DS2 - ANM 694: WEEK 8

Assignment 8.1: Mouth and Tongue Shapes

Assignment 8.2: Thoughts on Chapter 4, Stop Staring

Great approach to lip syncing indeed. I had heard that some of the best facial animators in the industry block in their animations based not on the expected shapes of the words spoken, but based on the performance of the character while saying the dialogue. Everyone says things differently and depending on the context, the emphasized syllable could have different emotional expressions as well. Different accents might also affect which mouth shapes are pushed or are left more subtle. Each line of dialogue is its own special case and you really have to look in the mirror during the performance to see the shapes needed, (and more importantly,) which ones to leave out. I have also heard the word "indication" used in the context of hinting at lesser syllables / shapes in between the emphasized ones. The mouth still needs to go through certain formations in order to shape the sounds from the throat, but one only need 'imply' those shapes (rather than hit and hold on them) to give the impression that the mouth is matching the audio.

INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK

Mouth shapes:

TLCurlOut - mouth shape can be pushed more, looks overly subtle.

TLCurlIn - like where this is going but there's noticeable intersection from top and bottom lip.

SnarlR & SnarlL - good job with this, the top lip intersect teeth and gums

R - mouth looks smaller than it should

Pucker - mouth should push forward more

Wide - looks good but should be wider

NoseFlare - looks good

MBP - nicely done, push more to provide range

KAS - good, can be pushed more to provide wider range

Smile - corners look squarish should be sharper. Should effect more wider area of face. Some intersection of gums to chin.

Frown - push expression further.

CornStick - overly subtle, can push this further

Closed - chin can tighter and deform more.

BLDown - jaw should rotate and maintain shape integrity, movement is vertical and not natural looking.

BLCurlOut - simular concern about jaw and mouth corners are losing shape and top lip is also deforming in unnatural manner.

Pleased to see your first take on these mouth shapes. Can further develop and refine these shapes to be more natural. Don't hesitate to add more range to these shapes, animators will require this when they are pushing these expressions for the face.