There’s a software called CrazyTalk that lets you convert any still image into a talking character complete with emotions.

Maybe it’s just me, but these Text2Speech programs still have a long way to go.

I find it distracting listening to the audio on these.

I like how the pronounce Ar-TEEE-cu-late

Right, I agree that text-to-speech should only be used if there’s nobody around with a voice. 🙂 But the good news is that these animated characters work fine with real audio…you don’t have to use them with text-to-speech.

Is there a way to caption (for Deaf individuals with disability) what the character is saying (the speech) so that it is 508 compliant?

Teresa- You could probably just include the transcript in the notes section of PowerPoint/Articulate Presenter… or launch a Web Object with a transcript. More on that here.

Can the animated character be laid in as a talking head on the left hand side of the slide?

Eric- Yes, you can certainly insert an animated character anywhere in your slide (just position the Flash movie placeholder via PowerPoint), or in the presenter panel of your content. More on how to Insert Flash Movies here.

Hello,

Has anybody used this software or something else like it? I have dozens of modules to develop and the client and I are looking for a way to record audio w/o having to use a company employee. There is limited budget and the employee is not a professional. Thanks. Sean

Hi Sean. We used to use our TV studio to record audio, then import it. Took a long time and was costly. We found that using an inexpensive mic (plugged into a USB port) and recording directly into the Articulate (or Breeze, or other type of module) works just as well. It also makes updating audio content easier and quicker. In the Articulate menu choose “Record Narration” and follow the prompts.

I’ve played around with the demo for Character Builder, and it is a pretty sweet program. The best part is that you don’t have to use the text-to-speech. You can record your audio the same way you do in Articulate. Just locate your saved audio file and you can copy it into your character builder project folder. Then you can import it line-by-line and hit a one-click button to sync the audio w/ the lips. It is quite impressive and much better than a text-to-speech character.

I think combining Articulate, Character Builder, and Camtasia can make for some truly amazing interactive videos. The perception is that either you hired some professional company or you are a programming wizard, but really all 3 programs are very simple and straight forward.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Jeremy! Please feel free to share a link to any sample content you’ve created, too. I’m sure others would love to see it!

What other avatar generating programs would you recommend?

I’ve been doing some R&D on using characters as ‘presenters’. I personally don’t think it adds or helps a website unless the character is a signer for the deaf. However, as part of my job I’ve been asked to look into this as an option for certain clients, because…well…they want it:o. I have done much research and found that a lot of programs offer characters that don’t move anything apart from thier heads, eyes and lips. Poser for example has a Talk Designer, but when trying to do this AND animate the character, it become time consuming and not cost effective, unpredicatable with it’s result and doesn’t actually work 7 out of 10 times. However it has good quality rendering, and if talking is all you want then Great! Codebaby has a good software package, however it’s expensive, but it does have a library of character gestures that can easily be dropped onto a simple timeline, only I don’t like the characters they are quite low poly 3d objects. I need a software package that has a set of animated gestures so I don’t have to do it manually (I’m a designer). And be able to import a script that generates the character’s vowel shapes in it’s speach. Any ideas? Could go for a real human on a green screen i guess…

I want to create a character of myself and use my own voice to put on an online class I am creating. I want the character to be able to talk to another character on the page. Is this possible?

can you put the animated character into the presnter panel?

and if so, how can you sync it with the presentation effect ?

cause i try to do so and i can’t hear the sound and sync the effect at the same time.

thanks 🙂

Hi Guy- Yes, you can insert Flash video into the presenter panel, too. And here’s another blog entry about syncing video to your slide animations.

It has been almost 2 years since the posts discussing Media Semantics were made. I recently looked at both the Media Semantic and Codebaby sites and was impressed with both.

Has anyone had a more recent experience using the products,I ask this because i assume the products have been updated since June 2007.I am particulary interested in people’s thoughts on TTS applications.

I would love to see some of the work Jeremy has done but I he has not responded to Gabe’s invitation to demonstrate his talent! Maybe you could ask him again Gabe.

Codebaby was very impressive, but it appears to be 5 times more expensive than the Media semantics product. I can’t see that it is that much better, am I missing something in my evaluation of the 2 products?

Hi Philip- I just sent a follow-up email to Jeremy to see if he’d be willing to share some examples.

We are a newly found 501c3 (non-profit) looking for assistance in taking our computer security course to the next level. I was wondering if anyone who reads this is interested in helping us apply this awesome technology to our current boring powerpoint (with full voice over) presentations which are in Articulate and delivered on an LMS. All that we would need is for someone to create an Avatar (a stock one should be fine) and to apply the gestures and lip-sync. The current course is approx 35 minutes with six 10-minute modules. – So, all in all about 1 1/2 hours of presentation. Our recording is with a male and a female voice, so we would need both. If you are interested, please contact me with your contact info, a sample of your work and a ball-park on your fees.

Regards,

Don Cochran
dcochran@scippinternational.org

Thank you Gabe for hosting this discussion. I work for Media Semantics and am happy to provide myself as a contact (dougc@mediasemantics.com by email, 425-831-6384 x101 by phone, or ‘dougcopeland’ by skype).

There are an impressive number of corporate users who use the Builder as a source of animations for Articulate – you can find some notes on Character Builder/Articulate integration here: http://www.mediasemantics.com/KB/KB105.htm.

As with the folks at Articulate, we are constantly trying to improve the breadth and depth of our offering. Since this original writeup we have added mix-and-match clothing, including career clothing, as well as swappable hair and props for many of our realistic and illustrated characters. You can also use the new Photofit capability to create your own character based on a photo – so you can have your head trainer deliver that Powerpoint. We are currently gathering feedback about a new “seated” format (also with hand gestures).

Finally, while recorded audio sounds best, we find that about half of our training users go on to use high-quality Text to Speech products, which have really come a long way in terms of quality. We resell products from several vendors with special pricing and distribution rights. One of my favorites, especially in terms of foreign language support, is Loquendo – you can check out their demos at http://tts.loquendo.com/ttsdemo/default.asp?page=id&language=en.

I hope these links are helpful in answering some of the questions that have been posted. As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

the presentations are excellent

Using animated characters can add a nice touch to a storyline, especially if it contains some heavy subject matter.

Some eLearning vendors offer a wide variety of characters, both live and animated, without having to pay residuals for using them. The best I have encountered is elearningstock.com. Everything there is high-quality and royalty-free. You can even get a freebie once a week on their blog. I highly suggest checking it out!

Best!

Mike

Thanks. I didn’t know it was possible to add these avatars to the slides. Awesome.