Problem: ======= In the Lip Sync Editor we have 16 sprites to choose from (please refer to the attached PDF for screenshots). These 16 are excellent for most of our needs... But in the PSD File... AND in the Backstage Sprite Editor... those 16 visemes are condensed down to only 9.
Consequences: =========== 1) Most of these condensed visemes are unsuitable for casual chat, such as explainer-vids and ads for commercial clients. They are better suited to more exaggerated cartoonish mouth motions.
2) Then repairing the mouth sprite changes manually to more suitable sprites in the timeline becomes a long, costly and tedious process for most voice actors.
Note: I say "most voice actors" because I recently had a job where the client voiced the job himself as a draft voice to help with pacing, so I could get started on blocking out scenes, while he conducted auditions for a known film actor... and his voice worked fine with visemes which required only about 50% to be tweaked manually... and the same happened when I replaced the voice for the award winning actor... but then at the last moment, the client decided to switch to a different voice actor... who spoke slower and more clearly, and yet ironically the automatic visemes required nearly 80% manual tweaking to achieve an equally attractive face motion...
You might wonder; why did I bother to tweak the visemes of a draft voice, which would never make the final cut..? Answer: It flattered the client, a flattered client is a repeat client, and he was going to show the draft to a club of his associates, who have now also become clients.
Hence the reason why I propose that the full set of 16 visemes, akin to iclone, can be highly valuable in commercial 2D projects via Cartoon Animator, even though the current 9 condensed cartoonish visemes in 2D are also quite adequate in less exact styles, such as daffy-duck style or anime.