Lip Sync Methods
Embedded Files
To effectively animate mouth motion in my animation i will be researching into different techniques of lip syncing in animation. I will be looking at a range of youtube videos on this topic to help educate me on how to lip sync effectively. In addition i will be reading specific section of the animator's survival kit to provide me with knowledge that animator in industry use to make some of the most popular animations of all time.
My aim for this section of research is to gather sufficient information that will allow me to be efficient during the production stage so i can animate to an audio effectively.
(Neistadt, 2020a)
(Chester Sampson, 2020)
(Williams, 2001, pp.304–314)
About:
Both the youtube videos and animator's survival kit by richard williams contain information on how to effectively lip sync in animations. This information will educate me on how to lip sync accurately in my animations. I plan to go through these videos and book and select the most important information that will help me achieve my aim for this section of research
Techniques of lip sync :
Some of the fundamentals of lip syncing in animation is to make sure the lip movement is synchronized with the audio as this helps the quality of the animation. Using a visual reference can help me get the accurate lip movements during my animation. Some ways to practice lip syncing is by practicing with multiple audios and rigs, this helps to grasp the subtle detail in lip movement.
When lip syncing to an audio it is important that i start with a neutral face pose when starting the animation. In addition to this it is also important to use a a neutral face when starting a new expression to make sure there are no inconsistencies that could interfere with my animation. Making sure i use a layered workflow when animating the lips as it is effective to start with the jaw then the lips and finally the facial features. This will help make animating the lips manageable and efficient as it will be broken down in a modular way. Implementing principles such as squash and stretch and exaggeration can make an animation have a more stylised look, which is one of the styles i aim to produce for this project.
Another important aspect to lip sync animation is not to animate to every word in an audio. Generally in real life people don't move their mouth to every syllable. It is vital to lip sync that i use general mouth shapes that cover all the sound in the audio i animate. To allow the audience to read the positions of the mouth animators usually animate on at least 2 frames for every expression. In addition to this animators make sure to emphasize the vowels in an audio make sure to ease out of the extremes for a transition, making sure to include no in betweens.
Prominently, when animating you want to get the overall 'feeling' for the word and not the individual letters. TO achieve this i effectively i need to make sure i get the general shape for the word. Essentially it is important to not over complicate the jaw and lip movement as this could lead to a lower quality lip sync in my animation.
mistakes to avoid:
It is crucial to make sure that the mouth shapes align with the phonetic sounds as if these are not correct it can lead to a low quality lip sync. It also important not to over complicate animations as simplicity can be effective when you are first starting to use lip sync techniques. To ensure i produce the highest quality lip sync in my animation is it important i ask for feedback throughout my project to gain different perspectives and improvements for my animation.
Phonemes, Visems, and phones are also important aspect make an effective lip sync animation.
Phonemes
these are the smallest aspects of sound that indicate the meaning of them. These are just the representation of the sounds and not the sounds himself. These are never pronounced or heard as they are a more cognitive aspect of speech. This i an aspect of speech that won't directly impact my animation but it is still important to know to help me understand how general speech works.
Phones and Visemes
Phones are the actual speech sounds people make as they talk. This is also known as the phonetic alphabet. The sounds people make when they speak sometimes don't match the facial shapes people make when they speak this what visemes are. Visemes are the general face shapes people use when they speak. This allows for people to read what other are saying when they cant hear them. THis isn't always one to one with with phones as some facial shapes don't correlate with the letter someones is saying as every letter make a different sound. For example when someone says the letter 'R' it doesn't necessarily match with the letter, as the facial shape someone makes to say this isn't as exaggerated as it might sound.
This website link above contains reference images of vizems that could potentially help me when i start to produce my own lip sync animation.
(Barnig, 2014) (Face the FACS, 2022)
Above is a video that portrays an effective way to animate lip sync. This will help me in production as a good reference point that i can compare to my own animation in the hopes of improving the quality of my lip sync.
(AniMatrix, 2014)
Lip Sync Principles Conclusion
TO conclude, conduction research into lip sync methods has educated me on different ways to produce an effective lip sync animation. By providing me with tips such as not focusing on the specific sound of the letter but the lip shape that is needed to make it, as some can be less exaggerated than you might think. Primarily, the information i have gathered will be useful during both pre-production. I can use this research during pre-production to help me plan what the face should look like when they are speaking through storyboards and real life reference. In addition, this research will also be useful during production as i will be able to refer back to the videos and blogs i found to ensure i am animating lip sync effectively.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse