Dale_The_Bold

That was cool. Well done!

I asked a similar question (Walking and Waving, then Continue Walking) about a year ago and I got this helpful reply from John Bigboote: Thank you again, John.

What are the formats that A:M can import? I was just thinking of trying this method and happily found this thread.

That....was hilarious. I laughed out loud and then read it out loud, in Ricky. I nominate this as the new A:M user saying of the year. I will probably say it to myself the next time I have to do some modeling, er, spline-in'. I must be just the right age (34). I grew up watching Lucy reruns and I was there when Xbox happened.

Excellent verbing of the word "Frankenstein." Also, good job on the model.

Most men struggle with doing a realistic sounding female voice. Well, most never dare to even try it, so you get cool points for that. It usually ends up being just a falsetto. I read a tip on a site years ago that helped me discover that elusive thing. I have recorded some adult female voices that were completely convincing without any retouching (but getting a kid voice sure is a new challenge). As weird as this may sound, to achieve a female-sounding voice, you start by impersonating Marvin the Martian: "Oh goody! My Alludium Q36 explosive space modulator!" With that as the foundation, you can raise the pitch a little at a time and then adjust the inflection. Women do talk in a sing-songy way, with a lot of ups and downs, almost as if they are actually singing. That's one of the hard things about nailing this kid-voice. Kids have more of a monotone, and I think I just have to find that small range and stay in it. You can actually feel the voice "settling" in the upper vocal chord, and it doesn't feel strained like the falsetto does. Your Adam's apple disappears while doing it, too. I think the magic happens when the vocal chords are relaxed, but the sound is still coming from the upper region. I move around a lot when I do this stuff. I usually throw my shoulders back and prance around like a princess when I do the girl voice, LOL. I think a lot of voice actors do that to step into character. The footage I've seen of a lot of them has a lot of hand motions and expressions as they portray the character. The advantage is, of course, that no one is looking. It's something to practice in the car or in the shower. That's what I do. I had to wonder the other day, even though my windows were up, if the car next to me at the stoplight could hear me saying, "If I were a bow on my head what color would I want to be."

I think you're right. Young kids do "push" their words out a little more than older kids. This recording was my tenth try. The early ones sounded completely like an adult woman. It sounds better when I do it louder, probably for that very reason. If I push the words out more, they will probably sound more like a kid.

Thank you very much for that. This is what's so great about the Hash Community. Lots of help, quickly.

That's my real voice with no retouching at all. Well, not my normal speaking voice, lol. I'm 33 and male. So it would be a downright catastrophe if my voice stuck like that. There are a few points in the pitched file that become a tiny bit Smurfette-like. Usually at the deepest part of the vocals, like the ends of sentences. I would be a little concerned about that. How much of an adjustment was made on that file? (Whatever the "units of pitch" may be).

Thank you for the reply. I see a lot of views, only one reply. I would appreciate more responses, good or bad.

This is my attempt at doing the voice of the main character of my current project. She is an approximately-ten-year-old girl who reaches the age of early 20s by the end the project, so her voice should change a little between the beginning and end of the story. I figured, by doing the voice myself, I could change the voice as needed. Self-directing is easier than telling someone else exactly what you need. (also, it makes it less daunting to do multiple takes). I thought I would post this test (or self-audition) here on this site to get the opinions of my fellow animators, whose opinions I trust. And, yes, I borrowed, verbatim, the dialog from Jason Osipa's animation from the book on facial animation (and this site, it's in the A:M Films section). The book is called Stop Staring, and I recommend it. (It is available at Amazon and at Barnes & No-Bull). DIALOGUE: Pink or blue. Pink or blue. Oh, I just don't know. If I go with the pink one, I'm all, "Ooh, look at the little girly girl in pink." And if I'm blue, then it's like, "Hey look at the boy girl. Why don't you go do boy stuff, boy girl!" Okay, just think it out. If I were a bow...on my head...what color...would I want...to be. Yes, this is me, as a little girl. Please be honest, but also kind. pinkorblue_DTB.mp3

I have put together a long scene and I'm having issues rendering it. The clip is 57 seconds long. When I render 10 second clips of it, it turns out okay. But, when I render the whole thing, using final render settings, the image becomes a negative and the top and bottom are swapped (kind of like the old TVs with the "rolling" picture, only locked into a half roll). The preview screen as it renders is okay, as I check it periodically throughout the day. I am rendering uncompressed. Is there a specific setting combination known to render this kind of result?

I guess it means a Cat-Lady Hybrid, kind of like BrundleFly, as though a lady took a cat through the teleporter and they merged. I am amused by the notion, though, of a lady with a house full of hybrid cats.

There is this clip on YouTube. Don't know if you have a way to capture that audio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdQJY-S4zbU

Eureka! That was the setting I needed to change. Thank you for your help!