Papagayo Add-in

[maffeirw]

Finally got tired of hand converting the Papagayo data files to Vixen sequences, so:

If anyone out there want to alpha test a Vixen Add-in which maps a papagayo .dat file to selected channels. Just unzip the attached "papagayo addin.dll" to your Vixen addins directory and give it a try. Please use it on test files as I would hate to destroy any of your hard earned sequences. :)

Let me know how you like it or if you have any problems or questions.

BTW - Thanks to Chris (ctmal) for his Plugin/Addin tutorials, I wouldn't have even tried this without them.

[budude]

This is awesome! I'll give this a try soon - now if only it could create the papagayo files for me!

[dirknerkle]

Sounds like a TREMENDOUS addition for the face-animation folks! Well done!!!

[ChiefWarrant]

I was learing C# for the purpose of trying to develope this plugin! I will give it a test.

Thanks

[maffeirw]

I've replaced the Papagayo add-in in the first post of this thread with a version that runs on Net 2 instead of 3.5 for better Vixen 2.1 compatibility. Did anyone out there get a chance to give the add-in a try. I'm curious if it there are any comments on or problems with it before I post it to any of the Halloween forums.
Thanks
Ron

[ChiefWarrant]

Ron,

I have been working with it a little.

It does the job well if you are looking for possible improvements here are a couple.

Personally, I don't have a separate channel for each mouth form. So while testing, I had to make a separate preview for each mouth shape. Is it possible to have a portion in the set up that says "etc" = Channel 1, Channel 2, and Channel 3?

Since many people do lip-syncing in "chunks" of 15-30 seconds, maybe a box that says "insert data starting at time point X".

During testing I would create a different sequence for each chunk, then copy the information into the section of the actual song I was working on.

Even if there are not any improvements to the Add-In, I will continue to use it as is. Even if I have to create multiple sequences to get the job done, it is still faster that me trying to do it by hand.

Like I said in an earlier post, I started learning C# (using ctmal's tutorial) and was going to make the same add in. Are you willing to share the project files on this add in?

Thanks for the Add-in

Tony

PS: I was working with the song Disco Santa

[maffeirw]

Tony
I believe the start and end time dialog shouldn't be difficult, but the multiple channels for a single mouth shape will be more challenging. I will look into both and see what I can do.

As a work around for multiple channels for a mouth shape, try running the data loader multiple times while changing the associated channel for a given mouth shape for each run and it should give the result you want. If you are using one of those channels for more than one mouth shape it won't overwrite any cell that’s already on but will turn on any cell associated with the new shape. Try it and let me know.



Like I said in an earlier post, I started learning C# (using ctmal's tutorial) and was going to make the same add in. Are you willing to share the project files on this add in?


If you PM me with your e-mail address, I would be happy to send you the C# Visual Studio project. I don't see anyway to send an attachment via a PM. The code is not commented and kludgy but your welcome to it. It's based on ctmal's tutorial only not as elegant.
Ron

[ChiefWarrant]

Ron,

The work around I have been using is to just copy and transparent paste into the channel I want. It is not that big of a deal, since this add-in save hours of sequencing time.

I will PM you with my email address.

Thank you

Tony

[n8huntsman]

I gave it a try as well. Great program. I think this will help a lot. I'm new to papagayo but from what I can see, the two earlier suggestions would be nice. Maybe a way to save setups too. I have 4 different faces that I'm sequencing, so it would be cool to select a setup that corresponds to a certain face.

[budude]

Gave it a quick try tonight - trying to nail down the multiple voices of "This is Halloween" (there are about 20!) - I know I need to create a separate .dat file for each voice. Some parts will be fully mouthed - others are just for single channel items. I'd like to suggest a fade option where each section ends with a fade instead of just on/off. This will give a single object some animation since if I combine the entire phrase into one channel, it will just be on from start to finish. For instance, there is a pumpkin chorus and 2-3 pumpkins will be mouthing the same phrases but will have no separate mouth movements.

Nice tool either way!

