03/06/2020
Ways to make facial expression and lip movements interesting in Animation.
Many of these tips are based on the dialogue principles and how they are portrayed in animation.
Before focusing on the face and mouth, animate the body, head and hands to convey the attitude and emotion of the character. Listen for the accents in the dialogue, and emphasize them with the whole body. Think about the line of action through the spine, and the angle and movement of the head. If the head moves work with the dialogue, the expression on the face and the mouth shapes become less critical, especially when the character is very active.
Shooting a close-up video of your face as you say the dialogue along with the track is very helpful. It is also recommended that keep a mirror next to your computer, so you can quickly try out expressions and mouth shapes. If you watch yourself in a mirror, don’t speak too slowly— speak at the same speed as the recording. If you speak slowly, you tend to over-enunciate which will lead to more mouth shapes than you need.
Generally, you can animate the dialogue using pose-to-pose animation a layered approach, or a combination of the two, both the approaches are recommended. First, work on the key poses in the scene, touching the jaw rotation, mouth shape, cheeks, eyes, and eyebrows. Then go back to the start of the scene and do a jaw pass on one phrase at a time, focusing only on the jaw rotation (opening and closing).
Open the jaw on the vowels A,E, I, O, and U. As you open and close the jaw, vary the amount, as in the photos below. It’s important to emphasize the big vowel accents with wide, open mouths.
You should close the mouth on consonants like B, P, and M, and usually for at least 2 frames. If you go from an open mouth to a closed one and only hold it for one frame before opening it again, it can pop and look like a mistake, or not read at all. Keep in mind that a closed mouth isn’t always a straight horizontal line.
Once the jaw pass is working, select all of the controls on the lower half of the face, set keys on them to match the jaw keys, and then start to refine the mouth shapes. It is recommended to usually do the mouth corners next, then the cheeks, then the lip controls.
Look for interesting mouth shapes that reflect the personality of the voice. Enjoy the process of animating lip movements.