Well the chaps at PQ Computing Inc have come up with a program that lets you:
- Create animated characters from any photo you want.
- Easy to use. With simple mouse clicks, the animation can be generated in a few seconds.
- Only one picture is needed to construct a realistic 3D face for animation
- Animate any human or animal photos, paintings, drawings or even sketchs.
- Automatically match lip movement with voice.
- Support any spoken languges: English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Chinese, etc.
- Create your talking photo album, live avatars on blogs, funny greeting card, pets talk show, etc.
The product looks interesting. It is not as sophisticated as CrazyTalk, but I suppose PQ Talking Photo is going for a different market. Also, it does what it says it does and doesn't look like it's over-cluttered with extra features you may never need.
Perhaps I should have declared an interest earlier... but those nice people at PQ Computing Inc are offering a free copy to people who blog about their product before Christmas. To be honest, I think it's the sort of thing I would have blogged about anyway... but who am I to look a gift horse in the animated mouth? If (when?) I get a copy, I'll try to remember to post a proper comparative review.
A final word for the moment... As I said at the start, I think this is a great tool for schools... so it's a shame that at least one of the demo animations (I didn't look at the all) is in poor taste (to say the least) and I would judge inappropriate for school use. That's a shame and I hope it's something they reconsider before the official launch.
Anyway, here's an example of what it can do (Blogger allowing!):
Technorati Tags: animation, talk, images, Talking Photo, CrazyTalk, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
4 comments:
David,
Looks interesting. Where did you read about the free copy if you blog about it? Thanks.
I saw it in ab's blog and he points to the PQ DVD page that explains more.
David,
Thanks for sharing about this. There's also a browser-based program that isn't as sophisticated as this looks like it might be, but it does work well. It's called Blabberize:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2007/10/03/create-a-talking-picture/
I'd forgotten about Blabberize... thanks for reminding me.
And using tools like these for language teaching... of course - silly me for not thinking of that myself.
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