Documentation Center artzone:pub:tutorials:mimic

Creating Morphs to use DAZ Figures in Mimic for Lightwave

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Creating Morphs to use DAZ Figures in Mimic for Lightwave

Author: kennez

Tools Needed

Poser
Mimic for Lightwave
Lightwave 7.5 or above

Support Files

morphs.zip

Introduction

You are using DAZ figures in a Lightwave animation project, and you need to add lip sync and facial animation. Here is how to create the morphs needed by Mimic to automate most of the work. This technique works for both the full body, and just a part of the body, such as the head used in this tutorial.

Step 1 - Creating the Morphs in Poser

Load up Poser, and delete the default figure. For this tutorial, we will be using Victoria 3 by DAZ. Load the Victoria figure into the scene, and switch to the face camera.

Next, open up the Pose library and select the V3 Expressions INJ entry.

Inject the first morph, in this example I used RBrowUp, and using the Morph dial at the right of the Poser interface, set the value to 1.0.

Step 2 - Exporting the Morphs

We will now export this Morph as a .OBJ file, so go to FILE > EXPORT > WAVEFRONT OBJ. In the first menu that appears, just click OK. On the second box, click on UNIVERSE to deselect everything, and then click on the entries NECK, HEAD, LEFT EYE and RIGHT EYE, and click OK.

Then you need to select a directory to save, and a file name. It is good practice to name the exported OBJ file with the name of the morph that you are exporting. In the final dialogue box, uncheck everything, and then click OK.

Repeat this for the other morphs required (see the support file MORPHS.txt for the morphs I use)

We also need to export a base object that will be used as the default head, where all the morphs will be merged. To do this, remove all set all expression morphs to zero and follow

the export instructions above.

Step 3 - Setting up the Morphs in Lightwave

Open up Lightwave Modeler and open the BASE.OBJ object. Save this as BASE.LWO. Open up each morph you created in Poser, and save each of these as an LWO, using the same name as the OBJ file.

After you have created all the LWO files, close them all and reopen BASE.LWO. Next, open RBrowUp.lwo and hit copy at the bottom of the Lightwave interface. Close RBrowUp.lwo and switch to Layer 2 of BASE.LWO. Paste your copied morph into Layer 2.

Step 4 - Adding the Morph to the Base

Make sure that Layer 2 (your morph) is in the foreground. Click on the M at the bottom right side of the interface, and switch to the Map tab at the top of the interface.

Click on New EndoMorph on the toolbar at the left of the interface (assuming you haven't customized the interface). When the dialogue appears, type 'Brow.RBrowUp' (without the quotes), make sure Relative is selected, and click OK.

Put Layer 1 in the foreground, and Layer 2 in the background, and click on the button BkgToMorph. When the box appears, select the name of the morph you created and click OK.

Step 5 - Testing the Morph

To test your morph, click on the arrow at the bottom right of the interface and select [base]. This will make the base haed the active morph. Now, click on the arrow and select [Brow.RBrowUp], and the figure should change to the correct morph.

Step 6 - Creating the other Morphs

Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 for all of the morphs you created in Poser (see the support file for the names I used for each morph). Make sure to test each morph after you create it.

There is nothing worse than spending an hour adding all these morphs to your figure, only to find that when you get them into Layout that they don't look as they should! (I know from first hand experience!)

Step 7 - You've Finished....Nearly!

After you have created each morph in Lightwave, and applied it to the base model, you can go ahead and delete everything except Layer 1. Layer 1 contains all of the morph targets that Layout will use, so make sure you don't delete it! You can now go ahead and texture your BASE.LWO file ready for use in Layout.

Mimic 2 Expressions (Pro Only)

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic 2 Expressions (Pro Only)

Author: CommonUser

Tools Needed

Mimic 2 Pro

Introduction

To add morphs that are not either phonemes or gestures you will want to use the third option. The expression tracks were created for the specific purpose of having an option of adding morphs other then the first two options. Unlike either the Phonemes or the gestures you can add new expressions.

The Stock configuration files come with a few basic expressions, but you can easily add other complete, or even partial expressions containing any combination of Morphs that you want. An example of a full face expression might be an angry Expression, or a fear Expression. But you could also use the expressions to animate a wince on one track, and a grimace on the other, thus combining two separate morphs with different timing and strength on each.

Step 1 - Expression Tracks and Palette

In the main window there are three sections that concern the expressions. The first is the Expressions Palette (step 1), the second is Expressions Track A (step 2) and the third is Expressions Track B (step 3).

Step 2 - Creating a new Expression

The first thing we'll do is create a new Expression in the Expressions Pallette. Go ahead and right click (command+click in Mac) in the Expressions Palette, and click on “Add” (step 4). You will see a new expression in your Palette called' er New Expression, (step 5) fancy that! OK enough fooling around, were all tired here, lets just get through this tutorial. Click on the new expression and a definition window pops up (step 6).

Step 3 - Defining Your Expression

Lets name our new expression, Highlight New Expression in the name window (step 7). then type in the new name of your expression. Now you can open your object tree (Window - Object Tree, and click on the head just like in the phonemes) and extract the morphs you need for your expression (step 8), than highlight each morph and set your strength levels (step 9).

Step 4 - Placing and adjusting your Expressions

The Expressions tracks in the timeline work exactly the same as the Phonemes Track. Simply drag your expression from the Expressions Palette to one of the two timelines and drop it in place. Why two timelines? As I said earlier you can isolate expressions to one part of the face and use them in combination. Or perhaps you would like to add the new breathing morph from V3 in one track while you use the other for facial expressions (but remember if you are using a morph from V3 in Mimic 2, you must remember to inject it into your V3 mimic CR2 before importing the CR2 . Of course you may only need one expression track. And in that case just ignore Expressions Track B, but to utilize this track which is closed by default, simply click on the small Arrow Icon in the corner to expand this track (step 10). while we are in this corner I'll also mention the lock Icon (step 11) to the left of the arrow, when this icon is depressed the track becomes locked and you cannot drop Expressions into the track or make any adjustments at all (this is also true of all the other tracks) I will not go in depth into the manipulation of individual expression nodes that you have dropped into the track, they work exactly the same as the phoneme nodes and you can refer back to that tutorial for a refresher if you wish. Suffice it to say that you can drag and stretch a node by clicking and dragging respectively on the center and edges of the node. Alt+clicking on the node gives you access to the strength bar allowing you to adjust the strength by dragging up and down on the bar. And all the Interpolation Methods for Between transitions are available in the timeline pop-up (Right Click for Windows or Command+Click for Mac).

Step 5 - Using multiple expressions to build a complex expression set

In this example I have taken the afraid expression that I made, and loaded three instances back to back in the same expression track. In the first, I have lowered the strength to a slightly worried expression (Step 12), in the second I've raised it a bit higher (step 13), and in the third I have raised it to full strength (step 14).

Step 6 - Using the second track for multiple expressions

At the end of my animation I want to add a Wince Expression, I could just add it at the end of my afraid progression. But I really want the wince to start before the fear expression ends so I will use Expressions Track B again I used three instances (step 15) but you'll notice that they are a lot shorter, as the wince should be rather abrupt. You will also notice that in Expression Track A I have added a neutral expression (step 16) this is to neutralize the afraid expression at the point that I want the wince expression to take over completely.

Well that's it for the Expressions. Of course there is a lot more you can do with them then this tutorial demonstrates, but its a good start and I hope it has helped along with the other tutorials to get you started with this versatile new Animation tool.

Mimic 2 Phonemes (Pro Only)

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic 2 Phonemes (Pro Only)

Author: CommonUser

Tools Needed

Mimic 2

Introduction

At the heart of Mimic 2 is the phoneme system, which basically associates a sound with mouth and other facial morphs. The morphs are set up to closely match how the mouth looks when making a specific sound. A phoneme can contain anywhere from one to a dozen morph targets. All of the Millennium Figures, as well as all Poser figures in Poser version 3 and higher come with some of these expression morphs. The primary purpose of Mimic 2 is to automatically match up a sound file to the corresponding phoneme set, thus freeing up animators from countless hours of tedious work. A new advancement in Mimic 2 is the ability to tweak these phonemes directly in the timeline, before converting it to a PZ2 for use in Poser.

Step 1 - Finding the Phonemes in your window

In the main window there are two sections which have to do directly with phonemes. The first is the Phoneme Track (step 1) in the Timeline. This is the place where the phonemes do their work. The second is the Phonemes Palette in the Palette window (step 2). This palette is available in the Pro version of Mimic 2 only. You can drag and drop individual phonemes from the palette into the Phoneme track. While the phonemes themselves can't be changed, the morphs that are associated with them can. So, if you think you can come up with a morph set that closer matches your vision of a sound, you can program it into the individual phonemes and then save the set as a distributable Configuration file (YourFile.dmc) to use in other projects as well as for others to work with in both the pro and standard versions of Mimic 2.

Step 2 - the Definition Pop-Up window

While we're at it, let's open one up and see how it ticks. I've opened the V3 project I was working on earlier, so these are the stock V3 phonemes. Go ahead and Double Click on one of the Phonemes in the Palette (step3). Here, this one will do -EH (Ed). What that means is that this is the Eh sound as pronounced in the word in “Ed” or “Elephant”. Double-click on it and a definition window will open. This one says copy of – IH (it) (step 4) which means it's so similar in facial movement that it was felt that there was no reason to create a new set so they just copied the IH sound. If you want to create a new custom phoneme you could uncopy it and assemble a new set of morphs.

