The Switch Layer tutorial shows how to set up switch layers and gives examples of how they might be used. Probably their most common use is in lip syncing where the mouth is switch between different versions to match the sound of the words being spoken. However switch layers can also be used anywhere you want to combine frame by frame animation with key frame animation. In the lip syncing tutorial two methods are demonstrated. Moho has automatic lip syncing but it does require some set up of your character's mouth images for both, before you start. The first method is easiest, and turns out to be ideally suited to a character like my owl, who has a fixed beak, meaning no lip movement, just varying states of 'open'. They don't name the technique but I'm going to call it the 'Linear' method. In the Linear method you set up a switch layer that contains images of your character's mouth, starting with wide open and progressing sequentially down to closed. The tutorial used five images, I used seven for Alvin (as you can see inside the yellow box surrounding the Layers palette in the image below).
Moho does the rest, calculating what mouth image should display based on the audio and creating all the key frames (also shown in the image below).Īlvin's mouth is shown half way open on image three of the switch layer.įrom there it's just a case of going into the layer properties of your mouth switch layer and linking the audio source to the layer. #ANIME STUDIO PRO 10 VS DEBUT SOFTWARE#.