Sony Vegas - Make Pictures Talk

Sony Vegas - Make Pictures Talk

Hey, what's up! Robert here coming at you with another Sony Vegas tutorial. This time, I'll be showing you how to make pictures talk in Vegas. Let's dive right in and look at what we'll be creating today.

You can see the mouth opening and closing, enabling you to animate your favorite celebrity, person, or anyone and make them say things they wouldn’t otherwise. While there might be an easier way to do this in After Effects, which I may show in a future tutorial, let’s focus on Sony Vegas for now.

Importing and Duplicating the Picture

1. Get your Picture Ready: First, get a picture of the person you want to animate and drag it into your project media folder in Vegas. Next, drag it down to create a new video track.
2. Duplicate the Video Track: Right-click on the track and choose "Duplicate Track". Now, you should have two identical tracks – the top one will be used for the mouth.

Adding a Solid Background

1. Insert Black Solid: Go to Media Generators, navigate to Solid Color, and choose black. Drag this into its own video track, placing this track between the two picture tracks.
2. Trim the Black Solid: Adjust the length of the black solid to match the 5-second duration of the picture tracks.

Masking the Mouth

1. Access Event Pan/Crop: Click on "Event Pan/Crop" for the topmost picture layer, and enable the Mask option.
2. Zoom and Mask: Zoom in toward the mouth area. Use the Pen Tool to meticulously select the mouth and chin area.

Adjusting the Black Solid Background

1. Resize Black Solid: Access Track Motion for the black solid track. Turn off the Maintain Aspect Ratio option and resize or reposition the black solid to fit behind the masked mouth area.

Animating the Mouth

1. Animating: Go back to Event Pan/Crop for the top picture layer. Lock the movement to the Y position.
2. Set Keyframes: Move a few frames forward and adjust the mouth position upwards for the open mouth effect. Copy the initial keyframe and paste it at laterframes to close the mouth.
3. Repeat Animation: Copy and paste the keyframes as necessary to create the mouth movement throughout the clip.

Now, you should have a talking image! With more intricate adjustments, you can sync the mouth movements to any audio clip you prefer.

If you've discovered a more efficient way to do this in After Effects, stay tuned as I might cover that in a future tutorial. Remember to subscribe to this channel for weekly tutorials. You can follow me on Twitter @robsProductions or like me on Facebook. If you have any questions or tutorial requests, feel free to leave a comment or contact me with the links provided in the description. I hope this helps. Thank you for watching and until next time, take care.

Keywords

• Sony Vegas
• Picture Animation
• Talking Picture
• Event Pan/Crop
• Keyframes
• Masking
• Track Motion
• Animation
• Media Generators

FAQ

Q: Can this method be used to animate any picture? A: Yes, you can use any picture, as long as the mouth area is clearly visible for effective animation.

Q: Do I have to use a black solid background? A: The black solid background helps to cover the area behind the animated mouth, offering a clean background for the animation.

Q: Is there an easier way to do this in After Effects? A: Yes, After Effects has more advanced tools for automating similar animations. I might cover this in a future tutorial.

Q: How do I sync the mouth movement to a voiceover? A: You can adjust the keyframes while playing the voiceover audio to ensure the mouth movements match the speech.

Q: Can I animate other facial features using this method? A: Yes, you can follow similar steps to animate eyes, eyebrows, or other facial features by creating and masking additional tracks.