Step 3 - Designing a Phoneme in Poser

In fact what better way of learning this than doing so. Let's go back into Poser and open up the Victoria 3 Mimic figure. You did go through my basic “Quick Start” tutorial and make a V3 Mimic figure didn't you? No? Well, get with the program and do it! (go there to see what you need to do then come right back, I'll be waiting.)

Well, it's about time, I was ready to order out for pizza!

You're going to work on the face, and make a combination of morphs that closely imitates what it looks like when you say the “eh” sound, so its nice to have a mirror handy when you are creating your morphs.

OK, that looks about right. Now, write down the morphs you used and their dial settings, and lets go back into Mimic 2.

If you are very familiar with the morphs that you are going to use for your new Phoneme, or would prefer to not go back and forth between programs, you can skip this section and go right to Step 4. Mimic 2 Pro provides the ability to do all your configuration file setup within the Mimic 2 interface itself, to that end the definition window has been equipped with a Preview button. Clicking on “Preview” temporarily changes the figure in the Display window to show what the phoneme looks like.

Step 4 - Creating a new Phoneme Definition

In your EH Definition go ahead and click on “Uncopy”, and clear the morphs you are not going to use. Than go to the “Window” drop-down at the top of the page (step 5), click on “Object Tree”, and you will see something similar your standard Poser hierarchy window (step 6). Double-click on “head:1”, you'll see a list of morphs (step 7), in fact they are all the morphs you injected with the expression morph pose, about a dozen lines back. Simply drag the morphs you wrote down from the head list into your definition window. What you didn't write them down? Well go get them! I don't have all day (He said drumming his foot with mock exasperation).

Once you have all the morphs in your Definition file you can set their Strength. Highlight each individual morph and set its Strength, using the dial settings you used in Poser (step 8). For my EH I used Mouth A at 1.4, Snarl at .16, and smile1 at .18. You can click on the “Preview” button to see how the Phoneme looks on your figure.

You may have noticed a color slider just below the strength field.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T SET THE COLOR SLIDER TO RED!!!

Just kidding, the color slider just changes the background color of the Phoneme in the Pallete, so you can easily spot the different Phoneme sets. You can use it however you want, to organize your Palette.

Step 5 - Saving a Custom Configuration file

If you do extensive work on the configuration file, or want to save the changes you made for another session, you'll want to save your file. From the Mimic 2 toolbar, go into “File:Save Configuration File” (step 9). Be sure to save it under a new name (step 10).

At this point it might be helpful to explain that there are several ways you can save your project. What you just saved is a Configuration file with a .dmc extention. this saves your Phoneme, Gesture, and Expressions Libraries, but does not save anything els in your project. this file is designed to be reusable as a base for many projects. you can also save a Project file (.dms). this is what you save when you hit “File:Save” this contains all the information to reopen the specific project you are working on at the moment, including config, sound, CR2, and any changes you made in the timeline. the third method of saving, is the form that is readable by Poser, the multi-frame pz2. this is your output file from Mimic 2.

Step 6 - Deleting unwanted Phonemes

All right, down to the heart of the matter now: adjusting the phonemes in the timeline. For this example, I'm going to go to the word “down” in my timeline. Here are a couple of things to remember:

1.) When making your adjustments, a space is interpreted as “between” cells and allows a transition between phonemes.

2.) The silence phoneme is the mouth in neutral closed shape.

You can adjust very precisely the motion of the morphs by your use of space and silence, as well as duration and strength of the phonemes. So with that all explained, I'm going into the word “down” in the timeline. I like the “D” and the “N” but the “AW” just does not give the round “O” effect that I want. So, the first thing I am going to do is replace the “AW” with a phoneme that looks more like the proper round “O” mouth shape. First, I delete the “AW” by highlighting it (step 11) and hitting “Delete” (step 12). Or, you can use “Delete” in the timeline pop-up, but I'll explain that later.

Step 7 - Adjusting Phoneme Strength in the Timeline

Then I find a Phoneme I like better, I picked out the OY which gives me the round O look I want. Dropping it in is as simple as dragging it from the Phoneme Pallete to the spot on the Phoneme Track where you want to insert it (step 13). A quicker way to do this all in one step is to select the new Phoneme from the Pallete, than right click on the phoneme you want to change in the Phoneme Track, and select “ReplaceWith Pallete Selection” this will change the individual Phoneme but keep the duration and strength the same as the previous occupent of the space. After saying it a couple times in the mirror I decide I want it a little stronger, so I Alt-Click on the Phoneme in the Phoneme Track and drag the red bar upwards (step 14). You can also accomplish this by right clicking in windows, or control-clicking in Mac, to open up a window, which gives you several options, including “Edit Strength”, but while we're at it we should look at some of the other options in here, because they are quite useful.

Step 8 - The Timeline Pop-Up

In addition to “Edit Strength” there is also “Split” (step 15) which does just that, it splits the phoneme in two. There are several other options, but the ones that are of immediate interest are those in the section at the bottom. Here, there are four options: Flat, Linear, Smooth, and Extra Smooth (step 16). These denote the type of transition that will be used from one phoneme to the next.

If you notice, in the upper left corner of each phoneme there is a small square with a design in it. This is the visual indicator of these four options. Flat will give abrupt transitions between phonemes (on a graph they would be represented by strait vertical and horizontal lines with square intersections). Linear will give sharp-sloped transition (on a graph this would be represented by straight lines directly connecting the phonemes from one level to the next. And the Smooth and Extra Smooth will do varying degrees of gradual-sloped transitions between them (on a graph this would be represented by smooth curves intersecting the phonemes).

When we get to the gestures you will see a more graphic example of these options in action.

Step 9 - Moving and Resizing the Phoneme in the Timeline

OK, now where was I? Oh yes, the “OY” phoneme. I've adjusted the strength, now I'm going to move it over towards the “N” (step 17) because I want the transition between the “D” and the “OY” to be gradual but between the “OY” and the “N” I want it to be more abrupt. So, to drag it over I just click and drag in the middle of the “OY” phoneme so its up close to the “N”.

After testing my changes, I decide I want the “OY” to be a little longer, so I drag the left edge back towards the “D” a bit (step 18). You can stretch either end of your phoneme in this manner.

Mimic 2 Quick Start

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic 2 Quick Start

Author: CommonUser

Tools Needed

Mimic 2.0
Victoria 3.0

Introduction

Mimic 2 is the new version of the popular Mimic lip sync software for use in animation projects. What it does is analyze a sound file and assign a series of phonemes (basically the shape of the mouth when making certain sounds) to best imitate the sound file on an animated Poser figure. The resulting animation sequence can then be saved as a PZ2 pose file. This pose file can be loaded onto a figure (the figure must have the expression morphs that you created your mimc 2 pose with) which can be then posed through a series of frames to create a full motion animation. This tutorial will take you from preparing the figure in Poser (only necessary with Victoria 3) to exporting your completed Mimic file as a Poser PZ2 file for use in your animation projects.

Step 1 - STEP 1 PREPARING VICTORIA 3 FOR USE IN MIMIC 2

Step 1 only applies to Victoria 3. All other Millennium figures, as well as those supplied with Poser, do not need this step. The reason this step is necessary is that V3 does not come with the phonemes already loaded, instead they must be injected in order to be processed in Mimic 2. While you can load a fully injected V3, this would put unnecessary burden on your computer system so it is best to create a CR2 specifically for use in Mimic.

Once you finish creating your Mimic PZ2 file, you can then apply it to any Victoria 3 character which has the phonemes loaded.

In Poser load the Victoria 3 SR 1.1 base model (Step 1). Go to your pose library folder “!V3 All Morphs INJ”, and Inject the “All Expressions” PZ2 (step 2). These will be all the morphs you will need for Mimic 2. Save the resulting figure as V3 Mimic (step 3). Finally, close Poser.

Step 2 - Loading Sound Files

Now its time to open Mimic.

The first thing you will see is the Session Manager. What we want to do is Open or create a sound file. The sound file must be in the Wav format for PC's or AIFF for Macs. There are several ways of getting this sound. For testing you can try one of the sounds that have been included with Mimic. Click on the folder Icon (Step 4). What? you don't want to use a stock sound file? OK, the sound can be created in an outside program, and brought in using the folder icon and then browsing to the sound on your computer. Don't have an outside program? You do want to make this difficult, don't you? OK, good thing Mimic 2 allows you to record your own sound files. Using a microphone that you have connected to your computer, simply press the Record button(red dot) (step 5) and record your sound then click on the Stop button (black square) to stop the recording. You should allow your recording to run for a couple of seconds after your speech ends, as it is easy to cut off your sound too early if you are not careful. When your recording is ended you will be prompted to save the file (step 6). A graphic representation of your sound file will be displayed in the white section above your recording buttons.

Step 3 - Using Text Files

Next you should type the text of the speech you just recorded into the box provided (step 7). This will help the program to assign the proper phonemes as well as give you a visual indicator on the timeline of where each word occurs. For those using the test sounds you will find the matching text files by clicking the folder icon below the word “Text” and then browsing to the “Evaluation_Sounds” folder. You may save your typed in text by clicking Save (floppy disc icon) next to the file icons.

