Should the character be speaking or thinking?

I was just wondering on how to make my story more realistic and more quality-looking and came up to this:
My character is standing in the middle of the street on a sidewalk and has something like these lines:
“A new day, a new exciting challenge!
Cara really did pick the most suiting choice for me.
Can’t wait to get started!
It’s been a while since I last was at a university…” …

As the name suggests, should she be speaking or thinking?

I would write it like she was thinking it but it depends on your characters personality. Some people randomly say things to themselves out loud (I am one of those people :sweat_smile:) just have a play around with it and add animations… Maybe have her say “A new day, a new exciting challenge!” out loud and think the rest. It is entirely up to you :slightly_smiling_face:

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I saw (or my eyes could be lying lol) that there aren’t as many thinking animations (only 2??? or am I really missing smth :sweat_smile:).
As a cheery on top, I am terrible at animations - I always take so long to find even a decent one, not even talking about trying not to make them the same as 2 lines before.

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I’d code it as she’s thinking. Basically what @Tenacious_T said.

But I’d also change “suiting” to “fitting” or “suitable”… as the sentence would flow much better, that way.

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Btw, a quick one, are there only 2 thinking animations? (think_neutral and talk_think_neutral). Maybe some others look like the character is thinking?

Those are the only two, unfortunately. But sometimes I use the “transition_handsonhips_to_armscrossed” animation for when a character is thinking.
That way they’re not just idly thinking for too long.

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So I should just use the same one again and again, sometimes adding the one you suggested? Wouldn’t that get monotonic?
(Btw sry if I am annoying, I always ask so many questions :sweat_smile:)

Just try to imagine you are the character you are writing for, how would you speak the lines, do you use certain hand movements when you speak or what do you do when you are thinking. There is only two animations for thinking but a lot of the non talking animations can be used. I have spent like hours looking at them all and now have about 10 I like to use to animate in conversations between two or more characters. So far in my story, I don’t have many thinking moments buttt in one I have just used ‘idle_sad_loop’ so look for things like happy or annoyed and things when you are looking for non talking animations :slightly_smiling_face:

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No, you can switch them up. Maybe use the idle versions of the “handsonhips” animations, sometimes… and the many different versions of the “idle_armscrossed” animations.

It all really depends on what your character is thinking at the time.

Here are a few examples of idle animations that work for certain “thoughts” and “dialogue”.
There’s plenty more to choose from, these are simply just examples… to give you an idea of what I mean:

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TYSM both of you (sry I couldn’t reply earlier), you gave me ideas and inspiration, at what I can look! :heart: :100:

You can use NARRATOR(DELIA) to make it more natural or if you want her to think use bracket on the sentence, it will look normal too. If you want to make her speak then maybe add some think_rubchin kind of animation

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Yeah, I use brackets for that. Never thought to use the narrator bubble tho… I will look into that

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I use it a lot. It’s more suitable when character is describing how he/she feels kind of stuff
I think in your case making her think and using thinking, armscrossed or sigh_disappointed kind of animation will suit better.

Thought so as well :sweat_smile: Not many feelings or deep thinking in the first episode :laughing:

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:joy:
Good luck for your story :blush:

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Also, @author_blue_moon , there is no need to change the animation for the character every line they say?

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Yeah, that’s true. You don’t have to change it again and again…
DELIA (idle_armscrossed_loop)
(A new day, a new exciting challenge!)
(Cara really did pick the most suiting choice for me.)
(Can’t wait to get started!)
(It’s been a while since I last was at a university…)

And if you want to change the animations in between
DELIA (idle_armscrossed_loop)
(A new day, a new exciting challenge!)
(Cara really did pick the most suiting choice for me.)
DELIA (idle_happy_loop)
(Can’t wait to get started!)
(It’s been a while since I last was at a university…)

or you can change it after every line… but you don’t have to necessarily add animation and character name after every line.

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