I've been looking into machinima making recently and I think one of the biggest SL limitations in this field is lack of avatar lips movement while speaking. So far I knew about CrazyTalk (as of programs improving this disadvantage), but just recently I came across this movie:



Does anyone know what program was used to create lips movement in this movie? It seems like the best choice at the moment.

I've been wondering about various alternatives for external programs too, and what I came up with is an idea of a typing overrider (or maybe just some kind of device), that would use built-in avatar face expressions to simulate speaking. This means no lip-sync, just lips movement, but it also means it would be widely available for other SL users, be inexpensive and would make the post-editing less time consuming (most likely). While simple lips movement might not be good enough for some people, I think it would still be more natural than no movement at all. I actually saw a movie that seems to use this technique and it looks pretty good (the movie itself is a pilot of a new promising Second Life TV show "NooB"):



I'm going to play a bit with the idea and see what I can achieve (seems like an interesting challenge). In the meanwhile, feel free to give any comments and suggestions.

I've been tagged by Daedalus, so here are eight random facts about me:

1. I have very clean and legible handwriting. In fact, my RL friends often ask me "Can you print it for me?" instead of "Can you write it down?" :)

2. I read a lot. I'm a very fast reader and can read a whole book during one evening (and I often do if the book is interesting enough).

3. I love all things Japanese, which means music and rhythm games too. Particulary, I'm addicted to StepMania (example video), UltraStar (example video) and Frets On Fire (example video, but watch the tutorial too, it's hilarious). These games are great for parties... and believe me, they're fun!

4. I have way too much ideas in my mind and they come to me really fast. Tell me a concept and a few hours later I'll have a thousand suggestions and ideas for you. I have a txt file where I write down all my ideas for things I want to create in SL. The file is very messy and big. Once I checked and it turned out to be more than 40 A4 pages long.

5. I'm a perfectionist. I notice things (this needs to go on a t-shirt lol). If you make a spelling mistake, I notice it. If your shoe lace is untied, I notice it. I loose so much time because I make things perfect.

6. My favourite web comic is xkcd and it's absolutely the best web comic ever. My favs are the "my hobby" series and I can't help but call blogs their xkcd name - blags :P

7. I quickly get attached to people and places. I don't really like changes. Even if the change is for better, I still have a hard time giving up what I'm used to.

8. I don't like it when people use my computer. And I rarely let them do so. It's one of the very few things they're not supposed to touch.

I don't think there's any blog in SL left for me to tag. But since I should try at least, I tag the first 8 readers of this blog entry to post their random facts :) Post them either in the comments or on your blog if you have one (but please leave a link!).

Dear residents, we finally have a printed RL magazine about Second Life! And I'm proud to be a part of it (as a contributing journalist). Starting January 2008 SL'ang Life magazine will be delivered to subscribers all over the world by post for FREE (no delivery costs either).

The magazine will consist of four major sections: SL Life, SL Culture and Style, SL Economy and SL Entertainment. This means interviews, stories, events, business, music, fashion, art, travel, technical advice and much, much more. As Macciej Schumann (CEO) said during the opening ceremony - the aim is to present opinions and comments about SL expressed by avatars and journalists, both from SL and RL, in a wide international perspective.

If you want to receive a brand-spanking-new 48-page (A4 format) issue every month, visit SL'ang Life island and use one of the vendors there to subscribe. The first unique issue will have a limited distribution and it's filling up fast, so don't wait for the last moment. Subscribe and stay tuned for lots of great articles!