Step 4 - Picking a Configuration File

Next you are going to need a configuration file. This file tells Mimic 2 how to assign the phonemes specifically to the model you are going to load into Mimic 2. These files use a DMC extension. There is one for each of the major millennium figures as well as a standard config file called P3_Standard.dmc. Most figures which have phoneme morphs should be able to use this file, including the stock Poser figures. However, the Millennium Figures have a more advanced set of phonemes so it is best to use the Configuration File designed specifically for the Millennium Figure you are working with (the term 'Millennium Figures' refers to Michael, Victoria, Stephanie, and the Millennium Boy and Girl figures). Click on the file icon (step 8) then chose the file appropriate to the model you are using.(step 9) I am using the V3.dmc for obvious reasons. The best rule of thumb is: if you don't have a configuration file for the figure you're using, then use a configuration file that is designed for a less advanced figure.

Step 5 - Loading a CR2

Next you will need to load your character (CR2) file from your Poser Library. Again, click on the file (step 10) then navigate to the desired CR2 file (step 11). I am using the V3 Mimic.CR2 that I made earlier. Then click “Open”. Before you click on OK take a look at the gestures buttons by default they are all set to on, you can click any of the buttons to turn its corresponding automatic gesture off. Gestures are provided to make the characters head more life like by creating subtle head and facial movements. Mimic 2 Pro users will have the opportunely to create custom gesture tracks in the Timeline later (you can refer to the gestures tutorial to learn more about that). and make sure the frames per second (FPS) match the setting of your animation. You have now finished in the Session Manager and can click on “OK” (step 12). Oh, and one more thing, if you haven't used Mimic 2 before it will probably ask you to locate the core Poser program at this point. If so, just browse for your Poser folder and locate the Poser.exe file (or equivalent Poser application file if you're working on a MAC).

Step 6 - Using the Main Window

The main window will open up with your figure in the display window. You can see how your lip sinc worked out by hitting the “Play” button (step 13). You can adjust the figure in the window using the small control buttons on it's side (step 14) just click and hold on the Corresponding button and drag to zoom or pan.

You can find out more about the display by going to the Display Tutorial.

You can also adjust the timing and duration of the phonemes themselves (step 15). click and drag the center of the Phoneme box to adjust the timing of the phoneme and click and drag the leading or trailing edge to stretch the phoneme. You can also change the strength of the phoneme (by right clicking on a PC or control-clicking on a MAC) and selecting edit strength, or just hold ALT key down on you keyboard while clicking on the phoneme, and simply drag the red section up or down to increase or decrease the strength. You can find out more about the use and adjustments to the phonemes by going to the Phonemes Tutorial.

Step 7 - Saving a PZ2

The last thing you'll need to do is save your finished animation to your library for use in Poser. Go to the “File:Export Pose (PZ2)” drop-down menu located in the Mimic toolbar (step 16). Browse to the folder in your Poser Pose library where you would like to save the finished Mimic lip sync file (step 17). Then hit “Save” and you are done with your first Mimic project. The resulting PZ2 is a standard multi-frame file which can be inserted into any poser animation project.

Oh and one other thing before you go, if by chance you may want to come back and modify your Mimic 2 pz2 you will also want to hit save and save a Project file out, it will have a .dms extension and is mimic 2's format for saving your session.

Mimic 2 The Display Window

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic 2 The Display Window

Author: CommonUser

Tools Needed

Mimic 2

Introduction

Ok, so you've gone through the Session Manager and now you are in the Main Window with the full Victoria figure standing there looking at you. But, suppose you want to see a close-up of her face to help you sync the words to the phonemes more precisely. Or, maybe you\'d like to see her speaking from a side angle, or (in the Pro version) maybe you\'d like to match the display angle to that of the video footage you've imported so you can adjust her gestures to match the action in the scene more precisely. For any of these you are going to need camera controls. And that's precisely what all those little boxes along the side of the display window are for.

Step 1 - The Display Window

Note: The Display Window is identical for both the standard and Pro versions of Mimic 2).

To use the controls you will place your cursor over the control, press your mouse button, and drag in the desired direction. When you'release the button the camera retains the position it was in upon release.

The three lower buttons are used by simple single click but we'll talk about those when we get to them.

Step 2 - Rotation Control

The first button is your rotation button [circling Arrow] (step1). It acts the same as the trackball in Poser. Its center of rotation is the part of the figure that is centered in the display. You can drag the mouse in any direction to turn the figure on that center pivot.

Step 3 - Pan Control

The second button is the Pan control [four directional arrow](step 2). You can drag the mouse to pan the camera vertically or horizontally in the plane of the display to reposition the figure in those directions. You can drag the mouse in any direction to reposition the figure in the window.

Step 4 - Zoom Control

The third button is the zoom control [Magnifying glass](step 3). This allows you to zoom the camera in and out from the figure. Dragging your pointer up zooms in and dragging your pointer down will zoom the camera out. Dragging right or left creates uneven results and should be avoided with this control.

Step 5 - Center Control

The fourth button is the center figure control [crosshairs](Step 4). This control centers the visible portion of the figure in the Display Window with the camera facing the figure from the front. This button is a simple click and release button.

Step 6 - Hide Control

The fifth button is the Hide control [closed eye] (step 5). If you use the pan control to drag the figure down until only the head is visible and then click on this button it will make the off-screen bodyparts of the figure invisible. Then, if you click on the center figure control, only the portions of the figure that are still visible will be centered, while the rest of the body remains invisible.

(note: figures come into Mimic 2 preset with all bodyparts hidden except the head)

Step 7 - Un-hide Control

The sixth and last button is the Un-hide control [open eye](step 6). If you click the center figure button now, the whole figure, from head to toe, is centered in the display window.

I hope that clears up any questions you've had about those mysterious little buttons.

Mimic 2 The Gestures (Pro Only)

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic 2 The Gestures (Pro Only)

Author: CommonUser

Tools Needed

Mimic 2

Introduction

With the advent of version 2, Mimic is no longer just a lip sync program. With the addition of gesture and expression tracks, Mimic 2 Pro is now a full featured facial-animation pose creation system. In this section we will discuss the Gestures Timeline and its uses.

Step 1 - The layout

OK lets take a look at the Gestures Track, on the left you see a list of basic gestures (step 1) involving some of the primary features of human expression. above it a window indicating a Key value for that gesture (step 2), or rather that gesture at a certain point in the timeline. And to the right the timeline is represented by a scale graph track (step 3). Simply put, for each of the gestures you will place points, refered to as Keys, along the timeline at different heights to control the strength of the selected morph. These points are called Keys because the spot in the timeline in which they are placed is called a Keyframe. Basically, a keyframe is one in which a control action occurs all other frames are considered between frames and are interpolated from the Keyframes they are between, thus the name between frames. If you put the Key above the Zero line you will have a positive morph if the point is placed below the Zero line you get a negative morph, at that point in the timeline, string them all together and you can create a transition of your gesture as smooth or abrupt as you want.

Step 2 - Adding a Key

Let's see how it works. Highlight the first gesture, “Eyebrow Raise Left” by clicking on it (step 4). This is not strictly necessary, as this gesture is already selected when you open the program, since it is first on the list. But its good to get in the habit. Next, you are going to click on a spot in the timeline. Make sure it is past the darkened area of the timeline. This section can be considered as a leader of sorts and is not part of the animation (you can see this by the fact that there are no frame numbers above it in the timeline) (step 5). If you put a KeyFrame within this section you will not be able to manipulate it, and it will not affect your animation, except to be an anchor point for your Gesture Track. But you are better off placing your first Key at frame 1.

Step 3 - Deleting a Gesture Track

By the way, if you activated any of the gestures in the session manager (check boxes at the bottom of the manager) Mimic 2 will have already created KeyFrames for these features. Removal of those KeyFrames is fairly simple. Just right-click (or Command-click for the MAC) anywhere on the Gestures Track. Then, click on “Select All” (step 6) and hit “Delete”. You will now have a clear Track.

Step 4 - Adjusting strength using Key Value

Ok, so we put our first Key at frame 1 on the zero line (step 7). You didn't get it exactly on the line? Well, here is where the key value comes into play. You will see in that window a number, either positive or negative depending on whether you placed the Key above or below the line. Go ahead and select the key value and type in a value of “0” and then enter (step 8). Now your first point is directly at zero. The key value is an indicator of the height of the selected point on the Track. And you can use that to make a precise positioning of any selected Key.

Step 5 - Adding Keys

Now scroll the timeline over to the left until the first frame is at the left edge of your timeline. This will give you some space to work. You will also notice that the number scale remains visible in the Track (step 9).

Now we are going to make another Key in the timeline. I will place it at frame 15 for our demonstration and at the “1” line (located at the top of my gestures timeline). If you do this, you will notice immediately that the 1 line has dropped down to the midpoint between zero and the top of the timeline (step 10). What happened here is that the timeline vertical scale adapts to the height of your graph and will always zoom out vertically in order for all the Keyframes both above and below the zero line to be visible.

