quote:
Originally posted by caangel43
Robert what's holding up the new hal will it be out soon
Basically, completion of the character engine which we've been working on for almost 2 years. There is still a lot to work on to make it work on a wide variety of graphics cards and in creating new characters, so I have no set date, but a beta with this 1 character will be available in a month or so.
quote:
Originally posted by jackgephart
I'll be happy to try out making skins for her if you would supply me the program to do it with. I have so much more to give.
This character was created in 3D Studio Max. Basically any professional 3D graphics program will work as long as an export path exists to OGRE3D, and the OGRE3D community has made export tools for most popular programs. It also requires the creation of an XML character definition file, so it isn't easy by any means, but we hope to create automation tools and tutorials over time. Editing the skin/texture of already made characters will be as easy as changing a JPEG though. Also I heard that Microsoft bought the company Caligari (
www.caligari.com) and released their 3D authoring program TrueSpace for free.
quote:
Originally posted by Art
Do you have plans to offer the three types of characters (Head, Torso and Full Bod)?
I noticed some unusual things regarding the Ogre head:
Only one half (left side of face) is used. I assume the program then joins them together.
Having said that, do the full bod chars also work in much the same manner?
The Facial Mesh also addresses various items of the head like teeth, eyes and even glasses. Will Orge3D provide us a way to remove accessories or even add them to the characters as does Haptek?
The engine is not limited in any way (technologically or through licensing restrictions) so it will be possible to create characters of any shape and complexity, human or otherwise. The character pictured above is a torso character as no legs were made, but we certainly plan on creating full body ones too. Props can be created and removed at will as well as full 3D environments the character can interact with, so no more static JPEG backgrounds.
quote:
Originally posted by echoman
It looks very good and I'm looking forward to the new graphics engine. Is this new engine to replace Haptek as Hal's standard? I am now sure if it is still Haptek or what has happened/happening to Haptek.
Also, like Art I am also intested if the Head/Full body choice will be available. The example shown would not fit into my present skin for Hal as I only have room for Head only. I would prefer not to have to change skins if possible.
Also, will my Cepstral voice still work with the graphics engine - including lip sinc. ?
The base version of Ultra Hal Assistant will not inlude Haptek but Haptek will be able to be installed as a plug-in and the current expansion set will continue to be sold as long as Haptek allows it. The engine will work with all SAPI 5 voices (SAPI 4 support will be dropped). All Cepstral voices will work as they are SAPI 5. The new engine is not based on Haptek technology in any way, so no skins or models from haptek characters will work in this engine.