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Yes, one should definitely animate around the audio.  Though, realize that the big studio 3D CG movies don't work this way - they animate first and then have the actors do the audio.  There must be a reason for this successful approach...

I've never heard of that before...  one would think if that was occurring it would be due to waiting for "Big Name Talent" to sign on, however the initial animating would have certainly been done using placeholder audio tracks (of non big name talent) to sync up to...  after the fact recording, animating  may need clean up and changes in the animation area due to subtleties of the big name's voice and personality that may not have made it into the initial animating creating more realism and believability of the character. 

Gerard

The GR00VY GH0ULIE!

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