book opening intro

[wr3yth]

hello guys, i'm asked to make a 2d book opening intro for an animated series but i have no idea how to make it.
something like this: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTDKz6S30sk[/youtube]

[Greenlaw]

To make it like the example you linked to, the easiest approach is to flip each page as a 3D layer. Just place the origin at the spine or 'hinge' edge of the cover/page layers and use the Rotate XY Tool to flip it. You'll want to hold Shift to constrain the rotation around Y. If you want to get fancy, tie this animation to an SBD so you can easily control when and how fast the page(s) turn.

If you want to rotate the book itself, place the book layers inside a group and rotate the group instead. This way, you can preserve the rotation axis for the 'hinge'.

Here's a basic example:



Now, if you want curling pages, that's a whole other thing. Since moho can't deform a layer in 3D space, you'll need to draw or morph the pages curling. That will look better but it's more work. But your example doesn't show that so it's probably not necessary for your project. If it was really important, I'd do this bit in a 3D animation program with actual 3D geometry and then cel-shade it to match the look in Moho. Then, if necessary, I'd import the frames from the 3D program as an image sequence to Moho.

[Greenlaw]

Additional notes:

If you have multiple pages, you may need to animate the layer order during the page turns to make sure the next page always lands on top of the previous page when it flips.

The backside of the pages will have the same art as the front. You can change the art if you use the page as a mask and slide new art into view as the page's edge crosses the camera's POV. Or use a switch layer, or FBF, or image sequence, or keyframe visibility between artwork...there are actually many ways to change the page art as it flips.

[Greenlaw]

Come to think of it, you could use a Mesh Warp to simulate a bit of curl in the above example. The warp would limit the camera angle but if the camera is locked or moving very little, the effect would add a lot more realism to the animation.

[synthsin75]

Something I'm working on to see how feasible it is 100% in Moho.

[Greenlaw]

Nice!

[synthsin75]

Thanks Dennis. Still improving...now double-sided pages: