I've hat a lot of fun learning the Magpie Pro Software and it's proven itself to be an extremely useful tool. Below is a screen shot of the program in use. The audio file is uploaded and the frame rate is entered into the program. I'm using 15 frames per second. The program breaks down the audio by frame and allows you to attach lyrics and/or notes to each one as well as actor poses. I began by using a sample cartoon character provided in one of the Magpie tutorial files. After I had a range of expressions for the three bird girls I took pictures of each one and uploaded them to the program as actor poses. Because the bird girls all sing in unison, I find it particularly helpful to be able to preview all my characters simultaneously.
Animating or assigning poses to each frame can be a bit tedious because each new 'actor' must be animated separately. The audio file can be played by frame, by selection, or entirely, and at varying speeds.
The primary function of this program for me is simply lipsyncing the audio files. The actual animation will take place on a set and the printed frame sheets from Magpie Pro will serve as frame-by-frame directions for me. In the screen shot, you can see all four characters in the preview window, the audio wave, several frames (vertical columns), frame notes, character poses for each frame, and all of the available poses for the pink bird girl who was the active actor at that particular time.
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