What It Does
Talking Head is a facial animation rig script for Adobe After Effects, built by Ryan Cashman. It lets you assign illustration layers to specific facial features, then control everything from a single control layer. Eyes, eyebrows, blinking, look direction, and lip-sync all live in one place, so you’re not digging through stacks of layers every time a client requests a change.
The automatic lip-sync feature is the main time-saver. If your voice-over gets revised at the last minute, you’re not re-keying mouth shapes by hand. The rig reads the audio and handles it for you.
Key Features
Single control layer. All facial controls, eyes, brows, blinking, look direction, and lip-sync, are accessible from one place. No hunting through nested layers.
Automatic lip-sync. Mouth shapes sync to audio automatically, which is particularly useful when VO changes come in late in production.
Layer assignment UI. A straightforward interface lets you map your existing drawing layers to the correct facial features during setup. Works with a single illustrated character drawing.
Free trial available. You can download a trial before committing to a purchase.
Who It’s For
Motion designers and animators who work with character animation in After Effects, particularly those dealing with explainer videos, animated spokespersons, or any project requiring a talking character with a voiced track. It’s most useful when you need to iterate quickly or handle last-minute audio revisions without rebuilding animation from scratch.
Note that while the product page lists Premiere Pro 2020 compatibility, the core functionality is built for After Effects.
Pricing
One-time purchase at $24.99 per single user license. Volume discounts apply if buying multiple seats: 7% off for 2 licenses, 10% off for 5, and 13% off for 10. Existing customers may qualify for upgrade pricing when logged in to aescripts.com.