Generating Voices in Arma

[genpatton043 10]

First, my apologies if this is on the wrong thread or topic, I did a search and found that in the past questions regarding sound usually go to the mission editor area here.

My question concerns using custom voices and using them in Arma Movies. I have the Editor manual and use it often, however there does not seem to be much discussion about voices in it and what is needed to create custom voices.

To be specific, lets say I wanted to add in "Go ahead, make my day" using Clint Eastwoods voice (And no, I'm not really going to use his voice, just an example) what do I need to accomplish that?

What would I need as far as tools go? (I do have the BIS tools)

And if I have the tools, in order to create those words, "Go ahead, make my day" do I need to capture his voice saying those words and than convert it?

What about other words?

Sorry if this sounds confusing, I guess what I am asking is, for whatever words I would want that voice to say, do I need to capture his voice saying those words in real time? Like from a movie or whatever?

Thanks

Chris

[rocket 9]

I use Audacity for modifying my files, then I save it as a WAV file, drag n drop it onto the WaveToWSS file, and then either include it as a:

- Radio Message (engine adds mic clicks)

- Spoken voice (requires an actor ingame)

If I'm doing a radio message, I use the equalizer to reduce the high and low end frequencies (so it sounds like a radio message). The game automatically adds mic clicks and static, so no need to worry about that.

Radio Message file definition (put in the description.ext file for a mission, or the config.cpp if in an addon):

class CfgRadio
{
sounds[] = {};
 class Radio_C130_1
 {
  name = "";
   sound[] = {"\sound\Radio_C130_1.ogg", db+1, 1.0};
   title = "ROGER, THIS IS TALON ONE, ADVISE SUPPLIES FOR DROP, OVER";
 };
};

Then in game:

Player groupRadio "Radio_C130_1";

For speech, its a little different. I can post some examples here if needed.

[genpatton043 10]

OK, its going to end up being for a movie, similar to Legislators "Crate II" so most of it is going to be spoken in normal voice.

So what you seem to be saying is that Audacity is able to replicate the words fairly accurate to what they are onn the outside? Am I reading that right?

I've gotten good at a lot of aspects of Arma and Mission editing, but sound is my major draw backright now.

I have FRAPS for recording video and while I am still tinkering with it, I have a decent feel for that aspect of it all, its just like I said, Sound is completely new for me. I still have trouble with it in game and don't have the slightest idea as far as creating my own sound and more specifically, voices.

[rocket 9]

Audacity is a free tool that allows you to record and edit sound. I haven't found an effective method for creating sounds via text. The ones that exist are usually very complex and difficult to use. Personally, I recruit friends and family members for any voice work I need - or I do it myself. Always throw out the first few takes, but you'll soon find that people get the hang of it really fast and you can get some great results.

You can either have sound files as WAV, OGG, or WSS files. WSS is the most efficient for the engine, I believe. OGG is more useful for music and such, because it reduces filesize substantially but does place some strain on the CPU.

Once you have your file, be sure to save a WAV version of it, then drag and drop it onto the WaveToLIP programme. This will produce a LIP file that contains lipsyncing information!

Add the following to your description.ext or config.cpp file:

class CfgSounds
{
sounds[] = 
{
	m1_Convo1,m1_Convo2
};
class m1_Convo1
{
	name = "m1_Convo1";
	sound[] = {\sound\Convo1.ogg, db+10, 1.0};
	titles[] = {};
};
class m1_Convo2
{
	name = "m1_Convo2";
	sound[] = {\sound\Convo2.ogg, db+10, 1.0};
	titles[] = {};
};	
};

Then, to get a unit to play that. You simply use the "say" command together with the unit you wish to speak, and the name of the speech you want them to say, for example:

player say "m1_Convo1";

This would make the player say the "m1_Convo1" file.

[genpatton043 10]

OK, I think I'm starting to follow you.

So, by using my example, I would have to capture "Go ahead, make my day" from a movie, convert it and than place it in its own file for use. And those words would be the only words that voice could say, correct?

I was thinking that the converter would be able to replicate other words as well. I think thats where I got confused.

[-)rStrangelove 0]

For radio messages you could also use computer-generated voices and then mix some distortion (to sim bad communication quality) via Waveeditor into them.

Most text-to-wave programs are actually pretty good and if mixed with distorted sound it's difficult to notice it's not a human.