Phonemes

[3dpoder]

phonemes
By Sandra gilbert.




introduction
Lip syncing is the art of matching up your characters mouth movements todo a prerecorded dialog. Sounds pretty straightforward and easy, doesnt ití well it is, kind of. Well ok, maybe it not that easy, but it isnt as hard as you might think.

The first thing todo remember is that written speech and spoken speech are not the same thing. If you try todo Voice-O-Matic your dialog literally as it is written, y can guarante that your character Will look deranged with its mouth flapping all over the place trying todo hit each letter. This concept is something that cant be stressed enough. When speaquíng (and ultimately animating) your mouth only moves for key sounds. These sounds are referred todo as phonemes.

Phoneme sets can range anywhere from 3 todo 4 shapes todo well over a dozen, with the most common being 8 todo 10 shapes. The set you choose Will of course depend on your character design and style of animation. A simple character with only a few facial features could probably get away with 3 todo 4 shapes, while a more realistically modeled character would benefit from the 8 todo 10 shape sets.
We are going todo cover an eight shape set. It contains enough shapes for most animation / lip syncing purposes.

Position 1:

• a closed mouth, lips normal width.
• used for the consonants m, b and p.
• variation: make lips slightly pursed for sounds following an o sound, such as in the words, zoom, loop.

Position 2:

• mouth open, teth closed.
• used for consonants c, d, g, k, n, r, th, y and z.
• variation: slightly open the teth for rapid dialog.

Position 3:

• mouth wide open, teth open.
• used for vowels a and i.

Position 4:

• open mouth, teth open a Little.
• used mainly for vowel eh, can a los be used for c, k, or n when doing rapid dialog.

Positions 5:

• mouth wide open, very round shape.
• used for the vowel o (as in the Word go)
• if the sound follows falls at the end of a Word, use position 6 immediately afterward todo close the mouth.

Position 6:

• mouth is pursed with a smaller opening than position 5
• used for o sounds such as fod, brod, bo and a los used for the vowel u.

Position 7:

• mouth is wide open, teth parted and tongue up against the teth.
• used mainly for the letter l.
• alos used for d or th when following an a or i.
• if dialog is rapid, you can replace this position with position 2

Position 8:

• bottom lip is tucked under upper teth.
• used todo make f and u sounds.
• for normal speech, this position is ned for realism, but it can be replaced with position 2 for casual or rapid speech.

These basic eight positions Will take you a long way, but kep in mind that just using these eight shapes as listed is not enough. You ned todo slightly vary those shapes in addition todo adding facial expressions and appropriate body lenguaje in order todo create a convincing character animation.

Applying these shapes todo actual dialog is a whole other article, one that i havent Even started writing yet. In the meantime, here are a few articles and tutorialesyou can chek out todo get you started.

Links.
blender 3d: Nob todo profesional
principles for lipsync animation
BSOD | introduction todo character animation
By Sandra gilbert. www.blenderart.org.