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skip
05-10-2005, 05:50 AM
A new 'latest' version of the "Virtual Hypnotist" has been announced. See E-mail below. "Virtual Hypnotist" thus far has been made available by the creator for free.

You may find it helpful. It is certainly worth investigating. Past versions of this program have not been trance producing for me, but I will give this one a thorough test. I believe that if hypnosis is ever going to be interactive via computer, it will be Ryan or someone like him who has put years of thought and sweat into it.

This does not consitiute an endorsement or a critique, merely a suggestion that you investigate for yourself.

Ryans announcement:

Finally - the best version of VH yet has just been released :)

Virtual Hypnotist is a free, open-source all-in-one self hypnosis and
internet hypnosis program.

Since there are zillions of changes, here's a list of the features:

-Script maker, for easily editing scripts, and for creating your own,
which uses a flexible and unique scripting language.
-Binaural brainwave synchronizer, for generating sounds that help
induce hypnosis (sync brainwaves), and for providing flashing color
bars that visually also sync brainwaves.
-Lots of pre-made scripts, from inductions, deepeners, suggestions, etc.
-Two subliminal message systems, which add visual subliminal messages
in sessions, and even let you display them on your computer screen
while you work
-Hypnotic visual maker, for designing your own hypnotic effects
-Cool presets that get you started instantly
-A session logbook that lets you write down successes, notes, ideas, etc.
-Fully customizable hypnosis sessions
-Complete speech synthesis; choose from a selection of multiple
voices, and even use other SAPI4 or SAPI5-compliant speech engines
(only partial SAPI5 support is implemented).
-Speech recognition that lets you verbally respond to questions and
prompts while under hypnosis
-Easy and powerful scripting language called ISL used for creating and
processing scripts
-Animated characters used as virtual "hypnotists"
-Pop-up sessions, where the program can hide in the background and
"pop up" at a certain time, and start the hypnotic induction
-Support for video files and flash animations, via Windows Media and
Macromedia Flash, and even lots of videos/animations included
-Speed controls, to slow down and speed up both audio and video
-HypnoChat and Remote Controller, an AIM-compatible instant messaging
system that allows one user of Virtual Hypnotist control another
user's program over the Internet, with the subject's consent.
-Complete tray icon and popup menu support
-Text-only sessions that display text on the screen instead of using
the speech system.
-Background and Subliminal modes
-Support for playing hypnosis audio files, while using Virtual
Hypnotist for graphics
-3D graphics support with the TrueVision3D graphics engine
-Video and audio volume and rate changing support
-Session previewing support
-WAV file output support (SAPI5 only)
-Script Processor Console which allows a user to operate the script
system in an interactive manner
-Script Converter for converting standard text scripts to the ISL
script format
-Personalized information for use in sessions (name, gender, and
preferred trigger)
-Comes with the Virtual Hypnotist User's Guide
-All source code is included (written in Visual Basic 6)
-And more :)

You can get it here:
http://vhypno.sourceforge.net (http://vhypno.sourceforge.net)

Enjoy :)
And thanks to all the people who helped in the massive testing of this
version, and especially to those who donated! :)

-FollowTheWatch

solaris152000
05-10-2005, 06:02 AM
That looks great, im downloading it. I once downlaoded a prgram that made a load of high pitched sounds, didnt do anything to me, though Im not sure if I used it properly.

Ill post back after Ive tried this though.

Solaris

skip
05-26-2005, 09:36 AM
It has been a while since virtual hypnotist 5.0 was released and several of you indicated that you were going to download it and give it a whirl.

Did any of you follow up on this?

If so how about an opinion?

skip

solaris152000
05-26-2005, 10:19 AM
To be honest skip. I suffered from alot of crashes, and don't really understand what it supposed to do, I guess I'll have to give it a better look. Just with all the exams and such at the moment its hard to find the time.

j0hnny#
05-26-2005, 01:40 PM
yeah, that program crashed for me also.... its not very clear instruction about what you should download and install, I installed 5.0 (crashed) then the upgrade (crashed) and one of the miscrosft language packs (crashed - with all three installed) - maybe I need to install some more? Seems like a bit of a pain in the ar3e to me. Can't the dude just have one installation file, that would make it a lot more straightforward - looks like the sort of app you will need to learn how to use - cut out the learn how to install stuff and this might seem more desireable - looks like it could be good though..

skip
05-26-2005, 01:43 PM
It installed and runs fine for me. But that may be bacause I had the earlier version as well. Write the guy and inquire, he genuinely wants people to try it, so i imagine he would give you advice.