Step 6 - Manually adjusting Keyframes

Now that you have your second Keyframe, lets adjust its level. There are two ways to do this. The first is by setting its key value. You can do this by typing a number into the key value box or by adjusting the Key manually. You can adjust it manually by clicking and dragging the point to the level you want the morph at (step 11). If the red frame indicator line is near the Key that you are manipulating, you will be able to directly see the strength of your setting in the display window. But don't place your Key directly in the frame indicator line (step 12), as this will make it difficult to select the Key for manual manipulation. If your Key is not in the proper frame you can drag it forward and backward in the timeline.

Step 7 - Changing Between Keyframe Characteristics

Ok lets go ahead and create some more Keyframes in the timeline. As you can see the lines curve gracefully from point to point. And if you are observant you will notice the sideways u in the small box that represents the Key(step 13). Well if you went through the Phonemes tute you will remember that these boxes were used there as well. And just like with the phonemes you can change this icon by right clicking (command+click in Mac) these different icons indicate the Interpolation Method of the line that controls the between Key strength. Simply put, Interpolation is a system of calculating the strength of each area between each keyframe, represented by a line (or Spline) , so each of the wave forms is an Interpolation Method. Here it's a little clearer to see what effect it has changing the morph strength setting. For review you have a selection of four options: Flat, Linear, Smooth, and Extra Smooth. Flat will give abrupt transitions between Keyframes. if you change it to this setting you will get straight Horizontal lines which jump to the selected Key from the previous Key (step 14), linear will give sharp diagonal transition. On the graph this is represented by strait lines directly connecting Keys from the previous Key to the selected one (step 15), and the smooth and extra smooth will do varying degrees of gradual curves between them on the graph this is represented by a smooth curve going from the previous Key to the selected one (step 16). Changing these settings always effects only the transition between the selected Key and the one which came before it. At this point you might want to “select all” and click between the options to see how they affect the wave form along a whole Track.

Step 8 - Changing Tracks

So far we have dealt with just one of the gestures. You can go on to set the levels across your whole animation based on your phoneme and text tracks. When you are done with the left eyebrow you can go on to the right eyebrow by simply clicking to highlight it in the left window (step 17). What happens here is that the timeline window changes to show the specific track for each gesture, though you may not notice the change unless your gestures start very early in the timeline. This is done to save space on the timeline. Each facial gesture's track is only shown when while it is selected.

You can go on to create animation tracks for each of the named gestures, the eyebrows, eye blinks, head movement in any direction, and eye movement. These gestures are available for both the right and left side. So, you have the opportunity for a lot of adjustments to these features.

Unless you are creating a new configuration file from scratch, you will probably not have any reason to change the definitions for your gestures. However, you can do so by double-clicking on the gesture title and changing it just as you did the phonemes. Because Mimic 2 was designed to automatically assign animation tracks for these specific gestures, the titles cannot be changed and no additional gestures can be added. The morphs they control however, can be changed.

To add morphs that are not either phonemes or gestures you will want to use the third option but for that you will need to read my next tutorial: “Mimic 2: The Expressions”.

Mimic Flash Output Tutorial

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic Flash Output Tutorial

Author: Koda

Tools Needed

Mimic 3
Poser

Introduction

Flash animations can be created from Mimic 3 in two ways. Before Mimic 3, the only method was for the user to create a Poser PZ2 file in Mimic and use Poser to generate the Flash animation. Mimic 3 now allows the user to create the Flash animation directly from Mimic.

In this tutorial we will explore both methods of creating flash animations using Mimic.

Before we start, there are some things you need to remember when creating a flash animation for use on the Web. Limit the number of colors, frames per second, and width and height of the file. Keeping the height and width down will help keep the file small for faster downloads.

Step 1 - She Talks in Stereo

What if you want to make your character sing or you're working with a stereo sound file?

First if you have a stereo sound file you need to resample it to mono with a conversion tool such as Audacity. It can be downloaded for free at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .

We will cover sound files with music in depth in a later tutorial, but for now the easiest way to create a Mimic animation with music is to use a file with just the vocal track. This is usually done by you'recording yourself saying or singing the words along with the music (try having the music play through headphones so you don't capture any of it).

Once Mimic has used your placeholder sound file to generate the initial animation, replace it with the sound file that contains the music. Remember, though, after you swap out the file to make sure to deselect 'Analyze Sound File In Mimic.'

Open Mimic 3; the Session Manager is displayed.

Load in your Wav file, the text file, the Character file(CR2), and the Configuration file(DMC) for your character. Then set your Frames Per Second to 12 FPS and click OK.

Step 2 - The Main Window

The Main Mimic window loads with your selected character and the automatically-generated animation data. From here you can alter the animation, lighting, and camera settings. For this tutorial we will leave the settings at their default values.

From the Main Menu Select FileExport Pose (PZ2). Save the pose to RuntimeLibrariesPoseMimic.

Step 3 - In Poser

Open Poser and load the character you wish to use for your animation.

Open your pose library and select the saved pose from step 8. A dialog will appear asking if you wish to add frames. Select Yes.

Select AnimationAnimation Setup. Adjust the frame width and height. 50 X 50 works great!

Select AnimationMake Movie.

Enter the Movie Name.

Select Macromedia Flash from the 'Sequence type' drop down menu.

Click the Ok Button. When prompted enter the name for your animation file and click Save. The animation will begin rendering. You have now created a Flash animation through Poser.

Step 4 - Mimic Direct

To create the Animation directly from Mimic 3 do the following:

Open Mimic 3; the session manager is displayed.

Open your Wav file.

Open your text file.

Set the Frames per second to 12 FPS and click OK.

Step 5 - Finish!

The Main Mimic window loads with your selected animation data. From here you can alter the animation, lighting, and camera settings. For this tutorial we will leave the settings at their default values.

From the Main Menu select FileCreate Movie Preview. This will open the Video

Preview Control Box.

Select Make Preview.

Select Save Preview to Flash.

The Save dialog appears. Enter a file name, and select Save. That's it. You have created a Flash animation-using Mimic.

artzone:pub:tutorials:mimic:mimic-misc08

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

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Tutorial 1: Getting Started in Mimic for Lightwave

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Tutorial 1: Getting Started in Mimic for Lightwave

Author: Anonymous

Tools Needed

Mimic 2 Pro for Lightwave
Lightwave

Introduction

This tutorial explains how to set up your character for use in Mimic with the BasicTemplate DMC. This is not the only way to set up your character. Morphs can be named whatever you want them to be, but by following the conventions set in this tutorial you will be able to load your character into Mimic and have it working in seconds.

Step 1 - Modeler: Setting Up the Character

Modeler: Setting up the character

The first steps for setting up a character to be used with Mimic happen in Modeler. We're going to work with a basic female human head for this tutorial.

There are two fundamental steps here: One is to set up endomorphs for the different mouth positions (phonemes), gestures, and expressions. The other is to set up the correct bone structure and weight map to animate headmovement gestures.

Step 2 - Endomorphs

There are 11 phonemes in the basic configuration of Mimic.

The phonemes are as follows:

The list below shows the morph targets created for our character in Lightwave. If you name your morphs exactly as shown here, they will automatically associate themselves with the phonemes, gestures and expressions.

The following pages illustrate the different morphs created for this character and what phoneme, gesture or expression each is applied to.

Note: Lightwave displays morphs in alphabetical order.This list has been re-arranged for the purposes of this tutorial.

Step 3 - Phonemes

Phonemes:

1) Make sure that your open mouth phonemes, like the 'AA' sound, incorporate jaw movement as well. Keep in mind that the upper teeth should never move. Think in terms of the underlying skeletal structure and rotate your lower teeth from the pivot point of where the jaw should rotate just under the ears.

2) When you create morphs for hard consonants like the 'K' sound, you may want to add some neck constriction, pushing inward to simulate the muscles closing the throat. If you have a male character with an adam's apple, move it upwards as well.

Step 4 - Gestures and Expressions

Gestures:

Expressions:

Step 5 - Bones and Weightmaps

There are a couple of additional steps you should add to your rigging process to take advantage of Mimic's gestures track. The gestures track is where Mimic applies a somewhat random animation to automatically generate blinks, as well as eyebrow and head movement.

Without Mimic, the bone setup on the left might be an appropriate rig for the head and neck, but we're going to split the neck into two bones, one for normal animation and one specifically for Mimic.

The reason for doing this is so that the animation data that Mimic applies to this bone won't overwrite any keyframes you may have applied in Lightwave. So the key is to only animate the lower neck bone in Lightwave, and reserve the upper bone for Mimic specific animation.

The next step is to create a weightmap with the same name as the special neck bone we created called 'mimic'. This weightmap will define which polys deform with the bone That is being animated in Mimic. Keep in mind that you don't have to associate this weightmap with any bones in your rig in Lightwave. It's just there so that you can see the motion of the bone in the Mimic interface.

Note: There are many different philosophies regarding rigging. Your personal rigging style may vary, but the key issues that transcend individual rigs are the creation of a special bone just for Mimic animation, and the creation of a weightmap to associate with that bone.

Step 6 - Layout: Applying Mimic to a Character

Mimic is an object displacement plug-in, so it is applied to your character in the deform tab of the object properties palette. To launch the Mimic interface, double click 'DAZMimic Pro' when it appears in the displacement list. Once you launch Mimic, the Morphmixer displacement will automatically be added to the character as well.

