knows nothing thinks those things are relatively minor, why don't they just have one product? But then why charge someone once when you can charge them twice. 

I'm researching this and there is a veteran user (wizaerd) who will explain his opinion of using the animator and Crazy Talk and iclone. You can go to the beginning of the thread to see the full evolving discussion. It is an older thread but still relevant so far as getting a bit of insight. 

http://forum.reallusion.com/123330/WHY-CrazyTalk-Animtor-is-NOT-compatible-with-current-iClone-versions?PageIndex=2

Do these two programs do totally different things, 

CrazyTalk Animator 2 Pro Power Bundle   http://www.daz3d.com/crazytalk-animator-2-pro-power-bundle

CrazyTalk 7 Pro Power Bundle  http://www.daz3d.com/crazytalk7-pro-power-bundle-2-in-1

I'm trying to figure out (without any experience) if the Animator is for 2D and the 7Pro CrazyTalk does something completely different?

Do the two interact in any way?

Can either of these be used with iclone 6?

I really should not view hidden posts, my bad, but when someone continually puts down a software mostly citing its limitations and ways to do stuff using every tool but the software in question on the forum for said software they have to expect some flack.
You certainly are entiltled to your opinion but this is the CARRARA forum not the photoshop, Hitfilm, afteraffects, Fusion or CGtalk forum for example, people post here asking how to do things using Carrara believe it or not, they can and may well use other tools but probably ask in the appropriate forums already about those.
I use iClone a lot for example and sometimes Crazytalk but unless it actually invoves Carrara as part of the process do not post questions about it here.
I also have Zbrush and do not recall posting a single question about it here :lol: only a couple about Go-Z and Genesis on DAZ studio forum.

mtakerkart said:

@Realtimer

I'm not surprised about to put facial mocap in crazytalk. I think there was a very old version of CT give the possibility to anime
a face with a webcam , didn't it ?
Does that mean that you'll can import the CTS data to iclone?
About The ability to turn OFF Auto-Keyframing on the timeline , there's lot of demand in the Reallusion forum for this , I think Peter
forget to send the info ;-)

Hey Mtakerkart,

Yup, we used to have an old CT version that kinda worked with Skype or something way back in the day. "Does that mean that we will be able to import CTS Data to iClone?" Yuppo, that is exactly what that means. And even better, we are currently considering if we will allow for FBX export to other 3D tools. Got your attention now huh?

For the ability to turn OFF Auto-Keyframing.
I just sent this request to our lead developer and he just messaged me back >>>>>
[ Hello, Yes, this feature is already in our 2015 roadmap for iClone.
We are planning have a play mode in Q3, the schedule just needs to be updated.]

I love our iClone developers. You know what they remind me of? Do you guys remember the The Doozers, from the old Fraggle Rock muppet show on HBO back in 1983? Well they remind me of our iClone developers here. Brilliant. Hard working. Humble. And under appreciated.

Quick!
Someone make a Doozer animation with iClone, and I'll show it in our monthly developer meeting!

@Realtimer

I'm not surprised about to put facial mocap in crazytalk. I think there was a very old version of CT give the possibility to anime
a face with a webcam , didn't it ?
Does that mean that you'll can import the CTS data to iclone?
About The ability to turn OFF Auto-Keyframing on the timeline , there's lot of demand in the Reallusion forum for this , I think Peter
forget to send the info ;-)

Hi Artman009

Thank you very much for your comments. We really appreciate your suggestions and please don't feel that its seen in a negative light. All the contrary!

You know, its interesting that we continue talking about this now because just last week I had a meeting with our CEO and we were discussing the Timeline Curve Editor. He is an avid fan of animation tools and video games, and he knows exactly where you are coming from when you ask for more advanced options. With iClone its always a challenge to implement new and more advanced options, while at the same time continuing to develop powerful and automatic features for everyday users. And yes, you are totally right about the part where we at some point have to remove the training wheels for our power users. This is why we have started to offer different versions of our software like Standard, PRO, and Pipeline (3DXchange) as some users do not need all the advanced options.

At this point, all I can say is that a Timeline curve editor WILL eventually come to iClone. The big man even smiled and kept quiet for a good 5 seconds when I asked him "when". Haaa! Like I said, its just a matter of allocating the resources in our company for that project. I'll give you guys a heads up if I spy anything on our developer's board. ;-)

The ability to turn OFF Auto-Keyframing on the timeline ----- I've never heard of this request but I can surely bring it up with our team.

The Facial Mocap possibilities I mentioned are just some that we have on the table right now. So I don't want to discard the chances of having other tools work with iClone later. Marker-less tracking might have some limitations as you mentioned, but at the end there is always room to improve on it with the timeline. One very cool thing that we have in store, is the future possibility for the upcoming CrazyTalk 8 to work with iClone.

Our plans are to turn CrazyTalk 8 into a facial animation super tool, complete with 3D heads and facial mocap. In the past I've worked a lot with CrazyTalk 7, so I am very familiar with its powerful facial animation features. Now combine all that, with the upcoming enhancements + the ability to export those animations + 3D heads, and BOOM! >> we've got more people complaining... :lol:

compositing is probably your best bet
as I said earlier cut to facial close ups rendered in iClone or made from images in Crazytalk
a bad example http://youtu.be/c8QhbzzhWx8 before I could do facial animation in iC5 on Genesis (early days they had not enabled it yet) the forest ranger girl and boy were badly done in Carrara which also at that point did not do genesis well.

The sales figures vendors get really sadden me knowing how much this hobby costs.

I have earnt $1400 to date on Google ADSense monetising my silly videos!
I am averaging $1 a day now but it is dropping off a bit.

My content totaled over $6000 last time I checked
software?
well Octane and Zbrush the biggies and I have barely looked at the latter, I bought it with my youtube earnings so feel less guilty about that than I would have otherwise.
Carrara, PP2014, iClone5 & 3Dxchamge pipeline, Crazytalk, Terrain builder and other iClone packs
all adds up to more than the car I had to buy in a hurry when I wrote off my old one in a crash 3 years ago and took a loan out for
but
I would NOT have banked it if I did not have this hobby!!
I would NOT have assets to show for it
nice thought it could have gone to charity but not terribly likely
has no bearing on what I have given at all
I MIGHT be MORE overweight and with an alcoholic liver though!
So I do not feel guilty in any way

anyway the reason for this post
is I am NOT the most addicted user by anymeans
my content library PALES to some

and MOST vendors buy content too

a hobby is all this can really be not a living for most
so understand not supporting Poser

why a better conversion system would really be the BEST answer

yes I suspect it only applies if bought from Reallusion
Crazytalk and iClone two completely different birds though of a feather so to speak
one a 2D app the other 3D
they can share some scripts like cts files for facial puppeteering and now 3D animation files in pro version on the bones of the 2D rig
is like comparing Anime studio to Poser
crazytalk a lot of fun with family photos