Bright Flashes and Nice Stuff

[AspenLeSheep]

Not sure if Flash is better for this but since I'm not sure my parents will be willing to buy me art applications (Moho is provided by the school )~~

I'm gonna ask if this is able to do in Moho.

My character wouldn't be moving, just a few images that switch every second or so.
But because I don't want it to be so bland, is there anyways I can add some moving lighting effects using simple Moho basics (because I don't like complex hence why I gave up on bone rigging and drew individual frames instead) or maybe even some lyrics (written? if i'm not asking for too much because it feels like too much) on the screen?

[Greenlaw]

I prefer to add my lighting effects in After Effects or Fusion but Moho has some tools for it. For example, something like this is pretty easy to set up in Moho:



For this, I just created a Style that included two Shading effects (one for light and one for shadow), and then keyframed the angle and offset properties. For this example, I set this up as an SBD but to keep it simple, you can keyframe the effect directly on the timeline.

If your lighting and shadow effects need to be more defined and follow the interior of the character (as opposed to just around the edges), you can just draw them as separate layers and use the character's group to mask the lighting layers. Use an appropriate blend mode for each layer (suggest screen for light and multiply for shadow,) and adjust the layer transparency to taste. If the character is moving a lot, bind the lighting layers to the rig (if there is one.)

If you decide to do this in compositing, you can just fill the render as a matte, and then offset two copies to create the light and shadow sides. Add a Blur to the interior edge for softer lighting. Depending on your compositing package, there is probably an effects filter available that lets you do something similar without using mattes, but doing it manually may offer more creative options.

Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

For 'lyrics', I'm guessing you mean you wish to animate text in Moho? IMO, Moho's text tools are not so great but there are fun things you can do with text in Moho.

For example, experiment with Follow Path. You can use this to make the text 'dance' across the screen.

Another example: using masks and switch layers, you can easily create a split-flap effect like the one I made for the 'Scareplane' titles.

Or, if you want to make the text 'wavey', render it out as an image sequence and then use an animated mesh to distort it. (Technically, you can convert the text to regular vectors and use the mesh on that but it's arguably easier to do this to an image sequence instead.)

And that's just for starters. Be creative with the tools. Good luck!

[AspenLeSheep]

Oof this helps a lot <3 Thank you both for the tips--

[Greenlaw]

A little more info:

I didn't explain why I applied the effects in a Style and not directly to the shapes. Creating the effect in a style makes the lighting a 'global' effect, meaning I only need to adjust lighting keyframes in one place (the Style) and not in every individual shape. (The SBD gives me a way to retime the animation from the workspace but the actual keyframes are in the Style.)

About Styles: since there are only two slots for Styles, be aware that if you use both for the lighting effect (light and shadow,) you won't have a slot available for a custom color/texture style.* This is one of many reasons why I leave lighting effects for compositing.

Another way to do the lighting 'globally' is to apply the effect in the characters' layers and group level. There are some advantages to doing it this way, like the effect can be applied across multiple layers as a single continuous effect, and it doesn't require using up a Styles slot. The downside is that you can't see the effect until you render it.

*Makes me wonder if the devs can expand the number of slots in a future version, or come up with a better system for using and managing Styles.