Step 7 - The Session Manager

The Session Manager is where you load the audio that Mimic will analyze to create the lip-sync. You can also enter (or load from a text file) the words that are being spoken to help Mimic in the analysis. The trick to using this feature is to spell phonetically, the way the words sound.

Additionally, the Session Manager allows you to import a video file that you can place conveniently beside your 3D character for visual reference. If you choose, you can use the audio from a video file instead of importing a separate WAV file.

Configuration File (DMC)

Configuration files are pre-configured preferences for how phonemes, gestures and expressions are set up. In the Base version, you can only load configuration files, but in the Pro version, you can alter these preferences and save your own custom configurations for later use. All of the phonemes, gestures and expressions in this tutorial are part of the 'Basic Template' DMC provided with Mimic.

Clicking 'OK' will begin the sound analysis and take you to the Mimic interface.

Step 8 - The Interface

The Interface

The interface of the consists of the display window, the video window, the timeline, and the phonemes, gestures and expressions. The timeline is very similar to most non-linear editing systems. hitting the play button will play the animation in real time based on the specified frame range. You can make edits while playing the animation and see immediate feedback. This is especially useful when you specify a narrow range of frames around a particular phoneme (or group of phonemes) that you are trying to get just right. Additionally, the timeline allows you to edit the animation curves of the gestures.

Hint: If you zoom in on just the part of the head you need to see animated, and then click the closed eye button in the display window, the rest of your figure will be hidden, greatly speeding up openGL preview.

Each of the three groups of animation channels (phonemes, gestures and expressions) have their own unique attributes:

1. Phonemes - These are generated by analyzing the audio imported into the Session Manager and automatically placed in the timeline.

2. Expressions - These allow you to layer additional facial expressions onto your character. The animation is generated manually, by dragging an expression from the expressions list into the timeline.

3. Gestures - These are pre-defined to create animation for eyebrows, blinks, and head motion (which is controlled through a bone instead of morphs). Unlike Expressions, the animation for these channels is generated by Mimic, just like phonemes. The animation that Mimic generates is somewhat random, but effectively adds a spark of life to a speaking character with very little work.

(Note: there are also gestures for the eyes, intended to counteract the motion of the head, so the eyes continue looking at the same spot. However, a very popular rigging technique is to target the eyebones to a 'look at' target, which basically makes this feature of mimic unnecessary.)

Step 9 - The Timeline

Mimic does all the work of analyzing your sound file and placing the proper phonemes and gestures in the timeline, but you are still able to modify the results.

In the timeline, you can select phonemes, drag them around, move the in and out points, and adjust their strength. Moving the phoneme's position and in and out points is done simply by clicking and dragging. To adjust the length of a clip, select it and alt(option)-drag on the red bar. If you have multiple clips selected at once, all clips will adjust to the same strength.

Gestures work more like Lightwave's graph editor. Clicking on keys will allow you to move them up and down, or forward and backward in time. Clicking on the curve where there is no key will create a new one.

Expressions are dragged into the time line manually as previously discussed. Once the clips are in the timeline, they can be edited the same way as phonemes. One important note on expressions is that the morphs associated with expressions interpolate between clips, so you should place the 'neutral' expression at the beginning and end of any expressions you place in the timeline.

If a phoneme that Mimic generated is incorrect, you can easily change it by selecting a correct phoneme in the phoneme list, and right clicking on the phoneme in the timeline. Select 'replace with palette selection' from the popup menu that appears. You can also simply drag phonemes from the phoneme list to the timeline.

Tutorial 2: Advanced Configuration

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Tutorial 2: Advanced Configuration

Author: Anonymous

Tools Needed

Mimic 2 Pro for Lightwave
Lightwave

Introduction

In this tutorial we're going to look at creating custom configurations from scratch.

Step 1 - Phonemes

To begin with, if you launch Mimic without loading a pre-made DMC file, the phoneme list will look like the following:

There are actually 40 distinct phonemes in Mimic. The ones you don't see are subgrouped to the ones listed. For the purpose of this discussion, we'll call the fourteen you see in the list, 'Primary phonemes', and the grouped ones, 'Subgrouped'. You can view the subgrouped phonemes by clicking the '+' next to a master phoneme.

If you want to remove a subgrouped phoneme from a primary phoneme, simply double click the subgrouped phoneme. This will bring up the Definition pallet. Then, click the 'uncopy' button.

To group a primary phoneme to another primary phoneme, click on the 'Copy Of' button on the phoneme's Definition pallet. This will bring up a list of all the phonemes in Mimic. All the non-primary phonemes will be greyed out. Select the primary phoneme you want to group with from the list.

You can continue this process to create your own custom phoneme list, with as many primary phonemes as you want. It can be as simple or complex as your character needs. For example, a realistic human character may need 14 or 15 primary phonemes, where as a simple cartoon character could possibly get away with 4 or 5.

Once you have finished creating your own custom configuration, you can save your own DMC files through the file menu.

Step 2 - Linking the Morphs

The next step is to link the morphs in your character to the primary phonemes in the phoneme list. Begin by double clicking on a phoneme. This will bring up the Definition pallet for that phoneme.

Next, click on the 'Add more to definition'' button. This will bring up the Channel Groups pallet. Double click on the appropriate channel, in this case 'ph' under Morphs, and another Channel Group pallet will come up showing all the morphs under that group. Next, drag the appropriate morph from the list to the 'Channel' box in the Definition pallet.

Once a morph has been applied to a phoneme, you can adjust the strength of the morph. A value of 0 is equivalent to 0% (no effect), and 1 is equivalent to 100% of the morph strength. You can set the strength any number you want. Both negative numbers and numbers exceeding 1 can be applied, just like you can apply values below 0% and greater than 100% in Lightwave's morphmixer.

Step 3 - Morph Mouth Shapes

Multiple morphs with varying strengths can be applied to a single phoneme. The morphs below represent more generic mouth shapes than those from the Getting Started tutorial, and can be mixed and matched to create the final phonemes we will use in Mimic. One of the benefits of this technique is that these morphs are easier and more straightforward to create, and give us greater control over facial animation from within mimic. It is much easier to adjust our phoneme definitions while in Mimic than to have to go back to modeler and edit original morphs if things don't look quite right.

So the trick here is to blend these morphs together at various strengths to attain the right phoneme shapes.

Step 4 - Example 1

The 'W' and 'R' phonemes should have similar shapes, but with the W sound, the teeth should be farther apart than with the R sound. So the W phoneme combines 'pucker' at .75 strength and 'open' at .2 strength, whereas the R sound combines the 'pucker' at 1 strength with 'closed' at .5 strength.

Step 5 - Example 2

The next example is for the 'IY' phoneme. It starts with the basic open mouth shape set to a strength of .5, with a little smile added (.3 strength)

With the 7 morphs from the previous page, you should be able to create all the shapes you need for whatever phonemes are required for your final lipsync. But keep in mind, you can mix and match techniques to work with your own particular needs. You could create morphs specifically for certain phonemes, and then create other more generic morphs to be used for for several phonemes.

Using Mimic with Poser 4 and above

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Mimic with Poser 4 and above

Author: Vicky Tolonen

Tools Needed

* Mimic Pro

* Poser 4+

Introduction

This Tutorial goes over the steps needed to load DAZ and Poser figures in to Mimic Pro.

Step 1: Set your Preferences

Please note: This step is only necessary for Poser 5 and 6. If you are using Poser 4 or ProPack, skip to Step 2.

In Poser 5:

You will first need to uncheck Use File Compression. This can be found in your Poser 5- > General Preferences (Mac) or Edit- > General Preferences (Windows)

In Poser 6

You will first need to uncheck Use File Compression and uncheck Use External Binary Morph Targets. This can be found in your Poser 5- > General Preferences- > Misc (Mac) or Edit- > General Preferences- > Misc (Windows)

Step 2: Load the Freak in to Poser

Please follow these steps if using The Freak. If using Jessi or James, please skip to Step 3. If using other Mil Figures, please skip to Step 5.

In order to get the Freak to work in Mimic, you will need to load him in to Poser, and INJect his Expression morphs, then save him out as a new Character file.

Load the Freak:

First, load the Freak from your Figures- > DAZ Freak directory. Please be sure to load the green-and-red Freak, not the !Blank (See FAQ here for more information on !Blank figures: http://www.daz3D.com/support/faq/index.php?id=129)

INJect All Expressions:

With the Freak selected, go to your Poses- > !M3 Expressions INJ folder, and double click the !All Expressions file. This will INJect the needed mouth movements in to the Freak.

Save to Figures:

Next, you will need to save the Freak as a new CR2 file. To do this, go to your Figures- > DAZ Freak folder. With the Freak selected, click on the + sign at the bottom to Add him to your Library.

Name the character FreakMimic.

You should now see the FreakMimic character (CR2) in your Figures- > DAZ Freak folder.

Step 3: Load Jessie or James in to Poser

To use Jessi or James in Mimic, you will need to load them in to Poser, then save them out again as new CR2's. This is because Jessi and James' character files are in compressed CRZ format. Since we've turned off File Compression (Step 1), loading and resaving Jessi or James will create a CR2 instead.

