text to speech at DVinfo.net

Levan Bakhia · February 9th, 2009, 08:29 AM

Hi, we are doing an animation, so we are thinking about the soundtrack to follow the animation, and well we need to record actors, but I was suggested that there is are some nice software that we can use to generate voice and it is good enough to do an animation on it, and later when whole thing is finished to record the final voice.

can you suggest any?

Herman Van Deventer · February 9th, 2009, 08:40 AM

Levan ,

Not 100 % sure if this will suite you. I have used it with Poser and as a standalone.

Excellent results.

DAZ 3D - Mimic Pro

Levan Bakhia · February 9th, 2009, 09:14 AM

this seems like a nice software in general, but what I meant was I want a software to generate the voice. Say I want a character to say " hey how are you? ", I have to record an actor, so instead of recording an actor maybe there is a software where I type it and software generates a voice. you know like my mac has this feature but very unnatural, maybe there is something better than that.

Cole McDonald · February 9th, 2009, 09:52 AM

This windows app sounds alright:

Text to speech software with Natural Voices-- Free NaturalReader

Mac Side:

Text to Speech Software with AT&T Natural Voices™, Acapela™, Nuance™ Voices

Voice Files for more options:

Cepstral Text-to-Speech

On OSX, in terminal:

Code:

say 'this is going straight to an audio file' -o ~/Desktop/test-audio.aiff

you can also use the -v tag to change voices and if you get really geeky about it, you can change the emphasis/ rates/ volumes/ at the phoneme level:

http://www.auc.edu.au/conf/conf03/pa...V2003_Woo2.pdf

Levan Bakhia · February 9th, 2009, 11:00 AM

yes, this is what I mean, but is there anything of a better quality or should I not expect better than that?

Jack Walker · February 9th, 2009, 10:44 PM

The best "better" would probably be to just record yourself or a friend, getting the timing and general feel. Then you can replace it with an actor.

However, a large part of the performance is the voice, and usually this is recorded first before any animation is done. This lets you take advantage of new ideas brought in by the voice, and it ensures that the animation perfectly matches what is being heard.

Jim Andrada · February 10th, 2009, 12:43 AM

A couple of years ago I attended the SIGGRAPH show in LA. The keynote speaker was George Lucas.

A question was asked about what breakthroughs he thought were required in animation software.

His answer was very interesting - he said that no breakthroughs were required, just improvements to known techniques because with the tools already available animatiors could fool your eyes.

Where he thought real breakthroughs were required was in the computer generation of emotionally convincing voice. He said that nothing he knew of, or was even on the distant horizon, could fool your ears.

Which is why live artists do the voices for animations, even with the kinds of budgets available to George Lucas.

I think you should record the voices yourself or have a trained person do it. I really doubt that you will get what I think you want from software, certainly any software a normal person could afford.

Levan Bakhia · February 12th, 2009, 06:31 AM

well, thanks for info guys, I could not find a software, but now at least I know that there is no such :)

February 9th, 2009, 08:29 AM	#1
Levan Bakhia Major Player Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 230	text to speech Hi, we are doing an animation, so we are thinking about the soundtrack to follow the animation, and well we need to record actors, but I was suggested that there is are some nice software that we can use to generate voice and it is good enough to do an animation on it, and later when whole thing is finished to record the final voice. can you suggest any? __________________ ____________ www.sarke.ge ---------------- ____________

February 9th, 2009, 09:14 AM	#3
Levan Bakhia Major Player Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 230	this seems like a nice software in general, but what I meant was I want a software to generate the voice. Say I want a character to say " hey how are you? ", I have to record an actor, so instead of recording an actor maybe there is a software where I type it and software generates a voice. you know like my mac has this feature but very unnatural, maybe there is something better than that. __________________ ____________ www.sarke.ge ---------------- ____________

February 9th, 2009, 09:52 AM	#4
Cole McDonald Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sauk Rapids, MN, USA Posts: 1,675	This windows app sounds alright: Text to speech software with Natural Voices-- Free NaturalReader Mac Side: Text to Speech Software with AT&T Natural Voices™, Acapela™, Nuance™ Voices Voice Files for more options: Cepstral Text-to-Speech On OSX, in terminal: Code: say 'this is going straight to an audio file' -o ~/Desktop/test-audio.aiff you can also use the -v tag to change voices and if you get really geeky about it, you can change the emphasis/ rates/ volumes/ at the phoneme level: http://www.auc.edu.au/conf/conf03/pa...V2003_Woo2.pdf __________________ Web Youtube Facebook

February 9th, 2009, 11:00 AM	#5
Levan Bakhia Major Player Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 230	Cole McDonald yes, this is what I mean, but is there anything of a better quality or should I not expect better than that? __________________ ____________ www.sarke.ge ---------------- ____________

February 12th, 2009, 06:31 AM	#8
Levan Bakhia Major Player Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 230	well, thanks for info guys, I could not find a software, but now at least I know that there is no such :) __________________ ____________ www.sarke.ge ---------------- ____________

February 9th, 2009, 08:40 AM	#2
Herman Van Deventer Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: cape town South-Africa Posts: 251	Levan , Not 100 % sure if this will suite you. I have used it with Poser and as a standalone. Excellent results. DAZ 3D - Mimic Pro

February 9th, 2009, 10:44 PM	#6
Jack Walker Trustee Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Burbank Posts: 1,811	The best "better" would probably be to just record yourself or a friend, getting the timing and general feel. Then you can replace it with an actor. However, a large part of the performance is the voice, and usually this is recorded first before any animation is done. This lets you take advantage of new ideas brought in by the voice, and it ensures that the animation perfectly matches what is being heard.

February 10th, 2009, 12:43 AM	#7
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	A couple of years ago I attended the SIGGRAPH show in LA. The keynote speaker was George Lucas. A question was asked about what breakthroughs he thought were required in animation software. His answer was very interesting - he said that no breakthroughs were required, just improvements to known techniques because with the tools already available animatiors could fool your eyes. Where he thought real breakthroughs were required was in the computer generation of emotionally convincing voice. He said that nothing he knew of, or was even on the distant horizon, could fool your ears. Which is why live artists do the voices for animations, even with the kinds of budgets available to George Lucas. I think you should record the voices yourself or have a trained person do it. I really doubt that you will get what I think you want from software, certainly any software a normal person could afford.