2 Questions...

[Pixelpusher]

I am very new to AS and I have version 5.6 Pro. Here is what I need help with. I have a character that will be a talking head with probaby a little bit of arm and hand movement. He will be used is a television promotion so he will be looking at the camera most of the time. I plan to use him on several promos for the same show.

I want to create a set of eyes that blink and move and I want to be able to save them to use on other characters. I just want to create them once and then use them over and over again. How is this done and then how are they attached to my character?

Next I need to know exactly how to create and animate a mouth with teeth and tongue that can speak. I get the lip sync thing and I have that part, I just cannot get my mouths to work and look convincing. I want to create once and use over and over. What is my best option?

Thank you so much. I have looked at a lot of the work being done by you guys and I have to say that I am blown away!

[slowtiger]

1. Anything which lies on the top level of an AS file can be imported into another AS file. Normally you'd do this with complete characters, but you could make a copy of your top eye folder/bone layer and put it on top level in one file to be able to import it into other files, then put it in its correct place in the hierarchy there.

2. What exactly does not work? If the mouths don't change in sync to your sound, there's a mistake either in assignig the sound and .dat file to the switch layer, or in setting up the different mouth positions inside the switch layer. If your mouths don't look convincing, that's a matter of drawing them better. If you could post an example image and some more information, answering would be easier.

[Pixelpusher]

OK, I do not know the best approach to create eyes and mouths to animate. I'm extremely new to this and I've heard different things. How do you do it?

[slowtiger]

Draw it?

Seriously, no one could answer this in a helpful way if we don't know your style of drawing and of animation. There are as many solutions as drawing styles. Search the forum for "mouth" and "eyes" to get an idea of what's possible.

At least you'll need:
for eyes:
a pupil
a lid
(x2)

for mouths:
upper and lower lip
some inside
maybe teeth
maybe a tongue
(x2 - 12, depending on how many phonemes you'll use)

[human]

Probably the question has more to do with whether to make the eyes using socket holes in the face skin and placing the eyeballs underneath, or whether to place the eyeballs above the face, masked with eyelids.

[Pixelpusher]

Maybe that's it. I've seen eyes created with a bone setup to control pupil movement and open/close. I've also seen eyes that were drawn onto the character as part of the face and then control came from masking. Then, I've seen eyes on switch layers...it's really all confusing to me.

As for the mouth, how do you know what shapes to draw for the various phenomes? Is there a really good chart somewhere or does someone have their examples to share with me? I'm pretty sure that these are then controled by a switch layer, but do you draw them on your character...do you create them on separate layers...do you create them as an object and then import them? Again I'm just needing some clear direction. Maybe you can get pre-built rigged mouths to use?

I'm having a little hard time explaining myself because I am so inexperienced at all of this. The manual is so vague to me and different tutorials use different ways of doing things.

I'm sorry to be such a newb...

[synthsin75]

I think your best bet would be to find a tutorial or example you think you can manage to do. Once you've done it, you'll start to get some idea of what you need these things to do, how you want to control them, etc.

There are no hard and fast rules for 2D animation. You just do whatever it takes to produce the effect you want. Make sure you understand what AS can do (and how to do it). Once you know that, you'll be able to come up with your own way to accomplish these tasks.

Everyone animates differently, so it's very hard to answer with specifics without writing a complete tutorial. (That would be, for most people, asking too much)

[heyvern]

Look at the phoneme list for the mouth shapes:

AI ("aaaa", "ah", "eye", "uh")
O
U
L (Almost the same as "AI" but the tongue is in a different position)
MBP
E
etc (eee teee ceee)
WQ (Like "U" but more closed)
FV (Not "Eh-f" but the "Vuh" or "Fuh" position with the lips and teeth)
rest (neutral pose)

Make those "sounds" with your own mouth while looking in a mirror. Remember you only need the basic shape of the sound, not the actual "letter". I do some pretty complex lip sync without even using a tongue at all, just by changing the width of the mouth and position of the lower jaw.

You could just use a very few simple positions for the mouth to create fairly accurate lip sync. To use papagayo though, you need all 10.

-venr

[mkelley]

You could just use a very few simple positions for the mouth to create fairly accurate lip sync. To use papagayo though, you need all 10.

-venr

Well, not really.

You need 10 layers, but they don't have to be different. You could easily get away with the "F" and "etc" layers the same layer duplicated, the "E" and "AI" the same layer duplicated, "WQ", "U" and "O" the same layer duplicated and so on. I suspect you might only need about five different mouth positions at the most to use PG effectively.

Personally I just have three basic mouths (one for men, one for women, and one for girls) and thus I don't mind taking the time to draw all the positions (indeed, I have three separate mouth groups for all three types -- one sad, one neutral, and one smiling). Then I just resize and reuse. But I also have dozens and dozens of characters (in a simpler project it might be more effective to create a new mouth for each character).

[toonertime]

i like this site for some useful lip sync stuff:

http://www.angryanimator.com/word/2008/ ... -3-dialog/

[Pixelpusher]

I know that I will eventually understand and get it... just a little impatient I suppose.

Thanks for all of the feedback and links.

[Pixelpusher]

OK, now that I have my mouth shapes, I think that using a switch layer will be my best option for animating dialogue. Now, how can I select all of my layers and move them in unison around the artboard?

[heyvern]

Move the switch layer. If you have a bunch of other layers, put them in a bone or group layer and move that.

-vern

[Pixelpusher]

Thanks Vern...it worked.