Project summary
Yes allrighty then, onto Project 03 and the lipsync assignment, second of the three Digital Acting module assignments.
Yes allrighty then, onto Project 03 and the lipsync assignment, second of the three Digital Acting module assignments.
Project text
"1. Choose any character rig of your choice which has ability to be animated into a variety of facial expressions.
2. Choose any sound-clip of your choice to animate your chosen character rig.
3. 1 x max file
1 x render - you decide on a presentable render output.
Production files - any supporting files that represent production.
1 x Notepad - contains URL(s) of your Project 4 journal post(s).
Everything needs a good naming convention. For example, so that another person (an extern sensor) can easily see WHO made the file and WHAT the content of that file is!
4. Create a journal post – or more than one! Fully describe your creative and technical journey in this Project 3.
• Reveal web-links you have found of references and tutorials.
• Show web-links or embed 3D animation films (or other films) of lyp-sync inspiration.
• Write how you achieved your animation – show screen-captures.
• Show planning of thumbnails sketches, notes, doodles or max file drafts.
• Show your process – the failed experimentation – we call this risk-taking
• Finally, show your final lyp-sync animation."
"1. Choose any character rig of your choice which has ability to be animated into a variety of facial expressions.
2. Choose any sound-clip of your choice to animate your chosen character rig.
3. 1 x max file
1 x render - you decide on a presentable render output.
Production files - any supporting files that represent production.
1 x Notepad - contains URL(s) of your Project 4 journal post(s).
Everything needs a good naming convention. For example, so that another person (an extern sensor) can easily see WHO made the file and WHAT the content of that file is!
4. Create a journal post – or more than one! Fully describe your creative and technical journey in this Project 3.
• Reveal web-links you have found of references and tutorials.
• Show web-links or embed 3D animation films (or other films) of lyp-sync inspiration.
• Write how you achieved your animation – show screen-captures.
• Show planning of thumbnails sketches, notes, doodles or max file drafts.
• Show your process – the failed experimentation – we call this risk-taking
• Finally, show your final lyp-sync animation."
Where to begin...
... well, in this case I decided to go with another rig. I have been doing most of my animating with the Lomax/Lowmax rig for 3D Max. But it DOES have some issues and one of those is the very little intuitive facial controllers. Dont get me wrong, they work just great, but in the end its not as easy nor fun to animate with. So for the lipsync I early on knew that I would like to use another rig. We got a few rigs to try from school, but in the end, they quite frankly suck donkeys balls. (imo)
So what do we do from here, you say? Well, we pull out the good'ol Driver from last semester's final animation project. He is a character created and designed by me, rigged and scripted by the talented Sebastian, aka. Tubasatan. He is simply called The Driver, and he was the main star of some bad digital acting in our final project in 3DDA.
... well, in this case I decided to go with another rig. I have been doing most of my animating with the Lomax/Lowmax rig for 3D Max. But it DOES have some issues and one of those is the very little intuitive facial controllers. Dont get me wrong, they work just great, but in the end its not as easy nor fun to animate with. So for the lipsync I early on knew that I would like to use another rig. We got a few rigs to try from school, but in the end, they quite frankly suck donkeys balls. (imo)
So what do we do from here, you say? Well, we pull out the good'ol Driver from last semester's final animation project. He is a character created and designed by me, rigged and scripted by the talented Sebastian, aka. Tubasatan. He is simply called The Driver, and he was the main star of some bad digital acting in our final project in 3DDA.
Id like to talk abit about the rig and its functions first. One of the main reasons for me to use this particular rig, is not that its simply my own model and such, but the beautiful fact that one can SAVE facial positions! In one word, SWEETNESS when lipsyncing. This also applies to hands, as it is Paul Neale's great scripts powering it, giving you the possibillities of saving poses that can quickly be saved and blended with each preset you make. I cannot tell how much time I spared by doing it this way, and I feel it turned out pretty good, considering the rigs limits.
For instance, he was never really intended to DO acctual lipsyncing, but more this yata yada yada kinda rabble rabble talk (catch my drift?) :P
So in that respect his mouth can be quite tricky to move where you want it, without "breaking" it, much due to his ginormous mouth. There is also some skinning issues with him, and the fact that the tongue aint working.
