Make Him Talk!

Preparation Steps: Drag the mouth folder onto the desktop

Recommend you save after each step. Ctrl+S is all you have to press.

1.) Open a new flash file, Save the flash file (STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU SAVE YOUR FLASH FILE, IN THE MOUTH FOLDER ON YOUR DESKTOP. WILL SAVE YOU PROBLEMS IN LATER STEPS)

2.) Create a character. In this situation, choose a face and add eyes.

- You can create a face by using any of the drawing tools (The

circle tool) or

a.) Go to File > Import > Open External Library and open

"set2"

b.) Choose a face and eyes

3.) Listen to the audio clips and choose one that you think you would like to animate.

4.) Write down what the clip is saying. (It will help you a little bit later.)

5.) Open the external library for "set2" if you have not done so already. Copy the "mouth" folder into your library.

6.) Begin to create the mouth animation.

a.) Create a new MOVIE CLIP (Ctrl+F8) and give it a name.

b.) Click on frame one on the time line and enter this action script code : stop();

c.) Use the graphics from the "mouth" folder to create this movie clip

THINGS TO NOTE:

=> How long should it be? Look at the duration of the clip in Windows Media player. Take the duration in seconds, multiply this number by 12 and then place your ending keyframe at that number.

- For example a 5 second sound clip times 12fps equals 60. Your sound clip should stop at frame 60.

=> A tip you can use for a quick demo is form the first few words and then copy and paste the frames all the way to the last key frame you should have. Having a variety of lips moving, will make it seem as if the character is actually pronouncing the word.

=> Another trick you can use is to

- line the first graphic's registration point with the crosshairs.

- Go about 2 frames later and press F6

- go down to the properties panel and click on the swap button (try clicking on the graphic first to bring up the swap option)

- from here, you can choose the next graphic you want to replace it with. This will make sure that the mouth is placed in the exact spot of the last graphic. This allows for a smoother animation.

7.) After you have created the mouth piece, create a new button symbol

a.) Create a new BUTTON (Ctrl+F8) and give it a name.

=> you can add different states, but the only important state is a "UP" state and a "HIT" state.

8.) Time to put it all together!

a.) place the face instance, eyes, and mouth movie clip on the stage.

- name the mouth movie clip instance on the stage. (i.e. lips)

b.) place your button instance on the stage

c.) Click on the button and give your button a name in the

"Properties" panel

d.) With the button still selected

- Open your "Behaviors Panel" (Shift + F3)

- click on the plus sign

- go down to "Sound"

- go down to "Load Streaming mp3 File"

- in the first blank, enter "sound/name_of_your_sound_clip.mp3" (i.e. sound/single.mp3)

- in the second blank, give it a name that you can refer to it for later reference (i.e. single)

- IMPORTANT: look at the actionscript that flash has produced for this sound. In the line right before the closing "}" type :

"name_of_your_mouth_movie_clip.play(); "

(i.e. lips.play();)

Make sure you have saved the file, and now test it!

NOTES:

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