Files you will need:
1. MagpieLipsyncTutorial.blend
2. magpie2.mot (dictionary file)
3. vowels.txt (sample timesheet file)
A. Load MagpieLipsyncTutorial.blend
B. Select the dictionary file. magpie2.mot
C. Load the dictionary file.
D. Set the numbered IPO Keys to their letter sounds. Try keys 1-5 to map A, E, I, O, U. This blend file shows
a circle that forms points east, south, west, north or morphs into a star shape depending on which Relative Vertex key is
selected. The top-most key line of the Key IPO screen will show the created RVK positions. Click on each blue
line from the bottom to the top to see the rest position (circle) and each point. These blue lines correspond to the
vertex keys counting from bottom to top as long as no keys are added or deleted. Each key below that shows the set of RVK
curves that we could map to. Before mapping, make sure that each key number that you want to map to has a curve.
move the mouse to the left, just before zero and CTRL-Left Click on the mouse near 0,0 to create a key-curve. (A colored
line will appear in the same color as the text Key # on the right side of the IPO screen.) If the particular key does
not exist when you Load the text file (step G) the script will fail.
E. Select the text file: vowels.txt
F. Adjust the overlap lag if desired. This allows a shape to start forming, mixed with a previous shape for several frames.
The default is to end one shape a frame before the new shape peaks. Now the new shape could mix with the prior shape.
Example: As your mouth moves from making an A to an O, you do not move back to a rest position, you keep your mouth
open and slide between the shapes. I like 2-3 frames mixed. Legal range is 1 to fifty. (fifty is arbitrary and could be changed
in code.)
G. Load the text file.
H. Review your IPO curves and adjust them manually if desired.
