With the help of the Xtranormal support team, I got the Xtranormal
Desktop program to work. Apparently, when I first installed it, the text to
voice software didn’t install properly. After I reinstalled it properly,
everything was hunky dory.
There are some weird pronunciations for some of the words.
They suggest you misspell the word to make it come out right. . I fixed problem
with the word “ganged” by spelling it as “gang’d”. Several attempts with other
words have been less successful. I notice that when one voice has a problem
with a word, the other voice doesn’t.
In a previous job, the person in the next cubicle was responsible
for an automatic radio system that used a text to speech program similar to
what Xtranormal uses. She would fiddle with the spelling for hours to get the
pronunciation right. After a while, she got to know the tricks that made it
easier.
The software allows you to change camera angles throughout
the video, but I had some difficulty with that. I think I know how to do it
now. Nevertheless, I decided to stick to one camera angle through the whole
thing until I was happy with the voices and acting. I’ll add in other angles
later. One option I like is to output several versions of video taken from
different angles, then use Premiere Pro to edit it the same way I’d do any
other video.
It isn’t as if the animations are great actors, although,
for the most part, they are better than I am. The program does allow you to
specify some facial expressions and some gestures. I did some of those and I
think it does improve the video, so I want to add some more. Many of the
gestures are really over the top, which limits me a bit.
If all goes well, I should have the video wrapped up and
posted next week. I have other commitments Monday and Tuesday, so it’ll be
Wednesday until I can work on it again.
This post is a mirror from my main blog
http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog
