A couple of questions about Mimic Pro
Harry Ominous
Posts: 58
i'm thinking of getting Mimic Pro, but i've got a couple of questions. any help from existing users would be welcome:
firstly, it doesn't say so in the blurb that i could see, but i guess that you can drive it by using sound files as well as mic input? i want to get voice actors to record the lines in wav (or mp) format, and then use those sound files to drive the process. is that feasible?
secondly, i've just switched from DS to Carrara for animation, but i may go back to DS again at some point. i don't want to buy two copies of Mimic Pro, so the question is: which app to buy it for?
there are drawbacks to both. if i get the DS version it will be yet another add-in that will probably need recompiling when a new version of DS comes out. and if i get the Carrara version it will only work in Carrara. no real way to use the output anywhere else i guess?
i'm leaning towards getting it for DS and then exporting the face/pose files from there into Carrara. it's not a great solution workflow-wise, but it might offer the most flexibility. has anybody any advice to offer on that?
thanks
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Mimic Pro is standalone, you export .pz2 pose files from it to use in Poser or Studio or Carrara. You will use the audio files AND a text version of any dialogue you record simultaneously in Mimic Pro, I've never used it for live recording.
The big advantage of using the standalone version is it allows you to edit the phonemes, and to export .DMS configuration files for each character you are animating. This can be important also if you are also using the facial expressions feature of Mimic Pro. And (from my perspective) the standalone Pro version fits with a variety of workflows, for example you can import the .pz2 files for a character into Poser, Studio and Carrara without drama.
If your needs are light you can use Studio's built-in mimic functionality and the Poser Format Exporter script to port pose files to Carrara.
AFAIK there is no 64bit version for Intel Macs, I use Mimic Pro on Windows.
thanks for the reply
i was a bit confused (no change there then), because there was the standalone version, which i'd assumed was for DS, and a version specifically for Carrara (as well as a lite version too)
from what you're saying it sounds as if the best plan is to get the standalone version
(and from a closer reading of the store description i can now see that the blurb did actually answer my first question)
well, i WOULD buy it if the moronic new system let me
i add it to my cart. it says "you have no items in your cart". i try and add it again. it says "The maximum quantity allowed for purchase is 1"
it's like they don't WANT my money
even the lite will export pz2 files you can use in Poser, studio and Carrara, you just cannot create new dmc files or edit strength etc.
The pro standalone version is what you need to create new dmc files for characters without one but with phoneme morphs or ones created by you in Hexagon or whatever and a new cr2 saved, I have never done it but in theory you should be able to.
I still use the stand alone a lot in Carrara for non-genesis characters because Carrara will not recognize my speakonia wav files, a bug I have had on both computers.
I think it gives better results than the Carrara plugin too and I still save it as an nla clip.
some say they cannot get it to work but prob 90% of my Carrara animations have used it so it does indeed work for me, I mostly use the Carrara plugin for Genesis only.
thanks
i've just purchased the standalone version (after faffing around trying to make the store recognise that i'd got something in my cart) and...
...downloaded it...
...and the zip file is corrupt... so i can't install it...
i give up
just redownload the zip, I get corrupt downloads a lot, not just from Daz, the evil internet does it!!!
i've downloaded it three times now, once after doing a reset, and it always comes up with the same message
i've raised a help request as i've never had any similar problems before
(but yeah, i'd agree, the internets IS evil)
ahhhh. i see what the problem is. the unzipper in Win7 isn't able to unzip the file, but if i use UltimateZip on it i can unzip the file, which THEN has to be further extracted
Strange, it's very rare I get any.
One thing I know though is that IE will often corrupt files if it takes too long to find the folder you want to place the file in. Looks like it drops the connection very quickly if you don't click OK so you only get the first part of the file. An old bug that's been in all versions up to and including IE8.
Just tested it in IE9 in win 7 - 64 and it seems they have finally fixed it.
i've finally got it installed, but i haven't got it working
well, that's not strictly true, i can get it to work ok for the default v3 character (*)
but what i CAN'T do is to get it to work for v4. and i can't see any .DMC file for m4 either. does that mean he isn't supported?
for v4, i've pointed it to my v4.cr2 and to the victoria4.dmc file, and i'm seeing the v4 head in the preview window ok, but when i add sound i get nothing, zip, nada. she just sits there staring blankly, her lips steadfastly refusing to move
anyone got any ideas?
(*) m3 too, and any of the supplied figures that i've tried so far
ok, sorted. tried a different v4.cr2 file, and that one worked
still wonder why there's no m4.dmc file supplied though?
here is the link to the manual"
http://docs.daz3d.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/artzone/pub/software/mimic/mimic_pro_user_guide_071408.pdf
After you record your sound you need to let mimic analyse a sound file first by opening the Session Manager window and pointing mimic to the audio file and a config file and a text file containing the words you recorded. Alternatively you can type the words into the Session Manager directly.
thanks for the link to the manual
as i'd said, i'd been able to get the app working for most of the included figures, just not for v4. however when i pointed it to a different v4.cr2 than the "official" one, it started working ok, mysteriously
have to say that i'm not that impressed with it so far, even putting aside the problems getting it installed and running
does nobody use it for animating mike4? there are only dmc files included for mikes1 to 3 as far as i can see. i can see that you can create your own dmc files, but i'd have thought that it would have shipped with an m4 file as standard
also, you say you can add text into the session manager and get it to process just that, but it won't do that for me unless i provide it with a sound file too. i guess that could be a "sound of silence" sound file, but... even so...
also, it would have been nice to be able to do some basic editing of the sound file in the app too. as it is it looks like you have to trim it in something else like audacity first
so, first impressions are that it will just about do what i bought it for, but i won't be singing its praises from the rooftops
your dmc files should be in program files x86 Daz 3D studio 3, 4 whatever plugins mimic configuration files, depending on what flavours of Daz studio you have installed, also in mimic, I have all my dmc files in a new folder seperate with my music files actually where I can find them!
and my pz2 files!