Load James (or Jessi):

Load James (or Jessi) from your Figures- > James (or Jessi from Figures- > Jessi) directory. Please be sure to load the non-clothed version of James (or Jessi), as Mimic cannot read a character and its clothing.

Save James to Figures:

Next, you will need to save James (or Jessi) as a new CR2 file. To do this, go to your Figures- > James (or Jessi) folder. With James (or Jessi) selected, click on the + sign at the bottom to Add him (or her) to your Library.

Name the character JamesMimic (or JessiMimic).

You should now see the JamesMimic (or JessiMimic) character (CR2) in your Figures- > James (or Jessi) folder.

Step 4: Uncompress Geometry

Before you can use Jessi or James in Mimic, you will also need to Uncompress their Geometry files.

To do this, go to your Window- > Python Scripts- > Utility Funcs menu, and click on UnCompress Files.

Choose the Poser 6\Runtime\libraries\character\James (or Jessi) folder (you may have to type this in manually, so be sure to remember the path). Check the Uncompress Geometry files. You may choose to Delete the original files if you wish.

Hit OK.

Step 5: Session Manager

This step applies to all characters:

Once in Mimic, load your Sound file in the top box. This sound file should be in .WAV format on Windows, and in .AIFF format on the Macintosh. It's recommended that you keep the sound file under 5 minutes at a time, as current systems are not able to analyze larger sound files in a reasonable amount of time.

If you have a text file to go with your sound file, load it in the second box. This text file should have just the words in your audio file, spelled out fon-eh-tik-all-ee :)

In the third box, load in your Configuration File. The DMC (DAZ Mimic Configuration File) is a text file that tells Mimic what sounds go with what mouth movements. Most Mimic-compatible characters have their own Configuration Files, available on the Product Page, or on the Mimic Resources Page ( http://www.daz3D.com/program/mimic/download.php?download=P )

Finally, load your Character (CR2) file here. If you are using the Freak, as in my example above, your screen should look like this:

If you are using Jessi or James, your screen should look something like this:

Please note: When using Jessi or James, Mimic may prompt you to locate their OBJ and JPG files. Their OBJ's are located in Runtime\libraries\Character\James or Runtime\libraries\Character\Jessi

and their JPG's are located in Runtime\textures\Poser 6 Textures\James or Runtime\textures\Poser 6 Textures\Jessi

Step 6: Preview your Characters

Once you hit Okay on the Session Manager Screen, Mimic will analyze your sound and character file.

You can then Preview your Animation in Mimic.

Step 7: Export PZ2

In order to get your animation back in to Poser, you need to Export a PZ2.

A PZ2 file is a Poser POSE file, similar to the Poses that you use to Position your characters.

PZ2 files go in to your Runtime\libraries\Pose\yourfolderofchoice.

To bring your Mimic animation in to Poser, go to File- > Export Pose.

Name this Pose yourcharacternameMimic.pz2.

Save this Pose PZ2 in to your Poser\Runtime\libraries\Pose\yourfolderofchoice. I prefer to have a specific Mimic folder, so I am saving to Poser\Runtime\libraries\Pose\Mimic.

Step 8: Back to Poser

At this point, you should go back in to Poser.

As stated above, in your Jessi, James, or DAZ Freak folder you should have a specific yourcharacterMimic character. Load that character now.

Now, go to your Poses- > yourfolderofchoice (the one that you saved the PZ2 to in Step 7). In this case, I saved my PZ2 to Poses- > Mimic, so that is the folder I go to.

In that folder is my JamesMimic animation that I created. Double click on that file to apply it to your Character.

Now, open your Timeline (Windows- > Animation), and click Play.

James, Jessi, Freak, or any of your other Mil characters should now begin talking.

Step 9: Conclusion

Please use the above steps as just a quick guideline on using your characters in Mimic. Steps may vary a little bit depending on which character you are loading, and the version of Poser that you have. Hopefully, this Tutorial will help you with using Mimic for the first time.

Lesson 1: Getting Started

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Lesson 1: Getting Started

This tutorial walks you through creating a basic Mimic lip-sync session and shows how Mimic makes some of the most complex animation very easy. Mimic is ready to go immediately after installation. It even includes a figure (a reduced-resolution version of DAZ's Victoria 1) and sample files to get you started!

TIP! If you already own a Mimic-ready figure such as DAZ's Victoria, you may use that figure instead of the default Mimic figure. You will achieve much better results using figures designed specifically for use with Mimic.

TIP! If you use figures that support injection morphs (such as DAZ's Michael and Victoria 3), be sure to only load the morphs you need. These are typically the head expression morphs, since that is what most artists use when creating animations in Mimic. Loading additional morphs requires additional computing resources and may will significantly increase the time required to load a figure into Mimic.

Step 1: Add Files

Begin this tutorial by launching Mimic. The first thing you'll see is the Session Manager. The Session Manager sets up Mimic sessions by loading source files and setting global options. You can edit and tune your session later.

Load Audio File

The first file we need to load is the sound file containing the audio we'll use for this session.

In the Sound area, locate the Find Matching Text File label and make sure the radio button is selected. This allows Mimic to automatically load a matching text file (if it exists) when the sound file is loaded. The text filename must match the sound filename. If you do not have a matching text file, then this option will not do anything, but it won't hurt either.
Click the Load File button in the Sound area at the top of the Session Manager to open a Browse dialog (the button appears as shown below). By default, the folder containing the sample sounds included with Mimic is selected.
Pick the work.wav file (PC) or work.aiff file (Macintosh) by selecting the desired file then clicking on Open or OK. Mimic will use this file as the basis for synchronizing the figure's movements. After loading the file, you'll notice some red blobs underneath the sound controls. This is a visual representation of the sound contained inside the selected file. It is called the waveform.

Load Text File

Next, we'll add a plain ASCII text file. This is an optional step that can both enhance the fidelity of the lip-synching and provide valuable reference points when working inside the Timeline. We'll be talking more about the Timeline in later sections.

If a matching text file was found, it should already be loaded into the Text area, but if not, do the following:

Click the Load File button next to the Text area in the Session Manager and select work.txt in the same way you just selected the sound file.
Take a moment to read this file. Notice a few glaring spelling errors? Read the text aloud, paying special attention to how the spelling clearly defines how the words should be pronounced. In other words, writing “synchronization” as “sink row nih zation” means that it can't be pronounced as (for example) “cinch ron eye zation”. Some languages, English included, have complex pronunciation rules that are not always self-evident from a word's spelling. Mimic uses text files in conjunction with sound files to create lip-synched animation. If you're having problems getting the figure's speech to look right, try modifying your text file. This simple step can save you a lot of hassle and frustration.

Load Configuration and Character Files

By default, Mimic loads the default configuration and character files when a sound file is loaded. If you are using a figure other than the default one, you'll need to load the configuration and character files for that figure.

Mimic configuration files contain all of the necessary phonemes (vocalizations), expressions (emotions), and gestures (other head movements) that can add extra realism to your sessions.

Character files reference the 3D model and contain all of the information needed to make the figure move. At its root, a 3D figure is a single object that consists of many individual polygons assembled into the final shape. Posing and moving these solid objects requires the separate character file, which defines the locations and types of available motion. Character files have the extension .cr2 and were originally developed by Curious Labs for use in their Poser application. DAZ Studio supports the .cr2 format, meaning that you can use DAZ's figures in both DAZ Studio and Poser.

To load configuration and character files for the default Mimic figure:

Click the Load File button in the Character File area of the Session Manager.
Select the default.cr2 file from the Configuration_Files folder and click on Open.
Click the Load File button in the Configuration File area of the Session Manager.
Select the default.dmc file from the Configuration_Files folder, and click on Open.

Step 2: Let Mimic Do the Work

After loading the files, take a moment to ensure that all five Gestures radio buttons at the bottom of the Session Manager are checked. Doing this will show off the power and ease of Mimic while making your work easy. Once you've checked the radio buttons, click OK to close the Session Manager and open the main Mimic interface. If you're using Mimic in conjunction with DAZ Studio or Poser, you will need to wait a few moments while Mimic analyses the figure. Subsequent changes will be much faster.

Step 3: Lip-Synching Made Easy

If you've followed the tutorial steps so far, the main Mimic interface will look as shown here.

To view your animation, click the Play/ Pause button (shown below) in the Timeline. The animation will loop until you click the Play/Pause button again.

Notice that the Display window only shows the figure's head and neck. 3D figures can require significant computing resources. By default, the configuration files included with Mimic hide most of the figure except for those areas affected by lip-synching.

Just like that, you've created a workable basic lip-synched animation using Mimic! Keep in mind that this tutorial is only a small peek at Mimic's powerful tools and functionality. We will explore these functions in later chapters. Meanwhile, let's finish our current session by exporting a multiple-frame pose file for use inside DAZ Studio or Poser.

Let's save our current session file for use in later tutorials. To do this, select File > Save. A standard Save As dialog appears, allowing you to select your desired folder and filename. Go ahead and save your session file in a convenient location.

Step 4: Using Mimic Animations in Other Applications

In order to use your Mimic animations with DAZ Studio or Poser, you must export them as animated pose (.pz2) files. Pose files have the extension .pz2 and were created by Curious Labs to allow artists to save figure poses for later reuse. These files support both single-frame (still) and multiple-frame (animated) data. Mimic uses animated .pz2 files to transfer your lip-synched animations between itself and DAZ Studio or Poser.