I havent given it a review yet and didnt want to taint the pool by doing so until others had their say.

skip

solaris152000
05-26-2005, 01:51 PM
I would be intrested in what you had to say. The voices put me off really, can you downlaod some proper ones?

skip
05-26-2005, 02:04 PM
Like I said, I want to wait and not taint the pool. If after a bit no one else has posted or of other reviews come in, I will gladly post my opinion.

skip

Jack
05-27-2005, 08:11 AM
Has to be a joke doesn't it? Which is a pity since the author has obviously put a lot of effort into it. Very silly voices which remind me of the old Amiga computer. Has quite a nice hypno-whirl, but very unlikely to put anyone into a trance unless they are highly suggestible.

We're not out of a job quite yet, Skip!

Jack

followthewatch55
05-30-2005, 08:44 PM
Has to be a joke doesn't it? Which is a pity since the author has obviously put a lot of effort into it. Very silly voices which remind me of the old Amiga computer. Has quite a nice hypno-whirl, but very unlikely to put anyone into a trance unless they are highly suggestible.

We're not out of a job quite yet, Skip!

Jack

The voices it has are the best free ones currently available, and better ones are also available (but they're commercial). The program also now uses text-based inductions which have been shown to be very effective. The current voices are part of the Microsoft SAPI4 and SAPI5 speech system packages (so blame microsoft haha), but the best are probably AT&T Natural Voices. Also there are many users who have found the program to be extremely effective; it won't work on everyone without practice. For example, if a person can be hypnotized over an instant-messenger text chat (which seems like it wouldn't work well at first, but works better than you'd expect), then this program should work great for them.

Ryan

followthewatch55
05-30-2005, 09:21 PM
yeah, that program crashed for me also.... its not very clear instruction about what you should download and install, I installed 5.0 (crashed) then the upgrade (crashed) and one of the miscrosft language packs (crashed - with all three installed) - maybe I need to install some more? Seems like a bit of a pain in the ar3e to me. Can't the dude just have one installation file, that would make it a lot more straightforward - looks like the sort of app you will need to learn how to use - cut out the learn how to install stuff and this might seem more desireable - looks like it could be good though..

It used to have something like a single installation file, but each release was about 40mb, and the app started taking up large amounts of space on the servers. Try version 5.1, which has many fixes for bugs that were found in 5.0 that had to do with installation. Currently you only need to install the 5.1 full package, and that's it - the speech systems, expansion pack and 3d engine are all optional (but highly recommended).

There's also a good user's guide I made for it on the website, which also has an installation tutorial (hopefully it helps).

Other people were also wondering if this project was a joke. If it was, it would've never been started - it's a rewrite of a previous project by me called Hypnotizer 2000, and if that was a scam, it would've just died off completely when the source code was lost in 2002 (but instead I decided to completely rewrite it and make it fully interactive, instead of having it just be a script reader and visual interface). The purpose of Virtual Hypnotist is to extend what can be done with self-hypnosis, and to simulate many aspects of in-person sessions, for people who aren't lucky enough to have a personal hypnotherapist/hypnotist (like me haha - that was the motivation behind it). It allows the end user to create their own fully interactive session, with everything from basic trance depth tests (via questions) to hand drop methods, typed and spoken responses, etc. Scripts are either spoken or displayed - and they are also optional; any hypnosis audio file can be used instead, with VH providing the visuals. The entire program is open-source, with all source code and files available, so anyone can see how it operates and even enhance it themselves. You can probably tell that I'm a perfectionist lol

If you want to join the discussions on it, the yahoo group is at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualhypnotist

Here's 2 example scripts you can see, which are written in VH's ISL scripting language:

Long induction script:
http://hypnosis.kicks-ass.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/vh/inductions/longinduction.txt?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/plain

Interactive hand drop script:
http://hypnosis.kicks-ass.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/vh/suggestions/Hand%20Drop.txt?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/plain

Here's some more pictures of the program:

Main screen:
http://vhypno.sourceforge.net/guide/mainscreen.jpg

Session components:
http://vhypno.sourceforge.net/guide/session3.jpg

Binaural brainwave generator:
http://vhypno.sourceforge.net/guide/brainwave.jpg

Ability to create many types of custom visuals:
http://hypnosis.kicks-ass.net/vh5-hypnoticeye.jpg


Hope this stuff helps!

Ryan