I have made a seperate runtime folder there with the lot!
On XP it's C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins\dzmimic\Configuration_Files
So I guess those come with the plugin included in Daz...
I wonder why the pro installer wasn't updated with all the dmc's, as well?
What about Poser users? (If DS4P were to stop being free, would DS4-basic have the mimic plugin?)
i've got DS4Pro, which i foolishly bought before they decided to give it away for free. in the plugins folder i'm only seeing .dlls for all my plugins plus a "PowerPose" and "Reality" folder (i normally use Reality for rendering). no mimic folder at all
32 or 64 bit? they are in 32bit, yes even the free version as that only does lipsync though I believe 64bit can use mimic live.
well, that would explain why i'm not seeing the file
i've got the 64 bit version
i'd have thought there must be some way to get the file though. i suppose i could build it myself, but it seems a bit like reinventing the wheel
Weird. Ticket-worthy... that's gotta be an oversight. Shouldn't have to buy a lesser Mimic to get all the configuration files for the higher-end ones.
If I recall correctly, you can have both 32-bit and 64-bit DS4 installed, as long as they are the same version.
But MimicLive is still a plugin, it should show up. Is there just a dll?
I believe MimicLive appeared a few versions, of 4, ago, but I doubt anyone is running a DS4 that old.
If you have DS3A, it has the M4 dmc (but obviously not the Genesis dmc). Dunno about not-advanced.
Artzone used to have config file downloads. It's easy to roll your own see
http://www.willsmind.com/Mphonemetute.htm
thanks for that. whether it's an easy thing to do or not, i don't think i should have to do it, not for a standard character, for a product that cost $100
*sigh* it's looking like i'm going to have to do it, though
Any chance you have an old machine with 32-bit Studio installed? (Or any other computer you could install it on?).
64-bit and 32-bit Studio will co-exist.*** That is, people run both without problems. DWG, for one. I haven't googled up official endorsement of it. If the installers were zip..
Support could probably give you the files. If they aren't too busy, heh.
i bought the standalone version, so i don't have any plugin folder for MimicPro. i've still got DS3A installed, but i can't see anything there either, certainly not a m4.dmc
Yeah, not sure what I was thinking, when I wrote some of that. I was sleep deprived, but that's pretty mangled.
You'd have the 64-bit DS3A, of course, and LipSync was never written to 64-bit.***
MimicLive was in DS4 one time, but you had to buy the serial.*** Probably would've had another folder name.
***I checked. I don't trust my memory.
ok, i've just sat down and created my own.dmc file for m4 from scratch. it wasn't TOO difficult, although i was fairly miffed that i even had to do it at all. but still, i've got one now, and it looks as if it works ok
BUT, now all i want to do is to automatically link it to the associated .cr2 file. in other words when i load M4.CR2 into the "Character File" slot in the Mimic Pro session manager, i want it to automatically load the associated new "M4.DMC" file that i've just created into the "Configuration File" slot in the session manager, same as it does for the other characters
so, um, anyone have any ideas how i do that? quite happy to manually edit the dmc files or whatever, but i've browsed through a few existing ones and i can't see anywhere that seems to hold the assocation, so i'm guessing it's probably held somewhere else
ok. never mind. just answered my own question
the relevant info is stored in "OBJ2DMC.INI"
there was a page on the old site with the configuration files for all the Daz originals and other figures.
they seem to have misplaced it
the link was on the mimic page in the store.
you can install the DS4.5 32 bit as well as the 64bit, infact you NEED it for lipsync, the file for M4 has to be in there or lipsync would not work.
you can always unistall it after grabbing the dmc files if you really don't want it.
but since exporting Genesis as a .duf scene with lipsync works in Carrara, you might want to keep it just for that.
I just looked in the 64 bit
I did not put these here, Mimic pro must have or they came with it
have a look
thanks
i'm not intending to install DS4.5 (either flavour) until all the add-ins that i've got have been updated to run with it, and i've already checked a couple of times for anything related to MimicPro or LipSync in the relevant folders, and found... nada
...
to be honest it wasn't a great deal of effort to create an m4.dmc file
it could have been made into a one-click process, of course, because all the software needed to do was to look for any installed visemes in the relevant .cr2 file, look for any expressions, and then just install them in the .dmc file (and as a tiny courtesy, add an entry in the relevant configuration file too). still, the fact that it's copyrighted from back in 2008, probably tells the story of how much effort's gone into it recently
hey, i'm sure the next big release will feature GOD RAYS though...oh, and genesis... maybe adam. and eve. and a talking serpent too