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Mouth shapes

Mouth shapes are the different positions and movements that an animated character's mouth makes when they talk or make sounds. Just like real people, cartoon characters have different mouth shapes for different sounds like "ahh", "eee", "ooo", and "mmm". Animators use these mouth shapes to make the character's dialogue look like it matches the sound they are making.

Animation is a process of bringing inanimate objects to life. It is a medium that makes use of technology and creativity to tell stories, convey emotions, and create memorable characters. One of the key elements of animation is the use of mouth shapes or phonemes. These shapes are used to create the illusion of speech and make characters appear more lifelike.

Mouth shapes are specific positions that the mouth makes when pronouncing different sounds in speech. In animation, these shapes are used to create dialogue for characters.

There are several common mouth shapes used in animation, each representing a specific sound or phoneme. The first and most basic shape is the neutral shape. This is the default position of the mouth with lips closed and teeth slightly apart. Animators use this shape as a starting point for all other mouth shapes.

  • The Aa shape is used to represent shouting or yelling. This shape involves opening the mouth wide as if screaming at the top of one’s lungs. This shape is often used in action scenes or emotional moments.
  • The Ee shape is used to represent a smile or happiness. This shape involves stretching the lips horizontally and pushing the tongue up towards the roof of the mouth. Animators use this shape to convey joy and positivity.
  • The Oo shape is used to represent whistling or blowing a kiss. This shape involves rounding and puckering the lips as if whistling or blowing a kiss. Animators use this shape to convey love, flirtation, or playfulness.
  • The Fv shape is used to represent biting or holding back emotions. This shape involves lightly touching the lower lip with teeth as if biting it. Animators use this shape to convey tension, hesitation, or restraint.
  • The Th shape is used to represent a lisp-like sound. This shape involves protruding the tongue slightly between the teeth. Animators use this shape to convey a lisp or stutter.

By using a combination of these mouth shapes, animators can create realistic dialogue for their characters and convey different emotions and moods through their expressions. The use of mouth shapes is essential in creating believable characters and making them relatable to the audience.

Mouth shapes are an essential element in animation. They are used to create the illusion of speech and make characters appear more lifelike. There are several common mouth shapes used in animation, each representing a specific sound or phoneme. By using a combination of these shapes, animators can create realistic dialogue for their characters and convey different emotions and moods through their expressions. The use of mouth shapes is a critical aspect of creating believable characters and engaging stories in animation.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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