Can I Duplicate A Character

[shubi]

Hi everyone,
I am new to moho, and i am wondering can i copy-paste or duplicate a character, with its rig and smart bones intact. The purpose it to reuse a character to make other characters so as to not build them from scratch. Please help.

Regards
Shubham

[Hoptoad]

Duplicating is easy. To the right of the New Layer button is a Duplicate Layer button. You can duplicate an entire character and all its animation goes with it.

Another way to copy a character is to "import" it from another Moho project file. Go to File > Import > Moho Object and navigate to the Moho file, and then check the boxes on what you want imported into your new project.

[shubi]

Thanks, will try that!

[shubi]

@hoptoad
The duplicate layer worked but lets say i want to duplicate an eye with smart bones... Now i have two bone layers...

So is there a way to merge two bone layers?
Or can i move bones from one layer to another?

[Greenlaw]

If you duplicated at the character's Bone layer or whichever Group layer that contains its Bone layer, the Duplicate command should have included the character's Smart Bones and Actions. Make sure you're duplicated the correct layer.

Optionally, you can also use Copy Layer/Paste Layer at the character's Bone layer or top group. Be sure to use Copy Layer and Paste Layer, not the regular Copy/Paste commands.

In a normal production workflow, you would save each character into its own 'master' project and then use the Import command to bring the characters into your animation project. This way you can import as many different or same characters into a project as you need.

BTW, there is a useful 'advanced' variation of this method that uses multiple levels of Rig Referencing. Jeremy at Cartoon explained it a few years ago. I tried it when we made the first Boss Baby show for Netflix and it worked out very well for us. The workflow allowed me to continue making updates to our rigs without disrupting animators who were already animating with the rigs.

Note that none of the above techniques works with Moho 13.0; you must use Moho 13.5.x or Moho 12.5 and earlier. So if you're still using Moho 13.0 be sure to update it.

Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

To answer your questions about copying bones and actions, it's possible but can be a headache. It's easier to just duplicate or import the Character correctly.

Another option is to use MultRush's Transform Rig Tool. Recommended but now we're getting into advanced techniques again.