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FelixCat - 28 August 2008 11:37 AM
Ian, Brian, Alonzo, Igors…
To create a lipsynk in EiAS is a nightmare, you have not instant feedback and is not friendly at all.
FelixCat
I agree fully. In addition to the skinning tools, I really believe some sort of audio scrubbing feature is needed.
Here is my list of features for improving Lipsync animation within Animator:
1) Integrate imported audio waveform into Timeline Palette
2) Audio scrub (hold option key while dragging in Timeline Palette to hear imported audio file)
3) Ability to set keyframes in Time Palette for selected object
4) Improved Audio/Animation Sync on preview playback within Animator
5) Ability to load multiple audio files
Explained below:
1 & 2) Integrate imported audio waveform into Timeline Palette/Audio scrub
I want to see the waveform (zoomable in/out) in the Timeline Palette and be able to scrub audio.
I know we have the audio waveform displayed in the timeline (if you import audio), but that is not as friendly as being able to hold the option key down and drag along the timeline to hear the audio. It would be great to have the ability (similar to other apps) to have the waveform visible in the actual Timeline Palette and be able to set keys for morph targets at the peaks/valleys of the waveform and then scrub along to make sure the mouth is moving correctly with the spoken syllables, etc. That way, you can tweak mouth morph targets or other keys in the main timeline and have faster visual feedback while animating.
3) Ability to set keyframes in Time Palette for selected object
If we can have the ability to set keys in the Time Palette (only showing the keyframes of a selected morph target for example), then I could move the Time Palette under a large project window and animate lipsync much faster and easier. Further refining of keyframes would be done in the main Timeline window and of course with function curve editing, but being able to set keys in the Time Palette would be VERY helpful (I think).
4) Improved Audio/Animation Sync on preview playback within Animator
Another idea for improvement would be to have the ability to click the play button in the timeline and have audio in the playback right in the project windows. Currently, a QT preview must be generated to have audio in sync with the animation. It would allow me to animate faster if I could have instant response in sync.
5) Ability to load multiple audio files
This is more of a nice to have, but not necessary for animating lipsync. If there was a dropdown menu or contextual menu within the Time Palette, you could select from several imported audio files. This way, if the audio changed and needed updating, you could just import the audio and select the new file.
This is all I can think of at the moment, but let’s see what others think.
Thanks!
-Ryan