To save a pose file, select File > Export Pose (PZ2). A standard Save As dialog box appears, allowing you to select your desired folder and filename.

If you are using Poser, you will need to add your newly created pose file to that application's content library. Please refer to your Poser documentation for information on adding content to the library. It is important that you save the file in the correct folder in order for it to appear inside Poser. If you are using DAZ Studio, you may save the file in any local or network folder you like.

Step 5: Rendering the Final Movie

The final step in this process is to render your movie and see the final results. Please refer to your DAZ Studio and/or Poser documentation for rendering instructions.

TIP! If you want to save your Mimic session for later use, select File > Save and select your desired folder and filename.

Step 6: Try it with Video

Before beginning this step, please be sure to save your work so far as a Mimic session file by selecting File > Save if you haven't done so already, or create a new session. Next, we'll load a video file that includes an audio track. We'll do this as follows:

Open the Session Manager by selecting File > Session Manager from the menu.
If you are continuing a previous session, you will want to remove the previous sound and text files. Do this by clicking the Remove File button in both the Sound and Text areas.
Having removed the old sound and text files, the next step is to load the video file. Click the Load File button in the Video area and select the sample Wait Until.avi animation.
A Confirm window appears asking if you want to analyze the sound track contained in the video. Click Yes.

The Session Manager should now appear as shown here.
Click OK to set your preferences and exit the Session Manager into the main Mimic interface. Another Confirm window may appear asking if you want to overwrite your existing settings. Click Yes.

Your Mimic workspace should look like the image below when you're done. Notice the live-action video in the Video window next to the Display window.
Click the Play button in the Timeline and watch the animation and video side by side. Notice how realistic the Mimic animation is in terms of pronunciation and added extra touches like head movement and blinks.

Then look at the live model and notice both the similarities and the differences. For example, the live model has a happy expression. Also, her head moves at different points in her speech. If you want your figure to duplicate the live model's acting, you can easily add and edit expressions and gestures. We'll cover this in more detail in later tutorials.

Step 7: Lights, Camera, Action!

Mimic allows you to control lights and add background images to your scene and then create movies in AVI (Windows), MOV (MacOS), or SWF (Flash) formats.

Let's begin by loading a background image. Select File > Background Image to open the Background Image window. Click the Open File button (the folder icon) to open a standard Open dialog. By default, the dialog opens in the Mimic/Backgrounds folder so select anypicture from the folder to insert as a background. Your selected image appears in the Display window as shown here. Please refer to “Background Image” for more information.
Now let's add some custom lighting. Begin by selecting Window > Light Controls to open the Light Controls window. This window always displays eight lights.
To control a light's brightness, select the light by clicking on it then drag the Brightness slider to the right (bright) or left (dim). Dragging the Brightness slider all the way to the left gives the selected light zero brightness.
Clicking the Color button opens a standard Color Picker, allowing you to specify the desired color for that light. Try this with a few lights.

Here's an example of a green light.
Last, let's create a movie. Select File > Create Movie Preview to open the Video Preview Controls window.
Click the Make Preview button.

The movie will take a few moments to create depending on the scene's complexity and length and your computer. When the movie is complete, you will see it playing in the Display window.
Now click the Save Preview to Movie button to open a standard Save As dialog box. Select a folder and name for your new movie, then use your regular playback application (such as Windows Media Player) to view your creation. Be sure to turn your speakers up!

Lesson 2: Working with Phonemes

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

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Lesson 2: Working with Phonemes

The phoneme system is the core of Mimic's functionality. A phoneme associates a sound with mouth and other facial morph targets (figure deformations) that cause the figure to create realistic movements. Figure creators such as DAZ set up morph targets to closely match how the mouth looks when making a specific sound. A phoneme can contain anywhere from one to a dozen morph targets. DAZ's Millennium Figures are fully set up to work within Mimic. Some of the default figures included with Curious Labs Poser version 3.0 and higher also include some of these customized morph targets.

Mimic's primary function is to automatically match up a sound file to the corresponding phoneme set, thus freeing up animators from countless hours of tedious work. Mimic 3.0 allows you to edit phonemes directly within the Timeline, giving artists much greater power and flexibility to fine-tune their animations before exporting them to either DAZ Studio or Poser for final rendering.

To begin this tutorial, load the Mimic session file you created in the previous tutorial by selecting File > Open and navigating to the correct folder and file. If you have not exited Mimic since completing the last tutorial, then you may simply proceed to the next step.

Step 1: Getting Ready

The first step is to identify the two portions of the Mimic interface that we'll be focusing on during this tutorial. The first is the Phoneme Track in the Timeline, which is where the phonemes actually do their work. The second is the Phonemes section of the Phonemes and Expressions window. Add phonemes to your animation by clicking and dragging your selected phoneme from the Phonemes and Expressions palette to the Phoneme Track.

Editing or customizing a phoneme involves adjusting the morph targets that are associated with that phoneme. You can add custom morphs into one or more phonemes as desired, then save the result as a customized Mimic (.dmc) configuration file, which you can then use in other sessions or distribute to other Mimic users.

Step 2: The Phoneme Definition Window

This example uses the stock morphs included in the Victoria 1 figure that ships with Mimic. Each figure will include different morphs and you should either create or load a custom configuration file for each figure to ensure maximum lip-synching fidelity. For example, if you are working with the DAZ Victoria 3 figure, you should load the victoria.dmc file in the Mimic Configuration_Files folder. For this tutorial, let's stick with the default.dmc file.

In the Phonemes and Expressions window, scroll through the Phonemes section until you locate the + EH (Ed) entry. All phoneme entries use the following syntax:

Expand/Collapse: Phonemes are displayed in a tree view, with copies appearing on sub-branches.
Sound: Sound made by the selected phoneme.
Pronunciation: How the specific sound is pronounced. This information is important because there can be several ways to pronounce certain letter combinations depending on the word and language.

From the explanation, you can see that the + ED (Ed) entry means the following:

This particular phoneme has one or more copies underneath it. Clicking the + sign displays the copies of this particular phoneme, including EY, AE, and AW. In this case, the phoneme creators felt that those sounds produced facial movements so similar to the EH sound that they simply copied those movements to the other phonemes. Try double-clicking one of the copied phonemes and looking at its Phoneme Definition window. To customize a copied phoneme, click the Uncopy button and assemble a new set of morphs. For this tutorial, we'll work on the AW phoneme. This phoneme is for the “Eh” sound as pronounced in the words “Ed” or “Elephant”.

Step 3: Visualizing Phonemes in DAZ Studio or Poser

The first step is to load the figure into either DAZ Studio or Poser.

TIP! Already familiar with the morph targets you're using for your new phoneme? If so, you can skip this step and move directly on to the next step. Mimic allows you to do all of your configuration setup directly within the application, eliminating the need for DAZ Studio or Poser for this purpose (you still need either DAZ Studio or Poser for final rendering). You can even preview your work in the Preview window! Clicking the Preview button in the Phoneme Definition window temporarily changes the figure in the Display window to show what the current phoneme looks like.

Importing Figures into DAZ Studio

If you are using DAZ Studio, go ahead and launch the application, then import the default Mimic figure as follows:

Select File > Import from the menu.
Navigate to the Configuration_Files folder under your Mimic installation (such as C:\Program Files\DAZ\Mimic\Configuration_Files).
Select the default.cr2 file and click on Open.

Each character (.cr2) file contains morph and joint information for the figure referenced by that file. If you do not see any CR2 files, change the file type to Poser Files.
If an Unable to locate file dialog appears, asking you to locate the blMilWomLoNG.obj file, which is the polygonal mesh object referenced by the character (.cr2) file imported in the previous step, click the Locate button to open a Browse dialog. The .obj file is in the same folder as the default.cr2 file.
If the Unable to locate file dialog appears again, this time asking you to locate an image file (JPG). At this point, click the Skip All button to load the figure into DAZ Studio without its texture maps (images that add detail to an object's surface).

Importing Figures into Poser

Please refer to your Poser documentation for information on importing figures into Poser.

Adjusting Morph Targets

When creating a new phoneme, you would normally adjust the head morphs manually until you get the look you want, however, since we've already done the work for you, just follow the instructions below.

If you are using DAZ Studio, adjust the figure's head morphs as follows:

Select the figure's head, then select the Parameters tab by clicking it.
Locate and set the following parameters:
- Open Lips: 25%
- Open Smile: 25%
- Mouth 'A': 50%
- Mouth 'O': 40%

Your results should look like those in the image on the right.

Step 4: Creating the New Phoneme Definition

In Mimic, be sure the AW phoneme has been uncopied from the EH phoneme as described in “Copying & Uncopying Phonemes.”
The next step is to remove the existing definition. Do this by highlighting each listed morph target in the Channel list and pressing the Delete key.

