## Tuesday, July 10, 2012

### LipSynching

Helloes ponydom!
Lion here with more on animating and the project :)
I've been told that lipsynching is tough. Very tough. BUT, it depends on the mindset, really. Lipsynching is more about the FEEL of a sound than the sound itself. If you take every letter or syllable of a sentence, the lips are going to move so fast you're gonna leave the audience in epileptic shock x.x
It's not uncommon for me to put a lip or mouth shape 2 or 3 frames before the actual cue as to act like some sort of anticipated movement and then 'morph' the shape, so to speak.
In Flash, I take the audio and put it in its layer.. like one is supposed to. Of course, thanks to the animatic, I have a precise framecount and frame to start as well as finish. That audio layer is then put in 'stream' from the properties so I can hear it while scrubbing the timeline.
Notice I also have the lines from my freehand animation test over everything in lineart form (orange) so that I constantly have my guides to help get the cues right. I also have a 'lipsynch' layer. That's basically the mouth and/or jaw.
For this particualr shot, I pre-animated the whole symbol. The reason for doing that is to concentrate on keeping the mouth to the head without having to worry about the lipsynch timing being thrown off by a change of position.
It caused some problems but prevented others as well.
Like when she raises her head to accent a particular part of the singing. The tweening was not working well at all for that section. I put everything frame by frame. It gave a result I was decently happy with, too, considering it's Flash, after all.
That particular shot was pretty long and requires much concentration to get done. There were a few skips that got corrected and while there could be some more polishing, in the end the shot still works. I'll see if there's time to put a little more time in some previous shots for esthetic's sake, but here's a little GIF teaser of the animated shot. Sorry for the weird coloring.. GIF animations being 8-bit and all that ^^;
- Lion, out.

#### 29 comments:

1. Ignacy Grabowski July 10, 2012 8:34 PM

   Wow, thats really nice, i was wondering when you will show some animation, and finally you did. By the way i didnt expect it'd be so amazing.I love your work guys

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   1. Lionheartcartoon July 10, 2012 8:40 PM

      That's the thing with animation.. show too much and you dilute the effect.. show too little and there's doubt settling in. Part of why there is this blog ^^ To show how things are coming along :)

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2. Anton Kovalenko July 10, 2012 8:50 PM

   LipsSync does look really good!
   How much time have it taken to make LipsSync from start and to this point?
   p.s. Body while fixed in place, looks a little strange.
   p.s.s. Her Mane over the eyes is a little bit "plain" while she is moving her head around.

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   1. Lionheartcartoon July 10, 2012 8:56 PM

      This particular one took about 5 hours of work plus a few extras for corrections (the eyes were moving around way too much)
      But worry not.. with the music playing, those things won't appear as 'plain'.

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3. Nanook123 July 10, 2012 9:25 PM

   To quote Rainbow Dash: "This. Is. So. AWESOME!"
   I'm glad you kept the little headwiggle at the very beginning of this to emphasize the inflection of the singer's voice in the actress. This is going to look amazing when it's done. I am simply in awe of the process at this point.

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   1. Lionheartcartoon July 10, 2012 10:24 PM

      The 'headwiggle' is to match with the previous shot's as it will be a crossfade. I needed to have the animation match ;)

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4. Jose Guillermo July 10, 2012 9:47 PM

   I'm amazed at how far you 2 have gone, this is turning out even better that I imagined.

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5. djthomp July 10, 2012 9:50 PM

   This is going to be the most epic thing ever.

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6. Kein July 10, 2012 10:59 PM

   I think there is a small animation error: her ear should cover her hairstroke, not vice versa. This is how it's made in the show and it just makes sense in general: http://i.imgur.com/0l9DA.png

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   1. Lionheartcartoon July 10, 2012 11:22 PM

      In the layers, when the ear is over her bang, it is suddently ALSO over the eyes. If I put the eyes over the ear to correct the problem, then they are over her bang.
      The only other way to correct that is to add a 'patch'.. and just that little patch is yet another layer and symbol to worry about while animating. I prefferred to suffer the thunders of perfectionnists than going crazy ;)

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   2. Kein July 10, 2012 11:42 PM

      Hmm, I see, make sense. Oh well, it is not really noticeable unless you have OCD like me, haha.

