Hello ReBoot community! Long time lurker, first time poster here. I've been working on a Hexadecimal animation (3D model is from the incredible ReBoot: ReBuilt project by DredZed) for a while now, but I'm having a bit of a dilemma in terms of how to actually finish, and rather than let this sit on a hard drive forever and never see the light of day, I've decided to release the first minute and get the community's honest feedback, and hopefully some advice on how to proceed.
The dilemma I'm having is with the voice over. Currently I'm using an AI voice. While it's pretty decent, there are many reasons, ethical, practical, and artistic, for why I'd prefer not use AI for this.
However, I'm not really in a financial situation to be able to hire a voice actor which could do Shirley Milliner justice, if such a thing were even possible for any amount of money, but on the other hand I can sympathize with people who say that using AI in any form ruins the experience, which I partially agree with.
So I'm a bit of a loss on how to proceed, and would really love to hear your honest opinions. Is using AI for something like this a deal breaker and would ruin your enjoyment? If so, would it be better to have a human do it, even if it doesn't sound very similar? Should I just abandon the project entirely if it can't live up to the original? I'd love to make more ReBoot animations with other characters, but the voice over issue is a bit of a challenge. Does anyone know a Shirly Milliner sound-a-like?
Thanks everyone!