Lip-Sync - How do you all do it?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Farrell on November 5, 2007 at 2:42am

I don't know that anyone professionally does use a computer to lipsync. I've never heard of anything like that used aside from a learning tool.

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Permalink Reply by Scotty Arsenault on November 5, 2007 at 9:11am

It's much simpler to do it yourself, and with just some practice, it's easy. Don't let the computer have all the fun!

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Permalink Reply by Ian D. Merch on November 5, 2007 at 11:04pm

To practice I've been using the stream function in flash to try to figure out how to key stuff right. The only way to get better is to keep doing it. That's true with anything.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Levine on November 6, 2007 at 12:38am

I had never heard of this. It seems like it would be great to use if you were just starting out and only using it as reference...but I tend to actually draw the mouth shapes and do my best to link them up after multiple playbacks and asking others what they think. I think you should just practice because it does get easier...plus I think it's fun!

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Mallek on November 6, 2007 at 2:05am

To learn lip syncing, I basically watched The Simpsons season IV (ahhhhhhh) frame by frame until I got the hang of it. Then I did it over and over for years and I still suck. Best advice I can give you is that the mouth moves before you hear the sound. The old WB pros jumped it by three or four frames. I never noticed until someone pointed it out.

Side note: The BEST intern I ever had was a master at lip sync. It's an art form unto itself.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Farrell on November 6, 2007 at 5:14am

You are right that you should get a little ahead of the sound. I never pushed it 3 to 4 frames up, but if that's what they did, it worked fine.

I am seriously no expert, but here are some other generic tips:

I'd personally stick to around 8 or 9 basic mouth shapes for the phonemes. I tend to use less shapes in my simple animations. I think South Park used 4 for awhile? There are some decent tutorials online. Most tend to be 3D animation, but the principles are the same.

3D is a slightly different animal when it comes to animating the shapes. I tend to worry about mouth flap first. Say the lines as the character says them while holding your jaw so you can tell when the jaw opens.

The mouth is fast when it opens at the start of a sound. Don't be afraid to just pop from closed to open.

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Permalink Reply by PiGPEN on November 7, 2007 at 8:13am

You can use as little as 3 if youre emulating anime :D
.....you'd be surprised (or not) how little attention the average viewers pays to lipsynch.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Farrell on November 7, 2007 at 11:43pm

They don't really see great lipsync, but they notice if it is really off. Anime is a little different since most people recognize that the characters weren't animated to the english language anyway. That and anime fans seem to forgive any number of cheap animation shortcuts in the name of one 10 second scene of intense animated sword play.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on November 7, 2007 at 11:49pm

Thing is, I'm not happy with less than perfect lipsync myself, heh. I know the average viewer isn't going to be looking that closely, but if it's off by a little bit for me, it just doesn't feel right. :P

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Permalink Reply by PiGPEN on November 10, 2007 at 11:00am

Well its just my thought that in independent animation that there sorta has to be priorities to what you put the most effort on......and unless youre specifically demonstrating your lip syncing abilities then it tends to fall to the bottom of the list of important things.

My hierarchy nowadays is STORY>CHARACTER ANIMATION>VOICES>EFFECTS ANIMATION>ANYTHING ELSE YOU HAVE A NICE LABEL FOR>LIP SYNC

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Permalink Reply by Stephen M. Levinson on November 10, 2007 at 8:04pm

No program/computer in the world will do lipsyncs for you..You need to scrub through audio and decide what mouth position is for which frames. Computers are just tools.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Levine on November 11, 2007 at 1:52am

I agree no program is ever going to give you what you want. The best tool is a mirror. Loop the dialogue, and just repeat it in front of a mirror (or you can videotape yourself or someone else doing the lines). Watch mouth flaps, notice which phonemes are emphasized, and which are not noticeable. Also, watch the transitions from one sound to the next (especially important in 3D).

I also agree with Pigpen, that lip-sync is low down on the list of importance. First concentrate on making your animation feel like the character is saying the dialogue with the mouth closed, then the lip-sync is just the cherry-on-the-top. I also like to use the mouth for emphasis of the emotional state of the character (can really be the extra kicker to a performance, see Jungle Book, Incredibles,) and I worry less about perfect sync.

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