Slide 1

Poser
TalkDesigner: Rigging a
Character for TalkDesigner
Slide 2

Speech is one of the most important aspects of many animations.

Due to the complexity of the human face, it is also one of the most challenging things to
animate realistically.

I am aware of 2 techniques of accomplishing this in Poser.

Mimic a product from Daz3D.

And TalkDesigner which is a native tool within Poser since version 7.

Both tools work fairly well. If your character is rigged for Phonemes
AND configuration files already exist for the character you want to animate.
Slide 3

http://vanishingpoint.biz/productdetail.asp?productID=2306

Normally, you will find the characters you want to use are already pre-rigged, and configured.

Most of Daz3D products have been professionally designed. They include phoneme morphs.
And the associated Daz Mimic Configuration file.

Likewise…Most of Posers out of box content is similarly designed with phonemes, and XML
configuration files for Talk Designer.

I picked up a figure from Vanishing Point which I wanted to use in some animations. The
problem…

It was not rigged for Mimic or Poser.

Slide 4

Read The Fudging Manual

After some amount of research I decided the easiest way to get the character to talk was to use
Posers Talk Designer.

And the next problem! I could not locate any documentation or Videos on how to accomplish
the goal!!!
Slide 5

Procedure

Phonemes

VisemeMap

A phoneme is a linguistic term for the positions of the tongue, lips, and teeth as they make
sounds. Poser allows you to create the appearance of phonemes to accurately simulate speech.

A viseme map file provides information about which phonemes are matched to which specific
facial expressions.

We are going to create a set of Phoneme morphs for Religioner. Then take an existing Viseme
map file and customize it for the Religioner product, or Monk as the figure is named within
Poser.
Slide 6

Demonstration Phonemes

We are going to locate a similar character to model their phonemes for our target figure who is
already on stage.

The model character has a full set of morphs for us.

Once the example character is on stage, we are going zoom in to see both faces clearly.
Slide 7

Demonstration Phonemes

Prior to configuring the target figure, we need to create a group structure where the Phoneme
morphs we are about to create will live.

In the model figure, there is a Morphs directory, with a Phonemes subdirectory. So on the target
figure we will just click “create a new group”, label it Morphs. Click “create a new group” again,
and label it Phonemes.

On our target figure, we will zero every existing morph in order to make sure that when we
spawn new ones they will not conflict with future animations.
Slide 8

Demonstration Phonemes

On our model figure we are going to enable the first Phoneme. In this example it will be “Mouth
A”.

On our target figure. We will attempt to match the mouth visually as close to the model figure
as we can using whatever mouth morphs currently exist.

Once it is where we need it to be, we will click “Object” on menu bar “Spawn Morph Target and
name the Morph for the appropriate Phoneme. In this case “Mouth A”
Slide 9

Demonstration Phonemes

Repeat these steps until you have created all of the Phoneme morphs.

Once complete…You will save your new figure to your library.

Name it something meaningful, like the original figure name and add w phonemes.
Slide 10

Demonstration VisemeMap

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Poser 11 Content\Runtime\LipSync

Now we are going to take an existing Viseme configuration file and modify it so the Talk
Designer knows how to keyframe for audio.

Use some type of XML editor so you can see the XML hierarchy properly.

The subdirectory location is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Poser 11 Content\Runtime\LipSync

First step, open an existing viseme file and rename it immediately. I used MonkVisemeMap.xml

On the first tag edit the internal figure name that is listed in the library. The one you just created
all the Phoneme morphs.

Next, you will go through the entire phoneme list and match it to the Morph names you just
meticulously created.

After you have modified the phoneme definitions. Match up the Blink morph. On this figure the
morph is “eye close”.

Verify the head bend, and side to side parameter name matches to how the figure has it named.
Slide 11

Demonstration VisemeMap

Now we are going to take an existing Viseme configuration file and modify it so the Talk
Designer knows how to keyframe for audio.

Use some type of XML editor so you can see the XML hierarchy properly.

The subdirectory location is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Poser 11 Content\Runtime\LipSync

First step, open an existing viseme file and rename it immediately. I used MonkVisemeMap.xml

On the first tag edit the internal figure name that is listed in the library. The one you just created
all the Phoneme morphs.

Next, you will go through the entire phoneme list and match it to the Morph names you just
meticulously created.

After you have modified the phoneme definitions. Match up the Blink morph. On this figure the
morph is “eye close”.

Verify the head bend, and side to side parameter name matches to how the figure has it named.
Slide 12

Demonstration

Now lets do a quick test of our modifications that will allow Talk Designer to Lipsync this
character.

This is not an in depth tutorial on how to use Talk Designer. So we will not be covering the
various tweaks. Most of our tasks will be completed in the “Input Files” block.

First you load up the sound file.

Than load up your VisemeMap file.

And click apply.

Slide 13

PoserTut101

Rigging a figure for Talk Designer intro

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on rigging characters for Talk Designer.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel.

I will be creating more tutorials on topics which don’t have any coverage up to this point.

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