I thought I'd document how I do lip sync using the face nulls.....as opposed to the dope sheet way. The dope sheet is great for doing it really quickly, but I believe you can get better results using the nulls almost as fast. Usually you have to clean up the dope sheet anyway.

So, here's how I personally perfer to do it:

1) The two main nulls are the Sync Null and Lips Null. I first use the left/right arrow keys to move these at Frame 0 to make a keyframe. So, essentially they are at the default location.

2) Now I select both these nulls and press the icon marked in green to keep their keys in the timeline.

3) I copy both Frame 0 keys of each null. Then I scrub through the dialog and paste new keys at the points I think will need a new mouth shape.

4) With all these keys in place, I'm always working from the mouth in the default position at each new mouth shape. I find it easier than going from different shapes every time.

5) Now I just work my way though each set of keys and make the relevant shapes. Invariably, I can copy similar shapes in the earlier parts and paste them in the latter parts.

6) Once the timing and shapes look right, I can then add some variance to the mouth shapes such as a wider mouth for one A sound or move the jaw from side to side with the jaw null.

Good Luck!

Let's really watch the lipsync in SO. In TWO, it's all over the place.

Lighting in TWO is also all over the place. Those are the 2 things where a little bit of work would result in real "quality" improvements. (Animation is not easy to improve.) And if we Edit SO in the Keyframing stage, we'll be able to hammer the continuity. Everything else (such as character design, texturing & music) is topnotch (or could be made that way with a little attention - on TWO, we had no flexibility to be critics.)

Just so you know: Holmes & I watched TWO this weekend with a critical eye. Our conclusion... Best In Class (where "class" is "B" movies). It's a VERY WORTHY JOURNEYMAN EFFORT!

Have A:M Films distribute that thing! I wanna see it!

You've had to do just about everything else to get to this point... might as well do distribution too.
Put it in your online store and I'll buy it today.


Sorry... the subject is Lip Sync.
What can I say... I agree.

Nice tips Ken.

Martin, you won't have to worry about the lighting, in the outdoor scenes, being all over the place. I won't be doing any of it.

You did alright, Mark. It's not like you had a lot of competition... (Me?)