Using the nesting method
Using the nesting method
Lip syncing is an art form. The process of matching sounds to shapes can be somewhat subjective. In the end, two things matter: the successful illusion of speech and the toll that it took on the animator. In the steps that follow, you’ll get a taste of both.
As mentioned earlier, the method described here involves nesting mouth shapes inside a single symbol and then adjusting the shape that the symbol displays on a given frame.
1. Save your current document (File > Save As) as lipsync3.fla. This will keep lipsync2.fla clean so that you
can apply another lip syncing technique in a moment.
2. Turn on your computer speakers and ensure that Muted Sounds (Control > Muted Sounds) is not
selected (so that you can hear the audio on the Timeline).
3. Move the playhead to frame 5. Drag (scrub) the play- head from frame 5 to frame 6. You should barely hear
the beginning of the word “are.” This means that you’ll want to use the “ah” mouth shape for frame 5. Due to the short length of each
phoneme, it can be difficult to
4. Move the playhead to frame 5 and use the Selection identify individual sounds using tool to select the mouth instance on the Stage. a single frame. You may want to scrub multiple frames or preview
5. Recall that the “ah” mouth shape was on frame 2 the entire Timeline (Return/Enter) to put the sound in context. This
of your mouth symbol. In the Properties panel, process gets easier with practice. under Looping, update the First (as in first frame
shown) field to a value of 2 and press Return/Enter (Figure 2.142).
Figure 2.142 You can change the frame that is currently being dis- played in the Properties panel.
Your symbol should now be displaying the “ah” shape on Stage (Figure 2.143).
6. Scrub from frame 6 to frame 7. It sounds a bit like
Figure 2.143 The mouth shape has
the word “are” is already ending. You can press
been updated on Stage.
Animation with Scripting for Adobe Flash Professional CS5 Studio Techniques
Return/Enter to preview the entire sound in context. The word “you” seems to already be starting on frame
7. So, move the playhead to frame 6, select the mouth on the Stage, and update the First value in the Prop- erties panel to 7 (the closed mouth). This frame will
separate the words “are” and “you.”
7. Because you already know frame 7 is the start of “you,” select the closed mouth on frame 7 and update the
First value to 4 (the “oh” and “ooh” shape).
8. Continue scrubbing each frame and updating the First To see video of Chris lip syncing
value until you run out of audio to sync. using the nesting method, check
out www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/
9. Preview what you’ve done by pressing Return/Enter. If articles/lipsync_macrochat.html.
something doesn’t look right, try to locate the keyframe that appears out of sync and try a different mouth shape. Lip syncing is a skill that takes practice.
10. Close Flash entirely before continuing to the next section.
Finished lip sync files are on the Now that you’ve done the lip syncing manually using this included CD for reference.
technique, let’s add an extension to make this technique even better.