I just want to make sure I understand this. . .according to the ASP 5.6 book (I'm on 6 now, but 90% of the info in 5.6 should still be relevant, right?)
When you adjust the volume on an imported audio file, in ASP, it's supposed to make it easier for the program to detect different audio levels and set better keys using a switch layer, if that is how you've done your lip sync, right?
So if I set my audio level to, like 6 billion, will it be more accurate in terms of when mouth is closed, open, etc., than if I set the audio level to 1, or am I always going to have to manually tweak the keys?
Oh, PS, I don't have "true" lip sync, meaning, I don't have mouth shapes for individual phenomes. It's just plain old open and close, with a couple of different emotions (there's a smile mouth switch layer, a no emotion mouth layer, etc.). Each switch layer has five sub layers.
audio volume on audio layer/file affects lip sync?
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
That type of audio based lip sync with switch layers is based on the difference in volume... the change of the volume from loud to quiet. It is "averaged" or "normalized" I am pretty sure. When you import a sound the loudest part of the sound is the highest point on the wav form no matter how quiet or loud that loudest part of the sound is. In AS 6 you can see this in the audio layer wav form display in the time line.
In AS 5.6 there is a check box when importing audio called "Automatic Gain". I believe this will "normalize" the loudness levels in the audio. If you turn that off you can "manually" adjust the volume. The automatic gain check box is gone from AS 6 so I assume that is the default behavior since audio layers can be adjusted in the audio layer settings.
What this means is.. audio layers in AS 6 are not displayed as they "really are" as they would appear in an audio editing application that displays the peaks as the actual db value. The wav form height in AS is the normalized highs and lows.
A tiny quiet sound is displayed with the wav forms expanded top to bottom even if it is half as quiet as another audio layer. The peaks are always top to bottom I would assume to make it easier to see the wav form for syncing with the action.
So actually increasing the volume might work if you aren't getting enough of the loudest sound to activate that switch layer... but it also might make all the sounds louder and not give a good average range.
-vern
In AS 5.6 there is a check box when importing audio called "Automatic Gain". I believe this will "normalize" the loudness levels in the audio. If you turn that off you can "manually" adjust the volume. The automatic gain check box is gone from AS 6 so I assume that is the default behavior since audio layers can be adjusted in the audio layer settings.
What this means is.. audio layers in AS 6 are not displayed as they "really are" as they would appear in an audio editing application that displays the peaks as the actual db value. The wav form height in AS is the normalized highs and lows.
A tiny quiet sound is displayed with the wav forms expanded top to bottom even if it is half as quiet as another audio layer. The peaks are always top to bottom I would assume to make it easier to see the wav form for syncing with the action.
So actually increasing the volume might work if you aren't getting enough of the loudest sound to activate that switch layer... but it also might make all the sounds louder and not give a good average range.
-vern
So what have you found to be the best way to get accurate keys that seem to approximate the way the waveform actually sounds? Leave it alone? Increase? Decrease?
The thing I've noticed so far is that sometimes the mouth stays open on the second to lowest layer in between syllables instead of closing, and that sometimes it doesn't open as soon as it should.
I have a character saying something as simple as "hey", and you expect to see the mouth move as soon as the "h" begins, but it only starts to open when the "ey" comes in. That kinda stuff.
The thing I've noticed so far is that sometimes the mouth stays open on the second to lowest layer in between syllables instead of closing, and that sometimes it doesn't open as soon as it should.
I have a character saying something as simple as "hey", and you expect to see the mouth move as soon as the "h" begins, but it only starts to open when the "ey" comes in. That kinda stuff.
The first one actually is human behaviour. The second needs some tweaking. I don't find it to be a big deal, as long as I don't have to animate hour-long speeches.The thing I've noticed so far is that sometimes the mouth stays open on the second to lowest layer in between syllables instead of closing, and that sometimes it doesn't open as soon as it should.