Datasheet

The Simplest Lip Sync n 17
5. Check all the boxes and fill them in as shown in the screen
shot, limiting the motion in X from –1 to 1, in Y from –1 to 0,
and in Z from 0 to 0.
6. Move locator1 out of the way of the mouth. MouthControl,
being the child, should follow. (As I’m sure you’ve guessed,
MouthControl will be how we manipulate the shapes on
Mouth.)
7. Select Mouth, and then in the Channel Box under Inputs, highlight MouthShapes.
8. Go to Window
Animation Editors
Expression Editor.
9. In the Objects window on the left, highlight MouthShapes. You should see
WideNarrow and OpenClosed appear in the Attributes window to the right (along
with “envelope,” which you can just ignore). Highlight the WideNarrow attribute. In
the Expression box near the bottom, type the following:
MouthShapes.WideNarrow = MouthControl.translateX
Maya is case-sensitive, so be careful. Click the Create button at the bottom left. If
it worked correctly, you should be able to move the control side to side and see the
mouth widen and narrow.
10. Highlight the OpenClosed attribute. In the Expression box near the bottom,
type this:
MouthShapes.OpenClosed = -MouthControl.translateY
Be sure you include the minus sign before MouthControl. If it worked, you should be
able to move the control down and see the mouth open.
That’s it. Youre done messing around with expressions! Now you have a super basic
slider interface to work with—but hey, it’s a rigged mouth! The 45-degree rotated locator
that you renamed MouthControl is now a slider for Mouth that works in two dimensions,
X and Y.
This mouth rig is pretty simplistic. Right now there is really only one “shape”—
Wideand youre creating the Narrow by telling Maya to do the opposite. Pulling
the slider left, you’ll see the “fake” Narrow shape. That plus some Open/Slider Down
should create a pretty good OO shape. If its not quite how you want it, unhide the object
WideNarrow and widen it, which will in turn affect Mouth’s shape. Since in Narrow
we’re looking at the opposite of the WideNarrow (which is Wide), the wider you make
Wide, the narrower Narrow can be. Backwards-tastic!
609903c01.indd 17 6/2/11 1:52:17 AM