Lip syncing and head creation

[FatAssasin]

We're looking into purchasing an auto lip syncing tool, along with possibly some kind of auto head creator at work. These are the programs I've come across, has anyone here used any of these and have any feedback on how useful/easy to use it was?

Lip Synch/Facial Animation
Voice-O-Matic: http://www.di-o-matic.com/products/Plugins/VoiceOMatic/index.html
Lipsync SDK: http://www.annosoft.com/
FaceFX: http://www.oc3ent.com/
Face Robot: http://www.softimage.com/products/face_robot/
JetaReyes: http://www.reyes-infografica.com/plugins/jeta.php
Ventriloquist: http://www.digimation.com/home/?Content=ProductDetail&ProductCode=SD389
LifeStudio:Head Pro: http://www.lifemi.com/

Head Creation
Facial Studio: http://www.di-o-matic.com/products/Plugins/FacialStudio/
Face Gen: http://www.facegen.com/
LifeStudio:Head Pro: http://www.lifemi.com/

We're specifically looking at the LifeStudio product, but to me it's got one major strike against it in that it doesn't operate directly in Max. I'd prefer something that we wouldn't have to jump out of Max to use, for the lip syncing at least. It would also be great if there was a run-time component that could be used directly within an engine for real-time animation, like they have now in the Source and Unreal3 engines, but that's not as important right now.

Any insights here would be much appreciated.

[scanning_factor]

I recommend FaceFX. I've done a fair amount of work with it and it's a great tool. It's very open, very extensible, and works great with max or maya. Also the oc3 guys are really cool to work with and are always on the ball with tech support and updates. Shoot an email to:

doug@oc3ent.com

and he should be able to take care of you.

[FatAssasin]

Thanks for the input. FaceFX does look nice, and if it's good enough for Epic... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

What I don't see on the website is how it works with Max or Maya. Is it real-time only, or can it output data than can drive Max bones for pre-rendered movies? But I'll definitely contact them for more info.

[L-Pie]

We're actually doing the same evaluation ourselves. So far FacefX takes home the gold. Really nice voice driven functionality. Everything else I've seen hits on too many syllables. I haven't used the other programs you've mentioned though.