RE: FLASH: Lip-syncing

[Ryan Creighton]

Hi Brian!



i've done a bunch of lip-sync stuff across different animation programs, and

the classic tried-and-true method of making mouth charts is the best way to

go.


So you have to draw a bunch of mouth symbols in various mouth positions. i

use a double letter code because ... well, because i like to.  The charts i

find vital are:



AH - Mouth open wide, maybe showing some tongue & uvula

EH - Mouth somewhat open, good for unimportant words like 'the'

MM - Mouth closed position ... depending on the character's level of detail,

you might want to add a few creases to the lips.  This shape doubles for PP

and BB

FF  - Bottom lip tucked under front teeth, if the character has any (!)

LL - Mouth open, tongue curled up behind top front teeth 

SS - Lips apart, teeth together

EE - Same as SS, with mouth stretched at the sides and teeth apart.

OH - Mouth in a broad 'O' shape

OO - Mouth in a more acute little circle

TH - The EE chart with a tongue tip poking out from between the teeth


Of course, you can redraw all of these charts using different emotional

expressions depending on how your character is feeling.   Now draw your

character in Flash sans mouth, set your dialogue to Streaming so that you

can scrub the bar, and drop in the mouth chart symbols where necessary.


Be sure not to get too literal when putting in mouth charts.  If the mouth

appears to strobe, or flicker, when the character speaks, you've got too

many.  It's all puppetry.  Note that Kermit's mouth doesn't open on ev-er-y

sin-gle -syll-a-ble, but moves more generally with the prolongued vowel

sounds.


Hope this helps.  Good luck, and have fun!



- Ryan Creighton








> -----Original Message-----

>

From: Brian [btmmindmagic [dot] com (mailto:btmmindmagic [dot] com)]

> Sent: August 4, 2000 9:10 AM

>

To: flasherchinwag [dot] com

> Subject: FLASH: Lip-syncing

> 

> 

> Hi, all!

> 

> Has anyone done any work involving some sort of automated (?) 

> process of

> lipsyncing an animated character to a sound file?

> I have the chance at what appears to be a pretty big-time 

> ongoing bit of

> work that involves an animated character that will need to be 

> updated every

> week or so, and I was hoping someone has tried something 

> similar in Flash

> with interesting results.

> 

> Thanks for any input!

> 

> -Brian Matthews

> http://www.angelfire.com/fl/sapringer/SAPCENT.html

> SAPRINGER CENTRAL: The Best STAR TREK Parody Site On The Net!

> Featuring STONE TREK: The Flash Animation!

> 

> 

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