Once you have deleted all of the existing morph targets, you are ready to add your new phoneme definition. Do this as follows:
Click the Add more to definition button (or select Window > Object Tree) to open the Object Tree window, which displays a tree view of every body part on your currently selected figure. This tree displays the figure's hierarchy or sets of parent/child relationships. For a quick example of parent/child relationships, bend your arm at the shoulder and notice that your upper arm, elbow, forearm, hand, and fingers all move. Next, bend your elbow. Your shoulder remains still, with every part below your elbow moving. Your shoulder is the parent joint for your entire arm. Your elbow is a child of the shoulder and a parent to the rest of your arm.
In the Object Tree window, double-click the Head entry to open the Object window, which lists all of the available morphs for the selected body part.
In the Object window, scroll down to locate the morph targets you worked on in the previous step. For this tutorial, enter the following values in the Value Offset field:
- Open Lips: .25
- Open Smile: .25
- Mouth 'A': .5
- Mouth 'O': .4

TIP! Poser and DAZ Studio express morph target values in percent (0-100%). Mimic expresses morph values in decimals (0.0-1.0).

Close the Object window followed by the Object Tree window by clicking the Close buttons at the upper right corners of both windows.
Click the Preview button in the Phoneme Definition window. If you entered all the correct values for the correct morph targets, your figure should look just as she did in DAZ Studio or Poser. Here's a side-by-side comparison with DAZ Studio on the left and Mimic on the right.
If you like, the Color field allows you to specify a color for the phoneme so it stands out in the Phonemes and Expressions palette. To select a color, either click anywhere in the Color field or click and drag the slider inside the Color field.
The last item of interest in the Phoneme Definitions window is the Preview Strength slider. This determines how strongly the phoneme's morph targets will be applied when previewing the phoneme. A value of 100% displays the phoneme as you created it. Values less than 100% show a muted effect, and values greater than 100% show an exaggerated effect. For example, a value of 50% would be equivalent to setting all morph targets to 50% of their assigned values while a value of 200% is the equivalent of doubling the morph targets to twice their assigned values. For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll leave the Strength at 100%.
When you are finished making your changes, close the Phoneme Definition window by clicking the Close button at the upper right corner.

Step 5: Saving Custom Configuration Files

Whether you work on an existing configuration file or want to save your changes for a later session, you'll want to save your new phoneme(s) to a new configuration file. Do this by selecting File > Save Configuration File from the menu. A standard Save As dialog box appears. Select your desired save file and filename, being sure not to overwrite any existing files.

TIP! Remember that there are several ways to save your Mimic work. Saving a configuration (.dmc) file saves your phonemes, gestures, and expressions, but does not save your current session. To save your session for future use, save a Mimic session (.dms) file. Lastly, you can save multiple-frame pose files (.pz2) for use in DAZ Studio and/or Curious Labs Poser.

Step 6: Using Your New Phoneme

Now that you've created a phoneme, here's how to add it to the Timeline. You may either:

Select it in the Phonemes and Expressions palette and drag it to your desired spot in the Phonemes Track in the Timeline.
Select it in the Phonemes and Expressions palette, then right-click in the Phoneme Track and select Insert from the context menu.

Please see “Phonemes” for more information about working with phonemes.

artzone:pub:tutorials:mimic:mimic_lesson3

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

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Lesson4: Adding Gestures

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Lesson4: Adding Gestures

Mimic gives you the power to customize your phonemes and expressions and also allows you to add gestures that give your animations added depth. Unlike phonemes or expressions, gestures reside in the Gestures Track in the Timeline. Let's learn about gestures and how you can use them to add complex effects with minimal effort.

Step 1: The Gestures Track

The Gestures Track contains the following elements:

Gestures List: The Gestures List contains all of the available gestures you can use in your current session.
Selected Gesture: Select a gesture by clicking it. The selected gesture appears blue and the spline and keyframes for that gesture appear in the Gestures Track. While all gestures share the Gestures Track, only the currently selected gesture appears, to eliminate any possible confusion.
Selected Key Value: The Key Value field displays the value of the currently selected keyframe.
Keyframe: Each dot on the Spline represents a keyframe.
Selected Keyframe: The selected keyframe appears red and its value appears in the Key Value field.
Spline: The Spline shows how the selected gesture's value changes over time.

Please see “Gestures Track” for more detailed information about the Gestures Track and working with gestures inside Mimic.

To apply a gesture:

Select your desired gesture in the Gestures List.
Insert keyframes at desired points in the animation.

Positive-value keyframes apply the gesture normally, and negative-value keyframes apply the gesture in reverse. For example, a negative value applied to a blink gesture might make the eyes open wider than normal. A keyframe is a frame in an animation where a control action occurs. All other frames are called tweens, since they lie between keyframes. As the animation progresses between keyframes, each succeeding tween frame displays less of the previous keyframe's value and more of the next. The amount of transition between tween frames depends on how far apart the keyframes are, how much the gesture's value varies between keyframes, and the type of spline being used.

Please refer to “Modifying Gesture Definitions” for more information about animating gestures within Mimic.

To begin this tutorial, please either load the basic animation you did in the first tutorial or create a new session.

Step 2: Adding, Editing, & Deleting Keyframes

Let's perform a simple experiment.

Select the Eyebrow Raise Left gesture in the Gesture List by clicking on it.
Click on a spot in the Timeline, making sure that your selected spot is past the darkened area that may appear at the beginning as a leader that does not become part of the animation (if there are no frame numbers at the top of the Timeline, then don't insert any keyframes there). A red dot appears and the Spline moves to connect to the new keyframe.
Add a couple more keyframes and see how the Spline adjusts itself to show the gesture's changing value over time.
Play the animation and watch carefully to see the effects of your newly modified gesture.

TIP! All available gestures are always active in the Gestures Track. By default, their Splines remain at 0, meaning that the gestures do not have any effect on your animation.

Now let's try adjusting a keyframe's value. To do this, you may either:

Click and drag your desired keyframe to its new location in the Gestures Track. This method is great for “roughing in” your animation.
Click your desired keyframe and enter your desired value for that keyframe in the Key Value field. This method is great for fine-tuning your animation.

Mimic lets you select and work with multiple keyframes by either:

Pressing the Shift key while clicking keyframes selects all keyframes between the first and last keyframes you clicked.
Pressing the Ctrl key while clicking keyframes selects only those keyframes you click.
RIght-clicking in the Gestures Track and selecting Select All from the context menu or selecting Edit > Select All from the menu selects all keyframes.

To delete one or more keyframes, select them as described above, then either:

Press the Delete key
Right-click and select Delete from the context menu.
Select Edit > Delete from the menu.

See “Working with Gestures” for more information on adding, editing, and deleting keyframes.

Step 3: Interpolation

As we've mentioned, keyframes are where control actions take place in an animation. In other words, they serve as anchors that say “At Frame X, Gesture Y will have Value Z”. Tween frames lie between keyframes and blend the keyframes at either side into a smooth transition. You can see a tween frame's value by looking at the Spline at any point between keyframes.

TIP! This tutorial uses gestures to highlight interpolation methods because the Gestures Track gives you a visual representation of how each gesture changes between keyframes. The same concepts and interpolation methods also apply to phonemes and expressions.

Mimic calculates the tween frames for you using a process called interpolation, which defines how one keyframe's value transitions to the next over time. There are many different types of interpolation or methods of calculating these transitions. Mimic supports four types. To see this, begin by selecting a gesture and create four keyframes as shown on the right.

To select an interpolation method, select a keyframe and either right-click or use the Edit menu. You interpolation selection will affect the Spline between the currently selected keyframe(s) and the next previous unselected keyframe. For example, if you apply an interpolation method to the third keyframe from the left in the above example, it will affect the transition between the second and third transitions. This allows you to switch interpolation methods as often as you like within the same gesture, greatly increasing Mimic's power and flexibility.

Your interpolation options are:

Flat: Selecting Flat causes tween frames to retain the value of the previous keyframe until the next keyframe and then perform an abrupt change. This interpolation results in motion that appears as a series of pauses with abrupt position changes between them.
Linear: Selecting Linear causes each tween frame to change an equal amount. For example, if Keyframe A has a value of -1 and Keyframe B has a value of +1 and there are 10 tween frames separating them, each keyframe will show a value change of 0.2. A useful analogy is to think of a billiard ball traveling in a straight line until it ricochets off a rail and continues in a new direction.
Smooth: Selecting Smooth causes tween frames to create a gentle transition between keyframes. As one moves from Keyframe A to Keyframe B, each succeeding tween frame “accelerates” as it moves away from Keyframe A and “brakes” as it approached Keyframe B. It help to think of a car traveling between stop signs. From a stop, the vehicle picks up speed, maintains a constant speed for a time, then slows down for the next stop.
Extra Smooth: Selecting Extra Smooth causes tween frames to create gentle transitions where the transitions themselves occupy as much of the transition as possible. To continue the vehicle analogy from the previous example, imagine accelerating very gently to a point halfway between the two stop signs, then just as gently slowing down with no period of constant speed.

See “Interpolation Indicator” for more information on interpolation methods.

Mimic Tutorials

2011-11-01T17:42:21+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Mimic Tutorials

DAZ 3D encourages you to upload your tutorials here to the ArtZone Wiki so that they have a permanent home and are hosted on our servers. If you do upload your tutorials, please add them to the appropriate software category and create sub-pages/categories as needed. If, for some reason, you do not want to host your tutorials here, please add links to external tutorials in the appropriate categories as well.

Documentation Tutorials

The following tutorials are from the user guide for Mimic Pro: