Lip-Syncing?

Sniffy · Noob Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

Hey there. Big fan of the Snacky series.
Down to business, I was browsing though snacky 3 for filming techniques and noticed in Snacky 3 there was some lip syncing. I may be mistaken, but if some lip-syncing was used in the Snacky movies, how was it done?

Jun · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject:

Muahaha. I just emailed a big description about how I did that to a fellow machinima-maker, I might as well copy it here:

My lip syncing isn't really a big secret, it's called animation ;P I'm an artist in the animation industry so I know a few hip insider tricks. And I'll probably have to continue to do it from now on - there's no going back now!

The basic technique is, first you have to capture the animation that's going to have lip sync with modelviewer - in-game captures don't work very well because you can never match the lighting seamlessly (well maybe you can, but it's a lot harder.)

Then I do a rough composite in After Effects and export to Premiere for timing the scene. When I'm happy with the pacing of the edit I output the audio tracks PER SHOT. Then I import the audio files back into their appropriate After Effects bins and dump them in their related time lines so I can see the waveforms.

Now the basic idea is to build a library of mouths, kind of like the virtual version of how they did the mouths on stop motion films like A Nightmare Before Xmas. So far I'm using only 4 kinds of mouths per character (slightly open, mediumly open, wide open, and slightly open with teeth) but I will prolly make some new ones like "oo" sounds for the next episode.

To create the mouths, you go into modelviewer and still-capture talking animations, freeze-framed at the right places. You have to get still caps of mouths from all the different angles that the characters might turn... As for teeth I just draw them in.

Next you go into Photoshop and cut away everything from the stills except the mouth areas. I like to include the chin and a little bit of underneath the nose. Then use the soft eraser to "fade" the edges of the mouths so they will blend better into the character's faces. Make sure the mouths are saved as floating layers with no backgrounds and are labeled so you know what is what! It can get confusing really fast, with so many mouths.

OK, now import all the mouths for the correct angles into the After Effects bin, and at this point you kind of have to look at the sound waves you have imported and listen to the track a lot to see which mouths to paste over the character's faces and where to place them in the timeline. If you have changed the color and lighting of the modelview capture to match a background, then copy and paste that on all the mouths and they will match exactly.

It's kind of a matter of patience and time, basically - it's not a magic trick, just a LOT of work. Good luck if you decide to try it! ;)

Of course, if we could just import fully functioning Wow models into a 3-d animation program, this would all be a lot easier. Ha!
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Sniffy · Noob Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

Aha! That's how I thought you did it more or less. I really appreciate this response because any other place I've looked for a WoW lip-sync how-to either doesn't have one or uses lip-sync software which I found unnecessary. Thanks again and keep up the terrific work!

Codrocker · Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:44 am Post subject:

Aha, I know this isn't a reply to post here but I love the name, Sniffy roflmao xD
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[H] Keyzz - Maiev US

Sniffy · Noob Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

Why thank you. ^^ Yours amuses me as well.

Codrocker · Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 6:19 pm Post subject:

Uh...no it doesn't mean that. Rofl.
The Story behind it is just...really wierd. Confused

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[H] Keyzz - Maiev US

X-Cross · Noob Joined: 04 Apr 2009 Posts: 4 Location: Sweden

Aha! So that's how you do it! I was actually signing up in this forum mainly to ask tht question. I just looked at the third episode and tought. Hey! How can he lipsync from the side? (since I know you can do it from the front with crazy talk. Anyway, thanks for that. If i'll use it in any of my future machinimas I will ofcourse credit you. Atleast sounds useful and like something i'd like to try out!

qqpew · Noob Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 1

just as a thought couldnt you keyframe your audio in after effects and use and expression to control the speed of the footage, thus achieving a slight lip sync? dunno how well this would work but it's an idea