VirtualStage
System Requirements
In order to run VirtualStage, you will need a reasonably well specified computer. You should check the list of requirements carefully. You will need at least:
- An IBM compatible personal computer with a processor running at 1.0Ghz or higher;
- Either Microsoft Windows XP (Home or Professional) or Windows 2000 operating systems;
- Java 5.0 or above;
- 40 MB of free hard disk space;
- 256 MB of RAM memory;
- A graphics card/display adapter, with 32 MB of memory, that supports either DirectX version 9.0 or higher or OpenGL 1.3 or higher;
- A 16 bit soundcard and speakers;
- A 3 button mouse or other compatible pointing device;
- For the full version: a CD-ROM or DVD drive depending on the chosen installation media.
Display Memory
In order to check the memory of the display adapter (also known as a graphics card or video card), open the Display Properties applet either from your computer's Control Panel or by right-clicking on your desktop and selecting Properties.
Select the Settings tab and click on the Advanced button, then select the Adapter tab. You will find a description of your Adapter including the Memory Size. Some laptops use on board memory of 16MB or less. Unfortunately, these are not suitable for use with VirtualStage. We recommend NVIDIA or ATI based graphics cards.
Synthesized Voices
 The full version of VirtualStage uses two of the world's leading voice engines in order to generate the speech of the virtual actors.
The first of these uses formant voices, that is the sound of the voice is calculated by the computer. The big advantage of formant voices is that the engine takes up very little disk space. The downside is that the voices can sound a little robotic. The requirements for this engine have been taken into consideration in the above list of requirements.
The second engine uses concatenative voices. These voices use snippets of recorded speech pieced together and sound more natural. The disadvantage is that they take up considerably more space on the computer's hard drive, approximately 700 MB per voice. You have the option of installing any or all of the four concatenative voices supplied with VirtualStage.
Finally, the makers of the concatenative voices also recommend a minimum of 256MB of RAM memory.
PLEASE NOTE: Installing the concatenative voices is optional. If your hard disk space is limited, the formant voice engine will still provide you with an ample choice of 5 different voices.
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