LIPSinc., the producer of Ventriloquist for 3D Studio MAX, recently
announced that they had launched a new lip-synching program called Echo.
Whereas Ventriloquist is a plug-in for 3D Studio MAX, Echo is a standalone
program which outputs in flipbook, dope sheet and function curve animation
data for animation platforms, interactive 3D game engines, and multimedia
applications. Timeline Studios, a company founded by best-selling author
Michael Crichton, is using Echo in the company's first title, slated for
release at the end of 2000. Timeline Studio's Vice President, Rick Towson,
has stated that Echo will save the company hundreds of hours of
lip-synching time. Towson also commented that the output quality is
superior to the needs of the production, leaving them room for improvement
and allowing them to provide a higher-quality finished product. Echo works
on a voice recognition system called voiceDSP, which analyzes speech and
automatically outputs the corresponding mouth, jaw and lip-position data in
three dimensions. This data can then be exported in the desired manner. A
studio-quality product, LIPSinc. is offering customization of this product,
which has a starting price of US$10,000.