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Description
This project has been in the "planning" stage for literally months. For one reason or another, I kept procrastinating on it as always 'something' crept into my schedule to interrupt progress, but finally I managed to sit down for a whole day to get this done. Wow, a whole day just to do a 1:59 min animation. Where did the time fly? Actually it took longer than that when everything else is factored in.

There are actually two versions of this animation although this wasn't originally planned. It just worked out that way and the two causes for this:

1. The music.
2. The cast.

The song was originally sung by Julie London and dates back to the 1950s although it has become a standard in some places. Problem is that Miss London has a very distinctive voice. It's mature and husky, much too seductive for her to do a voice over for a Vocaloid model, so it had to be re-engineered. Which I did, twice. In re-engineering the song I wanted a crisper, younger characteristic but there's several ways to do this and so I ended up with two versions. One version retains the sultry seductiveness but sounds 'younger' and the second version was 'younger' and 'brighter'. So I ended up with two good variations, one was mature sounding and the other for a younger (Vocaloid generation) performer.

So the next problem was casting.

I did the original lip sync using Tda/Agahat's Luka partly because I needed to use Tda mouth shapes and at that point I only had the more mature sounding version of the song. I did a test video with her and she looked really good singing the song. Then on a whim I tried it out on Digitrevx 's Ani-chan and she did really well so I actually built the expressions on that model. But, the song just doesn't suit a cyber-girl so unfortunately I had drop Ani-chan out of the run up. I actually tried using Sen Mei also but likewise the costume was her undoing. The characteristics of the song required a retro-look class act. It needed a 'lounge singer' to pull off. Certainly, the Luka version I used had the look, but I still had some reservations about using Luka as she has her own voice.

Then there was Galaco. Specifically, nyoomy 's version which some of you have seen portrayed in my gallery as Gekido Action News' intrepid weather girl and news reporter. Although the model is a caricature and has very cartoon like qualities I always saw the model as a 'class act'. So this weekend I sat down in front of MMD with her and did a short segment of animation to this song with her and after the first two stanza, my jaw dropped. She was amazing, almost brought a tear to my eyes watching her do this. So I finished the rest of the motion on her and even made a special backdrop for her for the video. Rendered the video and then watched it a couple of times and Galaco was a real 'class act'. It's touching on one level and on the other hand just watching Galaco 'ham it up' was fun and it did full justice to the original song.

But ...

The Galaco model has odd proportions (but it's still a lovely model). Although it's a Tda base, it's a 'frankensteined' version and it shows in some places. Out of sheer curiosity I loaded the same motion on the Tda/Agahat Luka model and it did not transfer elegantly. Anyway I loaded the older sounding version of the song and watched the Luka model do her stuff a couple of times. Her performance was VERY different, and I felt it worthwhile to throw a couple more hours into fixing the motion for her. The Galaco expressions had to go, they just did not work on the Luka model as that set was too much of a caricature. Fortunately I kept the Ani-Chan facials so I used those instead and they worked out very well. The video styling was done to be reminiscent of the style of the time period of the song and it worked out pretty well - you got to love the pink lighting. Luka just looks like she stepped back in time and her performance is much more sensitive and powerful. You can almost see her breathing in some segments so it has some nice "human-like" qualities to the motion which was omitted in the Galaco version.

The lip sync for this song is nearly perfect. It took me hours to get it right and it really helped working with Tda mouth shapes. Just watching them, it really does look like the words are coming out of the performers' mouths. I'm really happy with the way it came out and the data worked with both versions of the expressions used.

Anyway, here are the two versions. Each is 1:59 mins long so if you spare 4 mins of your busy lives to watch both, I would love to hear some feedback.

Galaco's version : youtu.be/sHsCFNvtGaM

Luka's version : youtu.be/Myc9_NRONRM

CHEERS

CREDITS

Galaco - Tda / nyoomy
(C) Yamaha Corp / Crypton Future Media, Inc.
MME - dShaders / Serious Shader / S5 skin shaders / Object Luminous / Diffusion 7
Video details - XVid HD codec / 60 fps

Luka - Tda / 0077jin
(C) Crypton Future Media, Inc.
MME - dmasslight / Serious Shader / S5 skin shaders / Object Luminous / o_SelfOverlay / o_BleachByPass / Diffusion 7
Video details - XVid HD codec / 30 fps

Song originally sung by Julie London. Versions used in the videos were re-engineered and also shortened from the original.

