Still having big time problems with the lip-syncing.
I’m doing my recordings in garageband, using an external mike. The automatic lip-sync is so off (for most positions, it’s just a closed mouth)
that I have to do it all manually. What kind of recording (sound file) works
best for the automatic lip-sync? I tried Audacity as well, but it was more or less the same.
Anyway, I decided to do it manually. I made more mouth positions to make it more realistic, set it to streamed and started mapping them in frame by frame, scrubbing in the time line as I went. I can’t do a quick preview because I have a new version of Quicktime, which for some reason doesn’t allow this. So I have to export the scene every time I make the slightest adjustment. But when I watch it in Quicktime, it’s miles off, even though it seems in sync when I scrub through. I have to change one or two frames, then export and check, then come back, change one or two frames, etc. It took me 7 hours to lip sync the following sentence: "Are you ready to learn about performance management?"
Surely there is something I am doing wrong. How can I improve this process? I would prefer to use the automatic lip sync, but I don’t mind doing it manually, as long as the scrubbing is accurate. But it’s so far off that it’s actually misleading. Am I missing a setting? Using the wrong kind of sound file? Help!
DanB.
Well, I guess, the clearer the voice-recording the better will be the Lip-sync result…
It all depends of the “voice-quality” of the recording.
I have experimented with sound-files (aif and wav) created in a studio environment by professional voice-over-artist’s, the Lip-sync was nearly perfect.
But, as I do all my voiceover myself (with a MacMice-USB-Microphone) there is always some noise creeping into my recording (using Garageband, Soundtrack, Amadeus Pro, or FCExpress).
The Lip-sync is mostly fairly good, but never perfect, and I always assign or clear mouth-shapes manually.
Not sure why your Lip-sync is so far-off… (before or behind the sound-file ?)
Works perfectly here - using mostly AIFF / 44,100 Hz / 16 Bits.
Cheers
Nolan
PS:
Just to let you know that in Release 4.5 Quick Preview (return-key) is back and working.
Hi. Thanks for the reply.
When I play it in Quicktime the lips are well behind the sound. Even when I have them several frames ahead in the timeline, so much so that by the time I’ve got it close in Quicktime, when I scrub in Toon Boom I’ll be hearing “Are you ready…” when my characters lips are already on “…performance management”. When it’s off by this much, it’s difficult to even guess at the correct timing, and the sounds I hear when scrubbing actually distract me more than help me.
I can totally understand quality of recording impacting the automatic lip sync function. So I have no beef with it; I just assumed that despite purchasing new equipment - using an external mike and USB adapter - my recordings still just aren’t clear enough. What I can’t understand though, is why the scrubbing in Toon Boom is off so much that I can’t even do things manually. It’s a mystery to me.
DanB.
Well, do I understand right, that you’re doing your Lip-sync in the Timeline using the Camera-view as a guideline ?
Even using Solo-Mode, (or the Drawing-view with the mouth-layer), it is in my opinion not accurate enough (mostly I don’t understand my own sound-file good enough).
Using the Sound Element Editor and assigning the mouth-shapes there is much faster, efficient and more accurate. Even here I use a text-version as reference.
(I presume you have a good understanding of editing sound and how to Modify Lip-sync Mapping)
Cheers
Nolan
Take a look at when the synch starts getting out of synch.
I found that the synch works for about 10-12 seconds, then starts shifting.
Here’s a brief entry on it at JK’s Toon Boom wiki: http://toonboomcartooning.wetpaint.com/page/lip+synching
That’s right. I’ve been using the timeline and doing the lip-sync in camera view. I know we can use the sound editor, and change the mouth positions there, using the Toon Boom-provided, cartoon faces as a guide; but as I’m doing things manually, and using more than the eight positions, I didn’t think that would work. I figured that would only work if I limit myself to eight mouth positions. And wouldn’t that work for only one character? I have two speaking to one another.
I read somewhere else on this board that 24 seconds is about as long as you want to go before things start getting out of sync. If it’s 12 seconds though, I guess that might explain it. I’ll try starting a new scene. I don’t like this having to start a new scene every few seconds though; seems to make the video and sound choppy when I run it.
Thanks very much for the advice. I’ll take a look at that entry.
Best regards,
DanB.
Well, you’re right, Lip-sync-mapping works only with eight mouth-shapes…
One has to fit in other shapes (if needed) afterwards manually…
http://www.toonboom.com/products/toonBoomStudio/eLearning/tipsTricks/lipSynch/
One can import as many Sound-files as needed and map those to differently named mouth layers.
Cheers
Nolan
Okay, now this is getting extremely frustrating…
I decided to start a new scene, to combat the “running-out-of-sync” problem after 12 seconds. So I did what I have been doing until now, which has always worked, to start the next scene. Only this time, for some inexplicable reason, everything has been shifted over to frame no. 380!
What gives? This is how I’m doing it:
1) Make a peg as a holder to include all elements in scene 8 (except the sound).
2) Collapse the peg and highlight everything in the timeline (black bars above and below the blue bar).
3) Drag this into my local library and label it "Scene 8 temp."
4) Open up a new scene (Scene 9).
5) Drag “Scene 8 temp.” from the library into the timeline.
This process has worked before, but now, for some reason after I drop the template in and uncollapse the peg, all the frames from 1 to 379 are empty; everything has been shifted to start at frame 380. The whole template is 310 frames long, so I’m not sure why it has chosen 380 as the new start frame. If I collapse the main peg again and try to highlight it and drag it to frame 1, it turns orange and and jumps to the left, but when I lift my pen off, it bounces back to frame 380 again. Why is this happening? Does anyone know??
Cheers.
DanB.