Best key features of Papagayo NG
Introduction
We will see the introduction about animation before seeing the key features of Papagayo NG.
2D animation is the process of creating motion for characters, objects, backgrounds, etc. in 2D workspace. These 2D animations are created by professional animators to convey their ideas and thoughts to the world. The background music, emotional voices in the animations are effectively tells the story and themes to the viewers.
Emotions and dialogue between characters are created in the animation itself through facial expressions, pose moments and lip movements.
The characters pose and mouth animations were drawn in frame by frame method during earlier days. The process was time-consuming and required skilled animators to create the mouth animations. Nowadays lot of 2D and 3D software has lip synchronous features that support animator to create mouth animation quick and easy.
Specialized software like Papagayo NG, Crazy talk animator are also available to create perfect mouth animation in Synfig studio, Moho, Blender animation software.
Now we will closely review the key features of Papagayo NG software that effectively support the animator to create perfect lips synchronization according to the background voice. This makes the character or model to communicate the story and thoughts to the viewers.
Below are the main key features of Papagayo NG software.
- Main working interface (Audio editing interface)
- Languages
- Methods of phonetic breakdown
- Export and Save option
- Mouth shapes
- Cost
1. The Main working interface
The main working user interface has rectangular white colored area as shown in the figure. The imported audio file is displayed in wave form for editing purpose. Play and Stop buttons in the user interface, let you listen to the sound of the audio.
A zoom toolbox is available to help the user view at a magnified size or fixed screen size. Importing an audio file is easy by clicking the File – Open command. You can easily change the name of the voice by updating the text in the voice name bar provided below the rectangular working area.
2. Languages
Papagayo NG software has a window named Spoken Text where you can enter the spoken word in text format. This text will be displayed over the audio file in the main user interface. This spoken text window allows the animator to split the audio file into text format for easy understanding and manipulation of the text.
This software supports 12+ languages to display text over audio files. Also it has Pidgin English format which helps animators make other language text look like text of English words. This Pidgin English format is a very useful technique for creating any language text with a combination of English words.
3.Method of phonetic breakdown
Fleming Dobbs is the combination of Bill Flemming and Darris Dobbs rule where in depth research made on the facial expression, realistic speech for characters. Papagayo NG offers the option to choose either Preston Blair or Fleming Topps lip sync technology to create realistic mouth animation for characters.
The Papagayo NG has two methods to split the words over the audio file. The methods are Preston blair and Fleming Dobbs. The Preston Blair method sets rules for character animation such as walking, running, and posing. Also the rules are available for mouth movements, facial expression during dialogue.
4. Export and Save option
Papagayo NG has an option to export the processed audio file to a dat format supported by Moho software. You can also able to export the audio data in the form of images by image export option. This will helpful for animator to understand the mouth shapes for the respective voice.
Usually Papagayo NG software saves the processed audio file in .pgo format. These .pgo files can be easily imported into 2D animation software like Adobe Synfig studio, Moho and 3D animation software like Blender, Maya.
5. Mouth shapes
Papagayo NG software provides different mouth shape set for the same phonetic voice. This is very helpful for the animator to select the best mouth shape set according to their needs. The different set of mouth shapes available are mouth1, mouth2, Gary C Martin , Preston Blair ,Fleming & Dobbs, Azia Comics 1, Azia Comics2.
Also read : Mouth shapes in Papagayo-NG
The animator can change the frame rate of the voice in the FPS option to control the speed as needed. There is a play button in the toolbar to preview the mouth shapes according to the voice.
The different set of mouth shape in the Papagayo-NG, helps the animator to choose best mouth shapes for their project animations.
6.Cost
Papagayo-NG software was originally developed by Lost Marble and is offered as open source software. It supports and helps the animator to use this lip sync animation for free.
The software is available in Windows and Linux OS format to support a wide range of 2D animators. Simple, intuitive and free source lip sync software is a great choice for beginner, low-budget animators for their animation projects. This software requires a low learning curve. And lip sync makes animation easier and saves the animator a lot of time.
I hope this article helps you understand the key features of Papagayo NG software.
Also read: How to Use Papagayo-NG in Synfig Studio for Lip-Sync Animation