Software: Audacity / Face and Lips / SketchUp Make 2014 / MMD 9.24 / PMD 0.1.3.9 / VMDSpectrum / Photoshop 7

Description
This project has been in the "planning" stage for literally months. For one reason or another, I kept procrastinating on it as always 'something' crept into my schedule to interrupt progress, but finally I managed to sit down for a whole day to get this done. Wow, a whole day just to do a 1:59 min animation. Where did the time fly? Actually it took longer than that when everything else is factored in.

There are actually two versions of this animation although this wasn't originally planned. It just worked out that way and the two causes for this:

1. The music.
2. The cast.

The song was originally sung by Julie London and dates back to the 1950s although it has become a standard in some places. Problem is that Miss London has a very distinctive voice. It's mature and husky, much too seductive for her to do a voice over for a Vocaloid model, so it had to be re-engineered. Which I did, twice. In re-engineering the song I wanted a crisper, younger characteristic but there's several ways to do this and so I ended up with two versions. One version retains the sultry seductiveness but sounds 'younger' and the second version was 'younger' and 'brighter'. So I ended up with two good variations, one was mature sounding and the other for a younger (Vocaloid generation) performer.

So the next problem was casting.

I did the original lip sync using Tda/Agahat's Luka partly because I needed to use Tda mouth shapes and at that point I only had the more mature sounding version of the song. I did a test video with her and she looked really good singing the song. Then on a whim I tried it out on Digitrevx 's Ani-chan and she did really well so I actually built the expressions on that model. But, the song just doesn't suit a cyber-girl so unfortunately I had drop Ani-chan out of the run up. I actually tried using Sen Mei also but likewise the costume was her undoing. The characteristics of the song required a retro-look class act. It needed a 'lounge singer' to pull off. Certainly, the Luka version I used had the look, but I still had some reservations about using Luka as she has her own voice.

Then there was Galaco. Specifically, nyoomy 's version which some of you have seen portrayed in my gallery as Gekido Action News' intrepid weather girl and news reporter. Although the model is a caricature and has very cartoon like qualities I always saw the model as a 'class act'. So this weekend I sat down in front of MMD with her and did a short segment of animation to this song with her and after the first two stanza, my jaw dropped. She was amazing, almost brought a tear to my eyes watching her do this. So I finished the rest of the motion on her and even made a special backdrop for her for the video. Rendered the video and then watched it a couple of times and Galaco was a real 'class act'. It's touching on one level and on the other hand just watching Galaco 'ham it up' was fun and it did full justice to the original song.

But ...

The Galaco model has odd proportions (but it's still a lovely model). Although it's a Tda base, it's a 'frankensteined' version and it shows in some places. Out of sheer curiosity I loaded the same motion on the Tda/Agahat Luka model and it did not transfer elegantly. Anyway I loaded the older sounding version of the song and watched the Luka model do her stuff a couple of times. Her performance was VERY different, and I felt it worthwhile to throw a couple more hours into fixing the motion for her. The Galaco expressions had to go, they just did not work on the Luka model as that set was too much of a caricature. Fortunately I kept the Ani-Chan facials so I used those instead and they worked out very well. The video styling was done to be reminiscent of the style of the time period of the song and it worked out pretty well - you got to love the pink lighting. Luka just looks like she stepped back in time and her performance is much more sensitive and powerful. You can almost see her breathing in some segments so it has some nice "human-like" qualities to the motion which was omitted in the Galaco version.

The lip sync for this song is nearly perfect. It took me hours to get it right and it really helped working with Tda mouth shapes. Just watching them, it really does look like the words are coming out of the performers' mouths. I'm really happy with the way it came out and the data worked with both versions of the expressions used.

Anyway, here are the two versions. Each is 1:59 mins long so if you spare 4 mins of your busy lives to watch both, I would love to hear some feedback.

Galaco's version : youtu.be/sHsCFNvtGaM

Luka's version : youtu.be/Myc9_NRONRM

CHEERS

CREDITS

Galaco - Tda / nyoomy
(C) Yamaha Corp / Crypton Future Media, Inc.
MME - dShaders / Serious Shader / S5 skin shaders / Object Luminous / Diffusion 7
Video details - XVid HD codec / 60 fps

Luka - Tda / 0077jin
(C) Crypton Future Media, Inc.
MME - dmasslight / Serious Shader / S5 skin shaders / Object Luminous / o_SelfOverlay / o_BleachByPass / Diffusion 7
Video details - XVid HD codec / 30 fps

Song originally sung by Julie London. Versions used in the videos were re-engineered and also shortened from the original.

Software: Audacity / Face and Lips / SketchUp Make 2014 / MMD 9.24 / PMD 0.1.3.9 / VMDSpectrum / Photoshop 7