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Di-O-Matic Reveals Voice-O-Matic Update

diomatic [1]Montreal-based Di-O-Matic [2] has revealed details about Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya [3]. Created to meet the needs of 3D character animators all over the world who require an easy-to-use, lip synchronization plug-in for their Autodesk Maya software, Voice-O-Matic is used by top 3D animation studios to achieve highly accurate voice-to-character matching. Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya is available now for US $349.

Di-O-Matic heard your call animators. Spending hours to create lip sync animations for CG characters is tiring, and manually generating every lip movement is a long and tedious task. That’s why Voice-O-Matic was designed! Combining a user friendly interface with a highly efficient and time saving system. Some of the most admired CG characters including Batman, Spider-man and Superman carry Voice-O-Matic at the heart of their facial animations.voice-o-matic [4]

Designed for animators by animators, Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya only requires an audio file to automatically produce an accurate lip sync animation. Afterwards, the results can be easily tweaked to perfectly match any style of animation. Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya works with any type of character setup and with every language. Voice-O-Matic has also already earned its stripes with its use in leading feature films, popular television shows, commercials and award winning video games.

Oscar Marquez, coordinator of the 3D department at Cromosoma reveals “Not only did we manage to increase our productivity with Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya, but it allowed us to focus on other aspects of our animated series. What we liked most about Voice-O-Matic is that it can be set up easily, the lip sync of several characters can be done at the same time and we barely need to modify the animation curves. If you make a good setup and integrate it properly you can have very good results. Thanks to Voice-O-Matic, we could do all the lip sync we needed in the series with just 10 mouth shapes and only one control for the most extreme poses.”

No matter which type of character setup you wish to use: from blend shapes to complex bone-based rigs, and no matter the language for which you wish to create lip synchronization, Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya delivers, and can save up to 80% of the time it takes to manually animate lip synchronization. 3D animation artists can benefit by using both the automatic phoneme matching features and the manual tools to fine-tune the animated character to achieve highly customized results.

Ludia [5]Interactive entertainment company Ludia [5] today announced its ‘The Bachelor: The Videogame’ App is available on the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch for $2.99 USD and iPad for $4.99 USD. Based on the hit franchise created by Mike Fleiss, hosted by Chris Harrison and airing Mondays 8:00–10:00 ET/PT on ABC, the app features characters inspired by the actual Bachelors and Bachelorettes from the top rated series’ “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” including current Bachelor Brad Womack and the most recent Bachelorette, Ali Fedotowsky.

Fans of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” can now live their own show experience anywhere, anytime, as they compete in a collection of exciting mini-games and challenges to win the attention and, ultimately, the heart of the Bachelor or Bachelorette. Players vie for the final rose, playing as either a the bachelor [6]female or male contestant.

“The Bachelor is one of the most successful dating competitions in the reality genre, and we are pleased to bring the romance and heated competition that are the hallmarks of the TV show to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This release reinforces Ludia’s strategy of delivering highly entertaining games, based on the most popular television brands.”

Features of The Bachelor: The Videogame App include:

* Play to earn the love of the Bachelor or the Bachelorette, guided by Chris Harrison.
* Characters based on favorite Bachelors and Bachelorettes, including Brad Womack, Jake Pavelka, Jason Mesnick and more!
* 23 mini-game challenges to play in one-on-one or group date scenarios.
* 3 levels of difficulty to chose from.
* Humorous “Fantasy Suite” videos where your performance in the game determines the outcome; will you share an embrace in the hot tub or be hung out to dry?

For those looking for employment, Ludia currently has several positions [7] that need to be filled.

S3DGA [8]The S-3D Gaming Alliance [8] has just released the 2011 edition of the U-Decide Initiative [9]. U-Decide is credited as the only S-3D gaming report shaped by consumer opinion, industry analysis, and hands-on experience. The initiative gives readers a candid outlook of what needs to happen to make stereoscopic 3D gaming successful in the long term.

“DDD is a leading provider of 3D game conversion software for the PC market, and our success is dependent on delivering what gamers want. The U-Decide report provides this helpful insight and more, and we recommend it to anyone that also markets to the growing S-3D gaming community,” said Chris Yewdall, CEO of Dynamic Digital Depth.

The U-Decide Initiative was sponsored and co-developed by Panasonic, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Blitz Games Studios, Steelseries, Zalman, Meant to be Seen, Computer Power User, and the S-3D Gaming Alliance. At the conclusion of the study, Dynamic Digital Depth and Magix provided additional drawing prizes for participating gamers.

“U-Decide encouraged us to rethink what it means to have a good 3D gaming experience and demonstrated that 3D film and games have little in common. Developers releasing titles based on modest 3D movie experiences should throw the rulebook out and keep their options open,” said Neil Schneider, Executive Director of the S-3D Gaming Alliance.

