Lip sync: when mouths move with the words
See when a character's mouth moves, what each preset gives, and how to change lip sync on one shot.
Reviewed
Lip sync makes a character's mouth move with the words they say.
When mouths move
A mouth moves when all of these are true:
- The line belongs to a character. Narration plays over the picture, so it moves no mouth.
- The speaker is on screen in that shot.
- The video is animated. No animation makes still images.
Who speaks comes from your input. For an idea, choose it under Voiceover: Narrator only and No voices give no character lines. With a script, your lines decide. See the script guide.
When two characters speak at the same time ({together} after the second line), both show on screen, but their mouths do not move in that shot.
What each preset gives you
On a computer, hover over a preset under Animation to see what you get, or select Compare tiers.
- Mini and Fast: basic lipsync.
- Pro: improved lipsync.
- Ultra: characters speak in the video itself. The face and the voice are made together, in longer shots that flow into each other.
- Songs: the singer lip-syncs to the song on Pro and Ultra only. See Make a song and a music video.
A lock on a preset means it needs a paid plan.
Turn lip sync on or off for one shot
- In the editor's Shots view, move the pointer over the shot's video and select Re-animate. A shot with no video shows Animate instead.
- If the speaker is on screen, the box shows a Lip sync choice:
- With lip sync: pick the line the shot performs. The line it performs now is marked performs now. Each line shows its speaker. When the shot shows two characters, pick the line of the character who talks.
- No lip sync: the line keeps playing, but the mouth stays still. Good for a reaction or a cutaway.
- Select Re-animate (or Animate) in the box. The price on the button follows your choice.
If the box says no line on this card can play under this shot, the shot animates without lip sync.
The Lip sync choice shows only on a shot where the script puts the speaker on screen. On other shots, the box has no such choice, and text in the motion description does not add it.
Lip sync on a shot you add
When you add a shot with Shot or Add shot, write the line in the first box, before you select Write script: @Mira: "I found it." A line that you add to the Shot script after Write script plays, but the mouth does not move. See Add, move, and remove shots and cards.
When the voice is early or late for the mouth
A lip-synced shot and its line move together on the Card timeline, so you cannot slide the voice under the mouth. To put them back in time, undo the change that put them out of time, switch the shot's Voice to Original when it has that switch, or Re-animate the shot with lip sync. See Change timing and sound on the Card timeline.
Dub or Original
Some shots, such as the speaking shots on Pro and the longer shots on Ultra, make the voice together with the picture. These shots can play one of two voices:
- Dub plays your characters' voices over the clip.
- Original plays the voices made together with the clip, based on your characters' voices. It mutes the dubbed lines and the sound effects on that shot.
Some new Ultra videos and some older Pro videos start on Original. Other videos start on Dub. Project settings > Voice shows the voice your video plays.
To choose for the whole video:
- Open Project settings.
- Select Voice.
- Select Dub or Original.
The first time you open a video that has such shots, a window asks you to choose. Select Decide later to keep the voice the video has now.
To change one shot only, move the pointer over the shot's video and use its Voice switch. The shot viewer has the same switch.
For other sound controls, see Use voices, audio, and captions.