Moho Forum

Apologies if this has already been covered somewhere else. If it has, I can't seem to find it.

What are all the phonemes that Papagayo uses to generate lip synch, and how do you arrange them properly in an AS switch layer?

Professional animator here (i.e. I actually get paid for doing it), experimenting with AS Debut in consideration of a future Pro purchase.

There are ten and they are case sensitive.

rest - the closed position.
etc
E
AI
L
MBP
FV
O
WQ
U

Papagayo, or more specifically the Papagayo MOD version, is very useful and fast. I have used it to break Thai even though no Thai phonemes set exist - I simply enter English words which sound roughly the same - works a treat. Don't try to follow the consonants too closely otherwise you end up with the butterfly lips syndrome - in real speech, people get lazy and slip between vowels. So less is often better. You can edit the phonemes spacing then playback it back, so you can get it really tight.

Papagayo exports them in a text file which is imported by hand onto the switch layer: If you are doing multiple language versions of a series (ie, Welsh and English), then its easy to render the scene twice, the only change being the change of switch file. It works well.

If you are using AS for pro work, the PRO version is best - Group layers etc are essential for commercial work. I still use 5.6 and its very capable of broadcast work. There are bugs but then, what software hasn't. You live with them and work around it.

Some studios use Combustion or Nuke for compositing.

Rhoel