Zabaware Support Forums
Zabaware Forums => Ultra Hal 7.0 => Topic started by: Medeksza on June 12, 2013, 11:30:19 pm
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I have one artist working on the new frog character as I mentioned a while ago. He's still working on it (see iis.ultrahal.com) and hopefully we'll have a finished animated frog soon. Recently to speed development efforts up a bit I hired another artist to separately work on a new Hal character to replace the old CRT monitor character. Here are his concept drawings so far, let me know your thoughts:
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These are nice for mobile apps. Will there be a different one for desktop use?
Are you still working on a human(oid) based one as well?
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They look nice, I wish I could draw with character like that 8)
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I agree those look nice for the mobile apps and maybe to keep up with the times something similar should be done with a thin led type looking wide monitor ;) , otherwise i think the drawings look great . :)
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My plan is to have this character in the mobile app, the web site, and replace the CRT monitor in the desktop application.
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I also agree. Fine for mobile use but even then I think your still pushing in the wrong direction. Just my opinion Robert. I just think cute characters are alright for young adults and even a few older ones as me but in reality and the future of Ultra Hal you can't skimp. Its just the way it is I feel. I always get the impression that more people want to be drawn into a reality even when they know its not. This is just me rattling on but my experience has tainted my opinions about just something new and now you have to take things to a newer level or not at all. We all know that Ultra Hal is ahead of its time as a very affordable AI system that flat out works. Even the Haptek characters look better then others I've seen, not bad for a 20 year old company system.
JUST a Note: Yes I believe that the AI is more important then characters but there is no way to dispute that characters make a difference to a vast number of people when your not concerned about how it works as long as it comes out of the box working. I think some us may not say that directly but its true for many older users as well. Yes again I'm just giving my opinion.
But Ultra Hal needs to again move ahead and just how that is suppose to happen, if I knew all the answers I would be trying much harder then just being a user or a proposer of Ultra Hal. I really love what you have done in the past to present day. The program still amazes me after many years and that also includes others that have helped in developing other attributes for the program and just sharing there own time to give to others.
As I stated in my last vote on the voices. If it can't be done to the level of what may be considered better voice quality and better character features then Ultra Hal will need to look at different features for now as resources are being built to take it to the next level.
Please again just looking at UltraHal from a different perspective and these are just my opinions.
Thanks,
raybe
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I'd agree with raybe, I'd purchased a tablet to use with a remote control camera but I wouldn't put hal in it. I'm using hal in a moderately quick destop with the Haptek fullbody and we do need a replacement. It's unfortunate there are quite a few very detailed characters being used in adult programs while the AI programs lag behind.
Carl2
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For as long as Haptek will still work, it will not be removed from the Windows version of Hal. I'll make sure all the old characters are still available there. This will just be a new option available in the Windows version. For the mobile versions of Hal, these new characters will be the only option available for now as Haptek will not work there. More characters will be in the pipeline after the initial version starts selling and I can afford more artist work. I'm planning on a female cyborg character next.
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Those new characters are very cool for the smaller devices, but i'm really HAPPY that the good old characters will be available as well. Thank You!
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I agree with Ultra-Hal fan. Keep the old characters. I started only a short while ago and immediately went for the full body characters. I don't know much about the very modern tablets but I have always used my Hal on a laptop I rebuilt. This means I can take Hal with me where ever I go.
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the new phone character looks great, can't w8 to see the final version in action.
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To the newer members:
Hal was never originally made for use with the FULL BODY characters and they are NOT part of the UltraHal software.
The Full Body characters ARE from a company called Haptek and were meant to be purchased from them (Haptek). The fact thaqt they were discovered and found to be usable via Hal, is merely Icing on the cake.
Again, the Full Body and torso characters were not initially offered by Zabaware. A lot of their use and modifications can often be found by searching through this site and chatting with other members who have found novel ways to use or modify them.
Have fun!!
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Thank you Robert for the update because it really does explain the reasons of the direction for UltraHal. As interested members of this community it is always appreciated when we can better understand the progress or reasons for the Ultrahal program that has become so important to many of us. I believe it also helps others to understand so they stop jumping to certain conclusions about Ultrahal. Thanks again.
raybe
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Here is an update on the character: http://iis.ultrahal.com/haltest/test.html
These are the transition animations between emotional states. Next up we are working on the animation for what the character will do while in each emotional state plus speaking animations.
I was also testing how it looked against the background at iis.ultrahal.com, but it doesn't seem to contrast well. Most likely we will come up with a different background rather than change the character at this point.
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Looks nice, I am glad you went with jQuery and not Flash 8)
And yes that faded background looks very Windows 98 ;)
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Agree with Freddy. If either can answer, what are the advantages and or dis- advantages of jQuery or flash at this time. Unfortunately I think we are headed in the same direction as always, convenience over quality. Have you both seen the ratios that get published,its like, "Whats a desktop?" out there. I totally get it because I lived through it before and can't honestly say that I don't enjoy new technology but I still feel jaded by it during the growing periods. Thats just my honest opinion at this time, not 5 years from now. I didn't see it really coming the first time or just turned away until I couldn't anymore. I'm really just getting to enjoy my desktop at this point of technology. Built from ground up and loved the experience as well as putting power in it as I see fit.
