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Lip sync guide

Animation mouth chart: how to animate lip sync.

For animators and creators who want lip sync that matches the voice: pick your mouth shapes, time them, then generate the talking shot.

A front-facing drawing with the mouth visible

Enter to send · Shift + Enter for a new line

Mouth chart steps

Four steps from mouth chart to talking shot.

Work the way an animator does: pick the set, draw it, time it to the sound, then let Frameo make the shot.

  1. Choose your mouth chart

    Start with the nine-shape Preston Blair set, shown below. Simpler styles can use fewer.

  2. Draw each mouth in your style

    Match line weight, teeth and tongue to your character. Every shape should read at a glance, even on a single frame.

  3. Break the line into phonemes

    Mark each sound on the audio waveform. Set the frame where its mouth shape lands, and hold it until the next sound.

  4. Generate the lip-synced shot

    Give Frameo the character and the line. Watch the take, then refine the mouths that miss the sound.

Lip sync mouth chart

The nine mouth shapes, frame by frame.

Rule of thumb: hold vowels, snap consonants, return to rest between phrases.

A/I

cat, ice

E

see, bed

O

go, home

U

you, blue

C/D/G/K

cat, dog

F/V

fish, very

L/Th

lamp, think

M/B/P

mom, bubble

Rest

pause, breath

Mouth chart styles

One mouth chart, five animation styles.

The same nine mouth shapes carry across any look. Change the style, keep the chart, and the character still says the line.

Pencil-test character in three-quarter view beside a row of nine mouth drawings, soft window light, creamy whites, matte film tones, off-white paper, no text

PromptA character looks to camera and says 'Hello, it's me again' with clear mouth shapes, holding vowels and snapping consonants, flat hand-drawn 2D look, clean thin outlines, pastel palette

Make it in this lookCopy prompt

Lip sync prompts

Ready prompts for talking characters.

Pick a character, keep the line or swap in your own. Copy it, or start creating in Frameo.

  • 2D owl says 'Who's there?' on a moonlit branch, stressing the round O and U shapes, clear open mouth, rest between phrases, hazy vintage film halation

    2D owl dialogue

    2D owl says 'Who's there?' on a moonlit branch, stressing the round O and U shapes, clear open mouth, rest between phrases

    2d · dialogue

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  • Clay snail sings 'Slow and steady' on a garden leaf, holding long vowels, soft fingerprint texture, mouth returns to rest, glowing green horizon behind, calm symmetry

    Clay snail song

    Clay snail sings 'Slow and steady' on a garden leaf, holding long vowels, soft fingerprint texture, mouth returns to rest each line

    clay · song

    Make thisCopyAsk AI
  • 3D frog narrates 'Once upon a pond' on a lily pad, soft M/B/P closes, calm storybook voice, soft diffused key light from camera-left, gentle push in

    3D frog narration

    3D frog narrates 'Once upon a pond' on a lily pad, with soft M/B/P closes and a calm, warm storybook voice

    3d · narration

    Make thisCopyAsk AI
  • Anime girl whispers 'Meet me at the station' on a rainy street at night, crisp M and E shapes, small precise mouth, neon orange and teal bounce light, humid glow

    Anime night whisper

    Anime girl whispers 'Meet me at the station' on a rainy street at night, crisp M and E shapes, small precise mouth movement

    anime · dialogue

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  • Glossy 3D rubber duck sings 'One, two, three, hop' in time with the beat, wide O on each 'two', snap closed on the B, bright high-key softbox light, saturated yellow backdrop

    3D duck counting song

    Glossy 3D rubber duck sings 'One, two, three, hop' in time with the beat, wide O shape on each 'two', snap closed on the B

    3d · song

    Make thisCopyAsk AI
  • Anime fisherman narrates 'The boats come home at dawn' at a quiet harbor, long held vowels, snapped M and B, low golden sun from behind with a warm rim and haze

    Anime harbor narrator

    Anime fisherman narrates 'The boats come home at dawn' at a quiet harbor, long held vowels, snapped M and B consonants

    anime · narration

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  • Clay fisherman says 'Nothing biting today' to his cat in a cabin, heavy F and V lip tucks, slow clear delivery, hard light slicing through blinds in diagonal bands

    Clay fisherman dialogue

    Clay fisherman says 'Nothing biting today' to his cat, heavy F and V lip tucks, slow clear delivery, rest between phrases

    clay · dialogue

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  • Hand-drawn 2D gull narrates 'Tide is turning' over a harbor, open A/I shapes on vowels, clean L and Th tongue shapes, warm hazy midday sun, teal and amber grade

    2D harbor narrator

    Hand-drawn 2D gull narrates 'Tide is turning' over a harbor, open A/I shapes on the vowels, clean L and Th tongue shapes

    2d · narration

    Make thisCopyAsk AI

Animation mouth chart questions

An animation mouth chart is a set of drawn mouth positions that map speech sounds to frames. Nine Preston Blair shapes cover most dialogue. Simpler styles get by with five or six, often merging E with A/I and dropping L/Th.

Phonemes are the sounds in speech. Visemes are the mouth shapes you see, and several phonemes share one viseme, which is why a chart has fewer shapes than sounds.

At 12 fps, or on twos, hold each mouth for at least two frames. At 24 fps on ones, add brief in-betweens on long vowels and still land consonants right on the sound.

Yes. Add your recording on the canvas and ask Manto to sync the character to it. The exact cost of a render is shown before you start it.

Start creating

Your mouth chart is ready. Make your character talk.

Bring the character and the line. Frameo animates the mouth shapes to match the voice.

Start creating