Lip-syncing is tedious. No animator looks forward to it. It's up there with painting your house or dental maintenance. Through years of animating in Flash, I have developed a better and faster way to lip-syncing in Flash. This isn't another "How to swap symbols" tutorial. I'm talking about controlling nested animations with the Properties Inspector and saving yourself a few extra clicks per symbol swap, regardless of your skill level. This same technique can be used to control most anything including eye expressions, head turns, gestures and whatever else you can imagine.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Flash MX 2004

• Try
• Buy

Prerequisite knowledge:

A basic knowledge of Flash

Watch the Macrochat (Approximately one hour)

Note: This recorded seminar kicks in at about 1:15. It was one of the early ones we recorded—but it's another great session by Chris, so we wanted to share it with you on the Developer Center. Please be patient, and scrub ahead to 1:15, if you'd like.

Figure 1. An example of nesting the mouth movements in one clip

Macromedia offers live, in-depth product presentations called Macrochats—technical discussions led by product engineers, technical support engineers, and customer leaders. Macrochat content varies across all Macromedia products and technical levels.

Macrochats are recorded online using Macromedia Breeze Live. There is no charge to participate. While you are viewing, please keep in mind that these presentations were delivered to a live audience.

For a list of upcoming Macrochats, view the Macrochat schedule. For a list of past Macrochats, vist the Recorded Macrochats page.

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