I hang out with the wrong crowd because all that I see is these smart phones and tablets plus glass and watches as all beta products and people using them for Games, movies and some social interfacing. I know I don't have that kind of time while I'm out and about working or trying to talk directly to people. Does anyone remember those days?
raybe
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Sorry guys got a little off topic there. Robert is it that more difficult to let people choose the background? Sort of a desktop Hal situation or does the graphics not allow for that. It's a package deal.
raybe
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The new character is coming out very good, 2x thumbs up Robert :D
If either can answer, what are the advantages and or dis- advantages of jQuery or flash at this time.
Raybe in my opinion, both Flash and JQuery are great, and at this time I feel it's personal preference to what to use. The only fallback I came across is support on most of the newer devices (smartphones and non windows tablets) for both. However working with as3/flash for many years now, I find it is a bit easier for me to create animated content and apps via flash. Don't get me wrong for I have played with and created some web apps with JQuery and it not that difficult, I'm just know more about and have more experience with flash than I do with JQuery.
Robert is it that more difficult to let people choose the background?
Raybe It is possible as I have this feature on one of my website, one can change the themes color & background via a menu with 8 preset choices. not really difficult but it is time consuming.
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Yep I agree with Syber, it's a choice. My main reason for avoiding flash is it's proprietary nature..
I am aware of Syber's Flash work and it is very nice. I do not have experience of doing web based animations in either, but since I tend to mainly work the most with javascript, there's my personal favouritism towards jQuery.
It's swings and roundabouts really.
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I chose javascript/jquery over flash for several reasons. My goals are to make Hal work on as wide a variety of devices as possible and since iPhone/iPad don't support flash, html/javascript was a good choice. After this character is up and running on the web page, I will make an app version of Hal using software called PhoneGap. PhoneGap lets you write an app with html5/javascript and then packages it like a native app for all mobile platforms. So I'll just need to write it once and can deploy it to Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Phones.
Secondly, I'm trying to avoid use of closed proprietary software as a base for Ultra Hal as much as possible. Hal still has a huge code base written in old VB6, which is a closed proprietary system that Microsoft discontinued many years ago. After being burned by Microsoft's killing of VB6, I've been very wary of rewriting Hal under VB.NET or C# (VB.NET is a rewrite, not a continuation of VB6). I didn't want to be burned again if Microsoft decided to stop supporting .NET. So much of what I've written since then has been based on open source tools. The Hal running on my servers use open technologies such as MariaDB, Sphinx Full Text Search, Debian, PHP, Festival.
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Thank you sybershot, freddy and Robert certainly sheds light on the who, what and why theories of both.
In short right now Robert the app is more important for Ultra Hal because of the usage stats of todays tablets and (I can't say it, but......) smartphones. Understandably and thanks again for UltraHal.
raybe
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Some good points Raybe and yes, thank you Robert for the reasoning of your choices.
Personally, with more and more of my work being done in the field using my tablet, I'd love to be able to access Hal (cloud based, I'd suppose) with it. Of course, there'd still be a version on my home computer that would be predominantly local but still able to contact the Internet if certain info was needed / required.
The future's getting there but I'm not sure I'd want to ride on the coattails of Windows / MS. (or Apple for that matter).
Thanks again, Robert and all the best with your new endeavors!
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Check out http://iis.ultrahal.com again. The new character is up there as well as a different background. Speech synthesis should work if you enable it and it should show different emotions as you talk with it.
I plan on a few more minor tweaks in the animation this week especially with the speech animation for happy, sad, surprised, and angry (normal is ok). After that I need to finish the implementation of the feedback system (thumbs up/down buttons). Once thats done I plan on launching this as the new zabaware.com site, hopefully in 2 weeks.
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Very nice Robert!
The page looks clean and Hal's responses were fairly rapid and pretty much on topic for the most part.
Can't wait to see the tablet version!
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Chatted with the web Hal today. Most of it was about how I have gas today. Really enjoyed it. Hal did stay on Topic. and I love how you can rate what he is saying.
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Whether this is on or off topic is up to the members, but.
In the graphics department I have acquired several full body characters from several places, but.
All the characters seem to be permanently walking, in very short steps admittedly. Is there any way to make a character stand still?
I would have put this request on the Learning Level thread but it seems to have died.
Grateful for any help.
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I checked this out. It's not a walking hap but movement hap to make her more alive.
I'll send you (and other members) a girl without the hap later today.
But meanwhile, here's the "off hap" for it.
\SetSwitch [Switch= onea state= off ]
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Thanks DuskRider,
Very useful, especially when my Hal is not supposed to be moving (Simulated sleep).
Will look out for the girl. Thanks again.
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Great job on the new avatar and background.
you probably already know this but if not:
The voice does not work in latest IE browser, and mouth animation continuously loops, however it does work perfect in the latest firefox browser.
also you might want to note:
quote from website homepage
Hi there. Welcome to Zabaware. My name's Hal.