For instance, he was never really intended to DO acctual lipsyncing, but more this yata yada yada kinda rabble rabble talk (catch my drift?) :P
So in that respect his mouth can be quite tricky to move where you want it, without "breaking" it, much due to his ginormous mouth. There is also some skinning issues with him, and the fact that the tongue aint working.
Reference? Tutorials?
There is honestly not much reference I can say I have used, but I did have to search up a couple of things, like the phonemes for lip-syncing, and in that regard Gary C. Martin's page with the Preston Blair phonemes should be common knowledge for many animators. I personally feel these are a bit toooo over the top, and exessive, so I decieded to dig around a bit more when I found this:
There is honestly not much reference I can say I have used, but I did have to search up a couple of things, like the phonemes for lip-syncing, and in that regard Gary C. Martin's page with the Preston Blair phonemes should be common knowledge for many animators. I personally feel these are a bit toooo over the top, and exessive, so I decieded to dig around a bit more when I found this:
Missing a few letters I would have liked to have better reference for, but indeed better than Prestons, and more suitable for my use.
One thing missing now, and thats the soundclip itself. There aint gonna be no lipsync without a voice to sync it to. Deciding between recording my own audioclip and going to DailyWav.com was a no-brainer, so quickly thereafter I found a bunch of suitable clips. And though many tempted, I settled on a clip from the tv-series Heroes, which incidently also is one of my current favorite series. Its a deep sort of setting I have tried to go for here with this particlular clip. I liked the feel and "deepness" of the words and therefore I chose this.
One thing missing now, and thats the soundclip itself. There aint gonna be no lipsync without a voice to sync it to. Deciding between recording my own audioclip and going to DailyWav.com was a no-brainer, so quickly thereafter I found a bunch of suitable clips. And though many tempted, I settled on a clip from the tv-series Heroes, which incidently also is one of my current favorite series. Its a deep sort of setting I have tried to go for here with this particlular clip. I liked the feel and "deepness" of the words and therefore I chose this.
Setting it up
After getting it all together, it was time to set up the phonemes for later use, which came easy with the simple and intuitive controlls, not to mention the blending possibillity with it.
After getting it all together, it was time to set up the phonemes for later use, which came easy with the simple and intuitive controlls, not to mention the blending possibillity with it.
Here you see a few of the basic phoneme shapes.
Truly, the fact that you can save facial poses, is genious. Makes the job go faster and easier.
The failures
When doing animation you often come to a point where you feel you have animated for hours but still it dont feel right, so, what do you do? Well in my case, you start over. I must have started blocking out 3-4 different versions of this one, before it felt right enough. Never saved them though, so I got nothing to show off from that stage.
When doing animation you often come to a point where you feel you have animated for hours but still it dont feel right, so, what do you do? Well in my case, you start over. I must have started blocking out 3-4 different versions of this one, before it felt right enough. Never saved them though, so I got nothing to show off from that stage.
Perfection?
No, far from it. But its the best I can do at this time, with the time I had. So here it is, the final Lip-Sync animation:
No, far from it. But its the best I can do at this time, with the time I had. So here it is, the final Lip-Sync animation:
Hindsight
To conclude and reflect, Id like to say that this was a interesting experience, and my second attempt at lip-syncing a character. I feel that the sync itself works pretty good, but the rest of the animated bits could use a lot more work. Just dont feel that I am at a level high enough to do the animation I can see in my head. Needs more experience with that.
All-in-all, it was great experience, and I can see myself doing a lot more syncing with the Driver in the future. Found it quite pleasing to do the syncs, but the rest, not so much ^^
Now here at the final words, I would like to give a thanks to Tubasatan for his awsome rigging skills, making this character come somewhat to life ;P
And a thanks to InsaneTk for his continual support and tips und tricks.
Not to mention Paul Neale, whom makes life easier.
To conclude and reflect, Id like to say that this was a interesting experience, and my second attempt at lip-syncing a character. I feel that the sync itself works pretty good, but the rest of the animated bits could use a lot more work. Just dont feel that I am at a level high enough to do the animation I can see in my head. Needs more experience with that.
All-in-all, it was great experience, and I can see myself doing a lot more syncing with the Driver in the future. Found it quite pleasing to do the syncs, but the rest, not so much ^^
Now here at the final words, I would like to give a thanks to Tubasatan for his awsome rigging skills, making this character come somewhat to life ;P
And a thanks to InsaneTk for his continual support and tips und tricks.
Not to mention Paul Neale, whom makes life easier.