Is there a better way to draw and fill?

[NealF]

Hi.
I'm thrilled with the new version 14 but still having some trouble using it to draw freehand.

Here's my workflow:
I draw my outlines freehand. Then I use the blob tool to fill using Draw Underneath.
Sometimes it draws underneath and sometimes not. That's one issue. BTW, is it better to fill with the bucket tool?

After outlines and fill I usually need to adjust the line. It might have gotten too thick or needs to be moved a bit.
When I try to adjust the line there are so many points it's hard to get the one I want. Even after using Simplify.

It's not impossible, but it ends up taking too much time so I tend to go back to Clip Studio for the drawing. That's great but I was hoping to do it in Moho to give me more animation possibilities.

Is there a better way to do what I want?

Thanks.

[Greenlaw]

Hi Neal,

The little kitten character in the tutorial video I posted yesterday, was mostly animated using Moho's FBF and the new Freehand tool in Moho 14.2. What I learned in the process might help...

Instead of using the Blob Brush, try using Freehand with Auto-fill and/or Multi-stroke fill enabled. I found this technique gave me more control than the Blob Brush. It's a lot like the 'painting-with-the-lasso-tool' technique many concept design artists use these days. Note that Freehand doesn't support Blob Brush's Draw Behind Strokes option, so I made a second FBF layer for fills underneath the lines layer, and that worked just fine. (That's essentially what I would do in a dedicated FBF animation program.)

I also used this technique to animate the second asteroid explosion in the Space Tommy: Mission Critical short we released a couple of weeks ago.

You can also draw with Fill and Stroke enabled in a single layer. This should be fine for simple things, but I found Moho could get glitchy when there are too many points and complicated shapes in a single FBF frame. The system behaved more predictably when I split the lines and strokes to separate layers. Oh, that reminds me: be sure to adjust Freehand's Smoothing and Point Reduction to optimal levels. This setting could vary by tablet, so you should experiment to see what works best for your system.

I'll be presenting a tutorial about how I use Moho's Freehand tools for FBF in an upcoming video on the new Little Green Dog channel, so be sure to subscribe. I'm pretty excited about this in Moho 14.2 because it's the first time I've found FBF to be truly usable in Moho.

[Greenlaw]

I should have mentioned that I don't always have Multi-stroke fill enabled. Sometimes, Freehand works better when this option is disabled.

Once again, experiment to see what works best for you.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, and the Magnet tool is your friend for editing either lines or fill layers. It's not just for fixing a drawing but also useful for making a variation of a frame in a duplicate frame without having to redraw anything. Depending on what you're doing, you might switch between regular and Selected Points Only modes.

Also, don't forget that in Moho 14.2, we have a properly erasing Eraser tool for Freehand.

[NealF]

Thanks, Greenlaw.

I will definitely be trying those methods. What I've been doing makes for much too much work.
Looking forward to your tutorial.

[NealF]

Just subbed. Looks great.
Trying to learn as fast as possible. Working on a full-length animated musical.
Yeah, I like a challenge.

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, I like a challenge.

I hear ya! Good luck with your project, Neal!

[NealF]

Thanks.