AI Animated Talking Characters
Learn how to bring AI generated character images to life with the latest AI lipsync/facial animation tools.
FULL COURSE NOW LIVE
The Course
In this, very first course I'll be showing how to quickly create characters, generate voices with authenticity and bring them to life using AI facial animation.
Before enhancing the animation fidelity, upscaling and increasing the frame rate.
I'll also briefly provide some alternative AI lipsync tools.
Finally, I'll touch on some editing and colour grading approaches.
What you will learn
How to:
- Generate stunning character images using AI
- Use a video to drive the facial motion of the character.
- Use AI to create unique voices with authenticity, pauses and emphasis.
- Upscale, enhance and increase the frame rate of output.
- Edit/Grade the final video.
- Use various free/paid AI tools
- Basic editing skills with Adobe Premiere.
- Countless tips along the way
Community:
- Access a private community with other course members
Skill Level & Requirements
In the first AI lipsyncing course, I go through the full process.
I use a few different tools, including Adobe Creative Suite (with a focus on Adobe Premiere). *Any video editing software would suffice.
Plus I use AI tools - MidJourney, ElevenLabs & LivePortrait. Which have both free and paid tiers depending on your usage.
The course is accessible for all, though familiarity with video editing and compositing techniques (i.e. After Effects) would be beneficial using the techniques in wider productions.
Limitations
- The output is an mp4 video file, there is no 3D model.
- Works best with human characters that are realistic or not too stylised.
- Animals (*Some animals work i.e. cats/dogs. (PC/Linux only at the moment)
- (**Animals are not currently supported for Mac Users)
- Only works for mostly front-on shots (i.e. not side-on views)
- The character can be on a green background to aid in compositing as part of a wider workflow.
Course Curriculum
Your instructor
'Jon Draper'
Hey! I'm Jon Draper, an animator and AI studio consultant with a passion for bringing characters to life and telling stories. My journey kicked off in the UK, where I studied illustration and animation. Where I my 3D degree film snagged a Royal Television award - which was nice!
Over the past 20+ years, I've been on a wild ride through the world of animation. I've dabbled in everything from 2D to 3D, film, mastering After Effects, VFX, and video editing along the way. In 2013, I took the plunge, moved to the coast and started Stormy Studio. We've had a blast working with global companies and picking up some shiny awards too!
Having tinkered with coding projects over the years, in 2022 I took a keen interest in AI, I eventually launched aianimation.com, a hub for creatives that's grown to over 4,500 users. I also run a YouTube channel where I geek out about AI animation and share tools and techniques.
From traditional hand-drawn animation to cutting-edge AI, I love pushing the boundaries of what's possible in this field. It's been an incredible journey, and I'm excited to see where this blend of creativity and technology takes us next!
Innovative
We'll use the some of the latest AI tools
Comprehensive
I'll explain how to use the tools clearly
Intuitive
With an easy to follow curriculum
What you'll learn to make
Here's the final output generated during the course.
We bring our two character still imagesa to life, using an AI tool called Live Portait (which you can run on a local machine or via a cloud service). The motion is driven by a filmed performance, with the voices replaced with AI voices using Eleven Labs.
*No 3D software is required.
Another example:
Here you can see another example of the sort of animation you'll create during the the course.
Another example of the process in action.
The process shared in this Lipsync course could be used to tell a story through video logs.
That's exactly what I did with the below dystopian short. Combining the animated characters, with motion graphics and compositing techniques in Adobe After Effects and some basic sound design.
Plus some more advanced techniques like the animated walking scene and 3D robot at the end.
**The walking and talking, and 3D robot are both extra AI workflows I'll look to share in future courses.**