Introduction

In this tutorial, we will make a basic lip sync exercise following a complete workflow using two free software projects: Papagayo and TupiTube Desk. Papagayo is developed by a company called Lost Marble, and TupiTube Desk is developed by MaeFloresta.

First of all, we need to download and install both programs:

Part 1: Working with Papagayo

Now, to start making our example we will need:

• A sound file. In this case, a WAV file with the sentence we want to create the lip sync, in this case: “Maybe next time, huh?” (WAV File)
• A set of files (mouth.zip) with the mouth shapes of the phonemes for all the possible representations of a mouth when the character we are animating is speaking. By default, Papagayo has a group of different mouths (papagayo_mouths.zip) that you can use, just as a guide of the shapes you will need for your own mouth design.

It is important that you pay attention to the file names because they matter for Papagayo, so, when you create your own mouths, remember to use exactly the same file names as in this example: AI, E, etc, FV, L, MBP, O, rest, U, WQ.

What we are doing here is to use one of the Papagayo predefined mouth sets, just to make easier this explanation.

Note: Any kind of image format is supported by TupiTube Desk, so you can create your mouth sets as PNG, JPG or even SVG files if you want to.

Ok, that’s it. Now, let’s play with Papagayo a little, to create our lip sync example:

• The first thing we have to do here, is to load the sound file from the File menu → Open option, in this case the WAV file mentioned previously.


• Once we loaded it, you will see that Papagayo creates a visual representation of the voice you are working with. This representation will be useful to adjust the timing of the words in the sentence further.


• The next step is to fill the Spoken text field with the words that form the sentence in the sound file. In our case, the words: “Maybe next time, huh?”.


• Now, if we click on the play button in the toolbar, look what happens. The preview player on the right side of the interface, allows us to watch, how the lip sync for the sentence is going to look. As it was said before, you will be able to adjust the words or even the whole sentence in the timeline, if you consider that there are timing issues when you play the lip sync.


• Ok, now we have to save the Papagayo project from the File menu, using the option Save.


• So, we are going to use the extension PGO, which is the default Papagayo extension for lip sync projects. Let’s call the file next_time.

Now, we have the three elements that we need to import the Papagayo exercise into TupiTube Desk:

1. The lip-sync file (PGO file)
2. The sound file (WAV file)
3. The set of mouth shapes (directory with the mouth image files)

So, let’s open TupiTube Desk and create a new project.

Now, we have to go to the Miscellaneous Tools button and click on the option Papagayo lip sync Files.

On the right side of the interface, you will see the Papagayo panel to show up. So, click on the + button to import our example.

You will see a small dialog to appear:

• In the first field we just need to pick the PGO file.
• In the second field, we need to pick a directory, where the mouth images are stored.
• In the third file, we just need to pick the WAV file.

When we are done, we just click on the OK button. And that’s it, now our Papagayo project is part of our TupiTube animation project.

If we want to edit the position of the mouth, we can do it by clicking on the Edit button (Pencil icon), from the Papagayo panel.

A green node will show up on the canvas over the mouth, we can drag it and locate it wherever we want.

Now, we will add an eyes image into my animation to make it a little more fun. So first, we activate the Vector Static Background mode:

Then, we go to the Library panel and import the image from there:

Finally, we go back to the Frames Mode to play our lip sync animation!

Well, that’s it. Now you know how to do lip-sync exercises using Papagayo and TupiTube Desk.