Consisting of 100 percent original content and nearly 125 pages in length, U-Decide 2011 features almost 1,200 gamer respondents, and is the only study that surveyed traditional 2D and experienced stereoscopic 3D gamers as separate, unique groups. U-Decide also includes a diverse Consumer Electronics Show 2011 summary and analysis based on first-hand show interviews and 3D product try-outs. The full report is available to new and existing S-3D Gaming Alliance corporate members at deeply discounted rates or for free depending on current tier level.

Core topics include:

* Demographics of 2D and stereoscopic 3D gamers.
* 3D glasses, consumer willingness to use them, and leading objections.
* Purchase plans for 3D HDTVs, notebooks, PC displays, mobile devices, projectors, HMDs, and more.
* Obstacles preventing 3D purchases.
* 3D content analysis, purchase plans, and the relationship of S-3D compliance and video game sales.
* Product satisfaction (3D HDTVs, displays, notebooks, projectors, video games, and more).
* Demand and best pricing for alternative 3D movie theater content (sports, opera, video games, and more).
* Detailed Consumer Electronics Show 2011 3D summary and analysis: announcements, hidden gems, missed opportunities.

“U-Decide results demonstrate a growing consumer demand for stereoscopic 3D gaming experiences. To meet the needs and expectations of customers, formalizing quality standards needs discussion and ratification by game developers and technology enablers alike. There are clear benefits for developers to participate and engage in that discussion,” said Alan Price, S3DGA’s quality expectations steering team lead. In addition to being an interactive media entrepreneur, Mr. Price served as CTO of Electronic Arts Canada for five years.

koopa [10]Earlier this week I told you about Vancouver-based dating service Tingle [11], today here’s an introduction to Montreal-based Koopa [10], who says it is  the first online dating site that integrates Facebook for social media. Koopa combines features that you know and love from your favorite sites such as eharmony.com, Twitter, Okcupid.com, Facebook, Myspace, Match, plentyoffish.com and more. There are plenty of free online dating sites and free social networking sites and it is not our goal to be like them. However, it is our goal to give you the ultimate networking experience at one place as our site adapts to your online dating habits, wants and needs.

Koopa gives you plenty of room to post what you want at your profile and on your account. Many sites limit your networking needs. Online dating sites and social networking websites usually do not encourage you to use social networking for business purposes so there is not much room for business information and marketing. Business networking sites such as LinkedIn do not give you much flexibility to upload photos and videos and to use socialize. We strive to give you the best of all worlds so that you can have many options to connect and socialize the way that you want. We don’t want you to change your habits. We want to adapt our online dating site with deep social media integration to adapt to yours.

Features include:

o Webcam chat and random chat
o Star Rating system
o Thousands of ‘active’ members
o Taking users’ feedback seriously
o The addition of popular requested functions and features
o Intuitive GUI pleasing design and navigation
o Not just another matchmaking service
o No lengthy signup process
o Completely commitment free with no hassle
o Buy or Earn coins and spend them to
• Send gifts
• Priority message delivery
• Rank at the top of search listing results on Koopa
• Message delivery confirmation

Online Dating with Koopa.com is a safe and fun online dating site for millions of singles to interact and search for their matches. As the fastest growing social dating network, Koopa seamlessly integrates with the most popular social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Hi5. Koopa’s no-hassle sign up and free-to-join membership grants you an amazing networking experience. Membership is always free. Members may choose the paid membership and get in the search listing ranking, priority mail and message delivery, and other benefits.

points international [12]Points International Ltd. [13], owner and operator of the world’s leading loyalty reward program management platform Points.com [14] and PayPal [15] have teamed up to create one of the most unique loyalty redemption offers available. Points.com users can now move their miles and points from participating programs into their PayPal account to gain access to millions of online merchants.

“As the world leader in loyalty currency management, it was a natural fit for Points.com to develop this relationship with PayPal,” said Christopher Barnard, President of Points International. “Integrating the PayPal Platform into our own establishes a new way for program operators to interact with their members and devise compelling redemption opportunities, resulting in greater member engagement. Users now have even more ways to get the most out of their points and miles.”

Charlie Sultan, Vice President of AAdvantage Partner Marketing, said, “We strive to find additional ways to make AAdvantage miles valuable to our members. This new and innovative partnership with Points.com and PayPal offers our members another redemption option in addition to free air travel, hotel stays and car rentals. This added flexibility continues to enhance the AAdvantage loyalty program which was the world’s first frequent flyer program when it was launched 30 years ago.”

Points.com partners participating at launch include American Airlines AAdvantage Miles® and US Airways® Dividend Miles® with additional partners added on a rolling basis.

“We are very excited to be teaming up with Points.com to deliver innovative redemption options that leverage the PayPal Platform,” said Dan Schatt, GM of Financial Innovations for PayPal. “This will empower millions of loyalty program members to quickly use their miles and points wherever PayPal is accepted worldwide. Users can also redeem their loyalty points and then send the rewards to any email address where PayPal accepts payments, making the redemption experience truly unique.”