[kevr]

I am having a play with this but am a bit confused on what to set the fps setting in Papagayo to ..? In the addin it mentions the Papagayo data file must have been created at 100 fpm.

I am using a Halloween style pumpkin mouth (HolidayCoro)

Any help would be appreciated.

Kev :-)

[maffeirw]

I am having a play with this but am a bit confused on what to set the fps setting in Papagayo to ..? In the addin it mentions the Papagayo data file must have been created at 100 fpm.

I am using a Halloween style pumpkin mouth (HolidayCoro)

Any help would be appreciated.

Kev :-)

You can use any Vixen Event Period you want but once you decide on it you then need to adjust the fps in Papagayo to match, before moving anything around. If you change the fps in Papagayo after you've lined up the voice, everything goes back out of sync and you have to redo it.

The papagayo fps needs to be calculated from the Vixen Event Period(VEP) that you want to use. It can be calculated as follows: fps = 1000/VEP(ms). Make sure that 1000 is evenly divisible by the selected VEP otherwise the sync will be off.
i.e.
VEP-------Papagayo
100 ms----10 fps
50 ms-----20 fps
40 ms-----25 fps
25 ms-----40 fps

When you run the Addin, the third line of the papaOutputDialog window tells you what Vixen Event Period is set for the current sequence. The last line tells you the Papagayo fps which needs to be used for the sequence to match up.

[n8huntsman]

As long as the periods in papagayo and vixen match, you will be okay. Papagayo is in frames per second (fps) and vixen is time length per period (ms). reciprocate the fps and multiply by 1000 to make it equal. (1/fps)*1000=ms. For example 10 fps = 100 ms

edit: I had this page open this morning and didn't hit refresh. I see that I was a little late, lol.

[Barnabybear]

That is just so cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks.

[kevr]

Thanks for your help, I managed to get the chorus of a song working tonight and it looks pretty good.

Fantastic Add-in thanks so much!!!

Kev :-)

[Mangrove]

I’m venturing into the singing quartet realm but I’m totally confused. I’m using Papagayo and I’ve read their tutorials a few times but I can’t seem to get this to work quite right. I’m using the HolidayCoro monsters that use 8 channels total. 5 of those channels are for the mouth which applies to Papagayo and the plug in.

My question is what’s the best mapping for the sounds? I have 10 sounds but 5 channels so it seems like a simple 2 to 1 ratio. However with many sounds the top lip needs to be on and you vary one of the other channels (in HolidayCoro speak the “open mouth top” is the top lip and there are two other variations; “open mouth bottom” and “inside mouth” but the “open mouth top” always needs to be on when one of the other two are on). So how do I make that happen? I’m also not sure how to map multiple sounds to the same channel.

The tools look great, but in the hands of an amateur, they can be dangerous and frustrating… but like most things, I’ve found it’s the user, me, not the tools!

Any guidance would be appreciated!

[Barnabybear]

My question is what’s the best mapping for the sounds? I have 10 sounds but 5 channels so it seems like a simple 2 to 1 ratio. However with many sounds the top lip needs to be on and you vary one of the other channels (in HolidayCoro speak the “open mouth top” is the top lip and there are two other variations; “open mouth bottom” and “inside mouth” but the “open mouth top” always needs to be on when one of the other two are on). So how do I make that happen? I’m also not sure how to map multiple sounds to the same channel.
Try a test Papagayo clip (one called vista in their help file). It creates all of the sounds/channels.
When you import into vixen with the addin - setup (which it promps you to do) lets you asign the which sound goes to which channel in vixen (you can asign all to one channel if you want).
As for the top lip, when you have imported your channels - copy each bottom lip channel and paste it into a new channel for the top lip.
Do this for each bottom lip and use the 'transparent paste' option.

[n8huntsman]

I did it by running the plug-in setup twice. It wont delete exising data when you run it the second time. For example if the AI sound needs to be mapped to channel 2 and channel 3, run the set up and set it as channel 2. Import. Then run setup again and set it to channel 3. Import again. You should now have AI mapped to channels 2 and 3.