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   3. Lionheartcartoon July 11, 2012 8:37 AM

      Quite all right ^^ I do appreciate the fans wanting to help :)
      *brohoof*

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7. moonsugar33 July 10, 2012 11:26 PM

   This is amazing :D Makes me want to venture into Flash myself. The furthest I ever got was a whole bunch of dancing stick figures. :P

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8. Richtus July 11, 2012 3:40 AM

   I'm loving it! This is going to be so amazing when it's complete.
   I am wondering though, is that .gif showing a finished scene, or will there be more work done on it?
   Reason I ask is that I am also an animator, and the one thing that stands out to me is the little head spin at the end. Her head turns to screen right, then tilts straight up, then goes screen left, all in a square shape, when it ought to go in a circular arc.
   That's just my two bits :)

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   1. Lionheartcartoon July 11, 2012 8:41 AM

      That's the mechanical part of flash that I could not completely eliminate. I see it in my head, I see it in drawings and then I have to decompose it in parts, layers and each one with a weird keyframe.
      What's instinctive for me as a traditional animator becomes a headache in Flash.

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9. raptor July 11, 2012 7:10 AM

   I synced it with the song and OMG, its perfect! and so much detail in the movement. you even highlight when the singer takes a breath between verses. great job, this is going to look incredible.

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10. Johnny July 11, 2012 9:12 PM

    Her nose transitions are a bit too sudden, it could have used more transforming and angle degrees.
    What framerate you using?

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    1. Lionheartcartoon July 11, 2012 9:27 PM

       GIF files never run at the exact framerate specified. However the whole video is at 24fps.
       As for the nose, I'm still glad it's not as sudden as what's in the show. But I got tired fighting with flash and it's shortcomings.

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    2. Johnny July 11, 2012 9:40 PM

       You ever considered animating the show by hand and adding more frames?

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    3. Lionheartcartoon July 11, 2012 9:44 PM

       I actually have.. and is something that could happen in some scenes. The animatic was, after all, animated by hand. Just with a lot.. LOT less frames.
       I haved a few more aces up my short sleeves :D

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11. Sarolveldruk July 11, 2012 11:27 PM

    Looking amazing so far, but the movements of her head seem a bit robotic and clunky.

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12. Justified July 12, 2012 12:08 AM

    One of the things I adore in Luna Eclipsed is watching all of the subtle gestures Luna makes. Take a look at 8:45-8:49
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBICxfoVGF0
    Like other scenes like this, Luna often seems to mask her true feelings in a sort of facade. Buried in her own royalness, if you will.
    I guess that is why I have fallen in love with the gif you have posted. Right off the bat, you can tell what Luna is signing is pretty gosh darn sad.
    After looking at the gif for a bit longer, I can see the way Luna is signing is almost hymn-like. It is almost as if she is in morning. Something you would see at a funeral of a saint. Not stiff and emotionless, but stern and solemn. Maybe she is even holding something back in her dignified ways?
    Anyways, I am very excited for this. Keep up the good work. :)

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    1. Lionheartcartoon July 12, 2012 11:47 AM

       Body language is something important but just because it can be used doesnt mean it always should. There is a very subtle breathing move but her wings are firmly folded. She's concentrating on what she's doing and while I did ponder about opening her wings in the final moment, it was more dramatic to keep it for later :)
       Most of what's there has a reason :)
       Also, the twinkling stars are not due to the compression.. that's a detail everyone seems to have missed ;)

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13. ScorpyX July 12, 2012 4:29 AM

    with music this gif feels awesome
    I'll wait as long as it takes
    it's gonna be excellent

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14. Capt.Jack.Hergow July 12, 2012 1:10 PM

    A dream !!!! I LOVE !

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15. Christian Randolf July 12, 2012 1:33 PM

    me gustaria que programa usa en la animacion algunos son egoistas en enseñar

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    1. Spiritto July 12, 2012 5:33 PM

       Esto... es Flash, bien se le ve. SI hasta mostramos la interfaz.

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16. Adrian July 12, 2012 4:00 PM

    Oh god please finish this animation....if you need money i'll donate..just ask...PLEASE FINISH THIS!!!

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17. Zahc Wolf July 12, 2012 11:24 PM

    Just discovered your video on Youtube. I commend you on a superb animation, even in its early stages. I love the idea behind the video and I believe that the music suits Luna perfectly. I look forward to seeing the completed article

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