Last used folders

[strongbow]

Hello,
small feature request from me that could probably save a lot of time - the last used folder Moho opens in the Open/Save dialog should be individual for Moho files, Moho Objects, Image, Audio File, Vector file, render output etc.

Most users will store .moho scenes, source images, source vectors, audio files and rendered output in separate folders and it would be great if Moho could remember the last used folder for that type of file, not just the last used folder generally.

Thanks!

[Daxel]

absolutely!

[synthsin75]

+1

[Lukas]

+1

And also, when hitting “Save as…” please always direct me to the folder of where the current version of the file is located.

[Greenlaw]

Yes, I agree, but it should be project based as well. Right now Moho tends to want to save everything inside the current project's folder by default and it at least remembers where some assets came from when they are imported from an external folder, but this system can be improved for more user control...a lot.

With regards to render output, for years I've been asking for the ability to set the default output directory in Preferences and the preferred output directory in the Project Settings. For example, the default setting would point to the preferred default directory, and the preferred setting would point to the preferred directory for that specific project file.

Currently, Moho Exporter does 'remember' the last output directory but it does this using a Recently Used list which is not idea because it requires the user to actively select an option from the list every time the project needs to be re-rendered, and that option will eventually disappear or change position on the list. Since the output location is specific and unlikely to change, it needs to be a location that the user can set and expect Moho to remember every time until that folder needs to be changed.

A second current option in Moho Exporter is to use Save/Load Render Profile. This works better than the Recently Used list because it does allow the user get more specific about render settings and the output directory (especially when the project is set up for multiple render outputs using Layer Comps,) but like the above, this option requires extra action from the user (loading the Render Profile file) every time the project needs to be rendered.

Requiring extra action from the user makes it too easy for the project to get rendered to an incorrect directory, which can upset the steady workflow for a lot of people in the pipeline. It's always better when the user can just set it and forget it when they first create the project.

I've worked at many different animation and visual effects studios for over 25 years, and we never saved renders inside the project's folder, always to a separate shared folder for the production that can be easily found and accessed by compositors, editors and other people on the production, not just the individual 'Moho' artist. Also, this 'Moho' artist is usually a generalist who uses Moho along with many other programs and needs to keep certain assets and output in a common production area. Moho really needs to have this flexibility.

In many programs I use--2D/3D animation and compositing programs--there is usually a window to set a project folder with an option to set folders for other assets including output. I would love to see Moho get something like this.

[strongbow]

I was thinking about the same - I use project folders in 3dsmax and Maya, but it would probably be a much more bigger change to program and have users get accustomed to than just having Moho remember the last used folder for different file types.

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, Moho should have both though: a default behavior for beginners who may need help keeping somewhat organized, and options for advanced/professional users who have specific requirements. This is something many of us here have been asking for for years.

At my workplace, we have in-house programmers who create custom scripts and tools to manage this, but Moho should have some of this stuff built-in for advanced/professionals who work outside of a large studio environment.

[strongbow]

+1

And also, when hitting “Save as…” please always direct me to the folder of where the current version of the file is located.

On a related note, it would also be great to have a "File -> Save Version" function like Fusion has. It would save the current .moho file in the original location, but with a higher version number. So if you're working on "H:\Project\animation_03.moho", pressing Save Version would save it as "H:\Project\animation_04.moho".

3dsmax has this in the Save as dialogue as a plus button.

[Greenlaw]

Synthsin75 has an incremental auto-save script for Moho. It allows you to set the time intervals and the number of versions you wish to keep...



Download: Incremental Auto Save

Auto save is fine but I always manually save incremental copies from any program just out of habit. I've been burned too many times over the years.

[Greenlaw]

This reminds me of an annoyance in Moho: By default Moho Exporter always exports using the project's filename, which means it won't properly overwrite previous versions of files when you use incremental filenames.

To work around this problem, I keep incremental saves in a WIP (work-in-progress) folder, and save an un-numbered 'master' version of the project outside of that folder for final rendering. When I'm ready to render a new version of the project, I make sure to save my latest version over the un-numbered version so Moho Exporter can properly overwrite any existing files. Then I just load my previously saved profile for rendering this un-numbered 'master' file.

This is absolutely necessary when compositing, unless you actually like manually replacing many layers in a comp every time a new version of the Moho project is rendered.

[Lukas]

This reminds me of an annoyance in Moho: By default Moho Exporter always exports using the project's filename, which means it won't properly overwrite previous versions of files when you use incremental filenames.

This is a huge annoyance indeed. We use a button that sends a file to the renderfarm and strips the incremental filename part so the image sequence always gets overwritten. It saves so much time because you don't need to worry about setting the location and filename every single time. It also has an option to render locally, you could give it a try: https://mohoscripts.com/script/LK_Render

[Greenlaw]

Thanks for sharing your submit script Lukas! At work have a setup that removes these annoyances too but I don't have anything like it at home. Will definitely give your script a try here.

[Lukas]

+1

And also, when hitting “Save as…” please always direct me to the folder of where the current version of the file is located.

Ah, this actually works this way on Windows, (and I think also on macOS in the past), but no longer on macOS. So I guess it's a bug.

Thanks for sharing your submit script Lukas! At work have a setup that removes these annoyances too but I don't have anything like it at home. Will definitely give your script a try here.

Let me know if it works for you. It can be customized pretty easily to suit your setup and structure. It starts the render as a background process, so you might need to edit the path to moho's install-location.