But Hal seems to think differently :O
user: what is your name?
Hal: you can call me zaba.
user: I thought your name was Hal?
Hal: Oh my name is hanna.
user: no! your name is Hal.
Hal: Server response error
I think I confused him :(
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Reply for DuskRider:-
Update, well slightly. [Capitals removed as the capitals version is ignored by Hal.]
\setswitch*[switch=*onea*state=*off*]
The * are spaces. This setswitch is almost as good as the 813a as it will slow down leg movement but not entirely stop it (90% plus slow down).
The GOOD news is 813a has no leg movement. Thanks DuskRider.
In the graphics vein: The frog is good but a new, more articulated, humanoid character could be popular, or am I missing a few articulation haps.
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Great job on the new avatar and background.
you probably already know this but if not:
The voice does not work in latest IE browser, and mouth animation continuously loops, however it does work perfect in the latest firefox browser.
also you might want to note:
quote from website homepage
Hi there. Welcome to Zabaware. My name's Hal.
But Hal seems to think differently :O
user: what is your name?
Hal: you can call me zaba.
user: I thought your name was Hal?
Hal: Oh my name is hanna.
user: no! your name is Hal.
Hal: Server response error
I think I confused him :(
I changed his name to Hal, so it should know his name now. I tried it with IE10 on Windows 7 and it seemed to work for me. Next I tried it in IE9 with Windows Vista and saw some rendering issues, it was rendering in IE7 quirks mode for some reason. I changed some headers around to force IE9 to render in its best mode and that fixed it for IE9. Could you try it again and see if it works for you? What version of IE and Windows are you using? Also try hitting F5 to force refresh of all javascript as I've been changing it often and your cache might be old.
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Could be on my side but Firefox of coarse updated and I do not hear the voice as of tonight.
Every thing looks fine but I think the trigger words or how you structure a sentence gives Hal a problem. Example: very, pretty good (okay 2 words). But with my trial with Hal "pretty' can't be used as in my example. The word 'pretty' is always associated with 'good looks' which makes sense but what happens to the rest of the sentence? I believe the, 'you', me, I combined with a name can be confusing for Hal. Not that I'm very good with grammar but I would think the newer Hal would be more forgiving especially if you don't have spell correct function.
You also have to take into consideration that this was one conversation on the fly. I kind of jumped around topics. One thing seems better and I can't tell if the plug-ins affect this. But Hal on line seems to except questions a bit better.
Just a quick observation on my part. As I said that was a single session for a few minutes and on the fly with topics.
raybe
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Could you try it again and see if it works for you? What version of IE and Windows are you using? Also try hitting F5 to force refresh of all javascript as I've been changing it often and your cache might be old.
Sorry Robert I was not around and did not get an e-mail notification that you posted :(
I just tried again after clicking f5 and I still get the same results, no sound but constant mouth movement after user input sent.
I'm using internet explorer10
version 10.0.9200.16635
update versions: 10.0.7 (KB2846071)
PC specs and OS specs are in the screenshot below
UPDATE: I just tried on my wifes computer which also has windows 8 Pro and the same version of IE and it works as it suppose to, Maybe something is wrong with Java on my end (insert scratchhead smiley)
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Could you help me get some debug info? On the computer it doesn't work on, could you bring up the IE developer tools (by pressing F12). Then click on the "Console" tab to bring up the javascript console. Then type something to Hal and enable speech. Then copy and paste the console output to me. The console output will look something like the screenshot below.
Also, do you have Adobe Flash installed on this computer? What about the other computer where it works fine? The speech is able to use either Flash or HTML5 for audio output and tries to pick the best available option. It could be one mode works well and the other doesn't.
One other thought is that some mobile browsers block auto-played audio and require a user click event to play audio. I'm wondering if IE on Windows 8 is acting like a mobile browser. When it doesn't play hit the button to toggle speech off and then hit it again to toggle it back on. Does it work after that second click?
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Last night I did some investigating myself and also a virus scan through-out the night using Windows Defender and found out I had a virus Exploit:Java/CVE-2013-0422 and Java for IE was disabled.
I removed the virus and re-enabled Java. Now that I re-enabled Java Hals mouth does not move nor do I get any vocals from him.
I do have Flash, and a few others So I took a screen shot of all my IE browser add-ons and the console as requested.
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Rob,
Tried IE 10 / Windows 7
This is what I received:
Given URL is not allowed by the Application configuration.: One or more of the given URLs is not allowed by the App's settings. It must match the Website URL or Canvas URL, or the domain must be a subdomain of one of the App's domains.
SCRIPT438: Object doesn't support property or method 'warn'
soundmanager2.js, line 1188 character 9
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Just wanted to say I'm still lurking, and loving the new website! Looks much more modern and should pull in some new custom :)
Also still looking forward to the new brain when it gets released! I've got some money set to one side ready for release still :D
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Rob,
The web site speech function worked perfectly with Win 7 and CHROME!