Fun with HLS face animation

Habbosrus

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Had some fun playing around with HLS face animation, my voice and audacity today and thought it may give others a laugh. The frame rate on the video was a little slow to capture all the mouth movements properly, but you'll get the gist.
[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]https://vimeo.com/98839390[/font]
 

Habbosrus

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They're all mine Boof. I just used audacity and copied my voice a couple of times and changed the pitch. Give it a try. If nothing else, it's a bit of fun. My boys and their girlfriends reckon I should put it in the show this year. I might give it a run to see what kind of reaction it gets.
 

BundyRoy

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Habbosrus, it has to go in the show. I reckon it will be your most requested item. Kids will love it.
 

BundyRoy

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If santa is going to be at the show you'll have to make sure santas voice is not recognisable in any of the voice overs that are done or there could be some explaining to do. Might cost you a lot of candy canes to smooth things over.
 

DanJ

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I love it!! Haven't been over to ACL for a while.... Missed this. Nicely done.
 

BundyRoy

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Steve, how do you capture the visualiser/animation on video.

Also what resolution is the matrix you are creating the faces on. Thought I might give this a crack on my tree but I think the resolution might be a bit sparse with only 10 strings across.

Yours still makes me feel the Christmas spirit every time I watch it though.
 

BundyRoy

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Just watched the video again and I'm guessing the screencast-o-matic.com web address in the bottom corner is a bit of a give away to how you did it. Will check it out.
 

Habbosrus

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BundyRoy said:
Just watched the video again and I'm guessing the screencast-o-matic.com web address in the bottom corner is a bit of a give away to how you did it. Will check it out.
Yep, you got it Roy. The capture frame rate isn't the best and it loses a little, but you get most of it. My tree is only 12 strings so I'm sure you could do the same with a 10 string tree. The matrix is 20 strings high x 75 pixels (1500 pixels). I had a good laugh making it. I haven't done anything in the way of sequencing or building elements for the past 2 1/2 months. I'd better get cracking. Christmas will be here before we know it! Can't wait :D
 

BundyRoy

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Steve, how do you do the blinks. Do you fade down and then up or do you just turn the eyes off then on. What timeframe does a blink last.

Thanks for your help.
 

Habbosrus

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Hey Roy, I use HLS for my sequencing and face animation is built into it. You select the channels that make up your eye movements and then assign them. Once done you can export/import into other sequences very easily. When in a sequence, you simply choose what eye effect you want and the length of effect. Timeframe of effects is determined by the song being sequenced (and imagination). It might be a little late in the season to start playing with another sequencer, but if you get a chance (maybe after Santa has been), give it a try. It's a little different to other sequencers, but I'm lucky that I didn't have to unlearn other sequencers. I chose HLS early on before learning any other sequencers. Face animation in HLS is really quite easy (even I can do it).
I'm sorry I probably haven't helped you much with my answer.
 

BundyRoy

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Thanks Steve, well sort of anyway. Between you and Angus40, there is a pretty strong case to give HLS a go. I think I will next year, after Santas visit, like you say. Will probably look at a few of the others as well. Nothing like being ambidextrous I say.

Anyway now I will just have to play around with my blinks and see what happens. Can you see on your lights what happens as to whether they all go off or just fade down from top to bottom and back. I realise it all happens fast but I'm open for any tips at this stage.

I've got my habbosrus rip off skit all finished by the way (other than some blinks which are not crucial if I can't do it). I only have 2 faces and I used the kids to record the voices. They probably talked a bit fast to really pull off the full effect but they love it and have some ownership, so they are thrilled. Hopefully others will find it interesting. If not, it's only 30 seconds out of their lives (per time, he he). 17 weeks till Christmas Day.
 

Habbosrus

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Hey Roy, I just have them turn off. Lookin forward to seeing your skit. I've got to get back into the building/planning/sequencing. I opened up HLS yesterday for the first time in months. Luckily for me I've got last years sequences I can add to with my new elements. I got talked into doing Let It Go from Frozen for my granddaughter. I only listened to that song for the first time yesterday and now it's stuck in my head.
 
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