Moho 11 Pro or Moho 13.5 Debut

[ThePerseverer]

Hey,

So recently I have been using an older version of Moho (Anime Studio Pro 11), and I was wondering how this compares to the Debut version of 13.5. What do I lose out on, if anything, considering 11 is fairly old now.

Also, if I was to buy Moho 13.5 Debut, is this only for one PC, or can I use the license on multiple computers, as I would like one for my laptop and my main PC.

Thanks.

[hayasidist]

this is the feature comparison list for 13.5 Pro and Debut https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0552/ ... 1621536981

There are new features in 13.5 Pro which weren't in ASP11 -- this lists the key additions by version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moho_(software) Note that the wiki includes 13.0 updates -- those were not carried through into 13.5 -- the baseline for 13.5 was 12.5

So that should help you decide if 13.5 Debut will match your needs and allow comparison with ASP11. (IMO, Debut is great for getting started with the software and simple animations; but if you've ever used Pro, you'd be unlikely to feel that any newer version of Debut would be sufficiently functionally rich)

Licence: I think 3 activations can be used "as though they were a book" -- i.e. fine to have one on a laptop and one on a desktop (and one on a backup system) - you just can't use them simultaneously.

[slowtiger]

It depends on your needs, your style of animation. I'm still quite happy with 11, but I don't use any smart bones or other advanced features.

(Note: check your OS version, since this is the main reason I still stick to 11 - any newer Moho version wouln't run here, and I can't even update my OS anymore because the machine is too old (thx, Apple ...))

[synthsin75]

You could also install both, as long as your computer meets the 13.5 system requirements.

Even though 11 couldn't open 13.5 files, you could export video or image sequences from 13.5 to import into 11. Just depends on if any of the 13.5 Debut features sound like a "must have" to your workflow.

[ThePerseverer]

Tbh, at the moment it is just creating PNGs and animating them through Premiere Pro, so I would think Debut 13.5 is fine. Although, in the future I do have plans to make a cartoon, so I would like to be able to use the full features. Pro 11 is effectively the same price as 13.5 debut it seems.

[Greenlaw]

IMO, Debut is very capable for creating simple animations but it lacks advanced features needed for more complex animations. You should check over the features comparison list carefully and make sure Debut will suit your needs...

Moho Pro and Debut Comparisons

To compare Debut 13.5.2 against Anime Studio Pro 11, you can download a demo of Moho Debut 13.5.2 to try out some of its unique features. That said, be aware that you will be giving up the advanced features you had in ASP 11 that are not available in any version of Debut.

At a glance, I don't think Debut has any of the new headliner features in Pro like Quad Warp, Perspective Warp, Smart Warp Layer or Vitruvian Bones; these features are probably compatible in Debut but you can't create them in Debut. The same can be said for Smart Bone Actions; you can animate Smart Bones when they already exist in a project but you can't create them in Debut.

Other Pro features you will probably miss are Bone Constraints, FBF, Physics and Particles.

Some features that exist in Debut are harder to use than in Pro, like masking for example; in Debut you use the usual layer properties window for masking, but in Pro you simply r-click over the group layer and choose masking inside/outside.

Animating a bone rig in Debut is mostly similar to animating a bone rig in Pro. The same IK is available in both versions, which you can temporarily override by pressing Alt. However, you cannot flip bones in Debut like you can in Pro. Also, while you can scale art along the length of a bone, Debut does not support Squash and Stretch like Pro does.

Debut doesn't run third party menu scripts, but I think you can run tool scripts? Maybe somebody can verify this.

There are some features missing from Debut that we take for granted in Pro, but there exist workarounds for getting them. Two that come to mind are Groups and Patch Layers. The Group layer doesn't exist in Debut but you can use a Bone layer in much the same way to organize and bind a character. Patch layers can be cheated using a masking technique discussed elsewhere in this forum.

Important features like Animated Layer Order (in the Bones layer) and Switch Selection does exist in Debut. Target Bones can't be set up in Debut but it does support animated Bone Lock (which is good since you don't have Independent Angle available.)

I'm not trying to discourage you from getting Debut, just letting you know that since you've been using the Pro version of Anime Studio already, the new Debut may seem like a step backwards.

[Greenlaw]

This reminds me, years ago I created a few Debut lessons to help my child Sienna learn Moho. Sienna was about 9 or 10 years old at the time and had been creating FBF animations on the iPad since they were 6 years old, but hadn't yet been exposed to animating with bones and keyframes on a timeline. For these lessons, I focused on using bitmap drawings created in Krita and imported to Debut for rigging and animation, and kept things as simple as possible so they could get satisfying results quickly.

I intended to release the lessons after a polishing the examples but never got around to it because of work, family stuff, etc.

These lessons were created for ASP 11 or 12. I want to finish some video projects I've been working first, but afterwards I can probably update the lessons for Debut 13.5.2 and release them for the public. I'll create a thread about this when it's ready.

[Greenlaw]

I've been revisiting Debut this morning to check that everything I wrote above is accurate. I also quickly checked the old examples I created for Sienna...they work fine in 13.5.2, but I still want to polish them a bit. I'll try to get my other video projects done today and get started on updating these lessons.

Tip for anybody using Debut: forget Beginner's Mode. I personally find this mode is too limiting and think it may make it harder to learn and animate with Moho Debut. IMO, you should disable it and learn the regular Moho UI.

[synthsin75]

Debut doesn't run third party menu scripts, but I think you can run tool scripts? Maybe somebody can verify this.

Debut doesn't have a Scripts menu, but any menu script can just be installed as a button script on the toolbar...just without an icon, unless you make one yourself.

[Greenlaw]

Ah, so that's how it works. Thanks for the explanation Wes!