After Effects Tutorial │ Making A Still IMAGE TALK Using EXPRESSIONS!!

After Effects Tutorial │ Making A Still IMAGE TALK Using EXPRESSIONS!!

Welcome to my After Effects tutorial! In this episode, I'm going to show you how to animate any picture and create a talking effect. This technique is great because everything is automated using expressions, so there is no hard work required for keyframing the mouth up and down repetitively.

Introduction

The inspiration for this tutorial comes from ERB (Epic Rap Battles). The effect has both a simple mouth up-and-down movement and a more advanced version that includes rotation. The latter looks more interesting but may not always work, so it's beneficial to try both methods. I’ll guide you through each step to achieve both effects.

Preparing Your Layers

1. Duplicate and Rename Layers: Import your image into After Effects. Duplicate your image layer and rename the layers properly, such as "Mouth" and "Face". This step is crucial for organization and will help you avoid confusion later.

2. Masking the Mouth: Select the "Mouth" layer and use the Pen Tool to mask out the lower jaw and chin part of the face. The important point is to think of drawing a box with a bit of curvature at the bottom for the chin.

3. Solo Layer and Adjust Mask: Solo the "Mouth" layer to see the masked area clearly. Copy this mask to the "Face" layer and invert it. Adjust the mask on the "Face" layer so that it extends below the chin, adding depth to your animation.

Adding Audio Keyframes

1. Convert Audio to Keyframes: Import your audio file, right-click on it, go to Keyframe Assistant, and select "Convert Audio to Keyframes". This will generate keyframe data for every frame of the audio clip.

2. Delete Unnecessary Layers: The generated keyframe data includes left, right, and both channels. Delete the left and right channels, so you are only working with "Both Channels".

Animating the Mouth

1. Expression for Position: Select the "Mouth" layer and press 'P' to bring up the position property. Alt-click on the stopwatch to open the expression editor. Link the position to the "Both Channels" slider using expressions.

   temp = thisComp.layer("Audio Amplitude").effect("Both Channels")("Slider");
   value + [0, temp * 2]
   

   The above expression will move the mouth based on the audio data. The multiplier (in this case, 2) helps intensify the effect for larger images.

2. Adjustments: If your audio has silent sections, manually adjust the keyframes to position the mouth correctly when there is no audio.

Adding Rotation

To add rotation to the mouth animation:

1. Wiggle Expression: Select the "Mouth" layer and press 'R' for rotation. Alt-click on the stopwatch and use the wiggle expression to add slight rotations.

   wiggle(1, 5)
   

   Adjust these values as needed for more realistic movements.

Conclusion

This technique is versatile and can be used for various projects. Feel free to customize it further for your specific needs. Thanks for following along!

Keywords

• After Effects
• Animation
• Expressions
• Masking
• Audio Keyframes
• Mouth Animation
• Rotation
• Wiggle Expression
• ERB Inspiration

FAQ

Q1: What is the main tool used to mask the mouth?
A1: The Pen Tool is used to mask the mouth.

Q2: How do I intensify the mouth movement for larger images?
A2: You can increase the multiplier in the expression to intensify the movement.

Q3: Can the rotation effect be optional?
A3: Yes, the rotation effect is optional and can be adjusted or omitted based on preference.

Q4: How do I handle silent sections of the audio?
A4: Manually adjust the keyframes during silent sections to position the mouth correctly.

Q5: What inspired this tutorial?
A5: The inspiration came from ERB (Epic Rap Battles).

Feel free to comment below if you have any more questions!