Article Focus: In this video tutorial, CreativeCOW leader Aharon Rabinowitz shares some animation techiques for character lip-synching in Adobe After Effects. This is not just the simple method of using open and closed mouths -Rather, Aharon covers the more advanced use of phonemes, which are the different mouth shapes formed by a person when making various sounds in a spoken language.
Lip-Synching for Character Animation
by Aharon Rabinowitz on Jan 6, 2009
You can set it up and then save the After Effects Project (AEP). Then in another AE project choose File > Import > File, and then choose the AEP.
That's right - you can import an After Effects project file into a different project file.
Lip-Synching for Character Animation
by James Roberts on Jan 6, 2009
There's a case if "if at first you don't succeed". The first time I watched this I was left baffled, and unsure if I could grasp the method used compared to my Flash experience.
The second time I followed along with a similarly laid out Ps file, and all became clear. A different method, to be sure, and also a better one. The idea that access to all the mouths is just a matter of dailing up the right one for each intended keyframe is easier than the all the copy and paste I'd been doing in Flash.
The ability to apply the head animation and lip sync separately from the rest of the scene is also quite a boost. No need to follow a moving character around repositioning mouths as needed, and head nods can be added easily without having to reposition multiple layers to keep them lined up. I'm now looking forward to getting into a project even more knowing I'll have these abilities.
One question, though. Is it possible to save the precompositions? In the case of the tutorial, that would be the "mouths" pre-comp. This would be helpful to be able to have ready to go character assets for ongoing use (such as a series). I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to set it up each time from the Ps file, but even better if I can just bring in a head from the "library" each time a character is used.
Lip-Synching for Character Animation
by Ian Tomey on Aug 4, 2008
Great technique, though selecting each key frame is a pain, so I've built a program to convert your text to keyframes, you just paste them into AE.
http://www.iantomey.com/cartoonhelper/
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