Now i know the fill tool isn't the most useful thing on Moho but i have a new weird bug:
I had a theory i wanted to try so i was playing around with the fill tool and noticed that the pixel expansion would always reset itself to 8 pixels after i clicked into an enclosed curve to fill it. Is this normal? I'm guessing not...
I really want to give Moho a go as a FBF tool but atm a couple of bugs (see my blob brush report) kinda make this an even bigger headache... i hope this gets fixed. Thanks.
Fill Tool: Pixel expansion resets itself after clicking
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
Re: Fill Tool: Pixel expansion resets itself after clicking
For the longest time, I avoided drawing FBF in Moho because of problems with Freehand and Blob Brush, but after Freehand got a major update in Moho 14, I've been using FBF in Moho more than ever. 
Blob Brush, on the other hand, is still the same old Blob Brush.
Fortunately, the new Freehand tool offers a decent substitute for me. I find it faster and more precise to use the new Freehand tool in 'lasso mode' to create my fills.
Once I got my 'fill' system figured out, I found it reasonably quick to work with. To see recent examples, I used this method to fill the FBF 'kitten' bits in my channel animations and tutorial videos. I've used it elsewhere, too, but it's too early in the morning for me to recall. (Maybe for the 'Apple Cat' Storyboarding segment? I need coffee.)
One downside to using Freehand this way is that there is no Draw Behind option for Freehand like there is for Blob Brush. To work around this, I add a 'fill' FBF layer beneath it. To simplify this process, I sometimes use Simplsam's Clear Copy FBF Layer to make a clean copy of the original 'line' layer FBF sequence, and draw the Freehand fills in the copy.
Tip: Don't use Multistroke Fill for complex Fills...this will slow things down, and it's prone to errors when used for too long. (Memory leak?) Instead, draw as many small 'fill' shapes as you need, select them, and click the Merge Button. Obviously, you'll need to work with one fill color at a time with this system. I'll post a demo after I finish the short I've been working on this week...which should be later today. (Actually, a tutorial video on my 'fill' technique is a good idea for the next video...will discuss this with my producer.)
Chucky developed another system for managing a separate fill layer using Reference layers. He recorded a detailed video years ago that explained his process. The system worked great at the time, but since then, I've had too many problems with Reference layers, so I tend to avoid this feature except for the simplest things. Lost Marble is aware of the issues with Blob Brush and Reference Layers, so hopefully, fixes are in the works.
Until then, using Freehand with Sam's tool has worked well for me. FWIW, I haven't had to launch Adobe Animate once this year, which used to be my fall-back system for getting FBF into Moho.
Blob Brush, on the other hand, is still the same old Blob Brush.
Fortunately, the new Freehand tool offers a decent substitute for me. I find it faster and more precise to use the new Freehand tool in 'lasso mode' to create my fills.
Once I got my 'fill' system figured out, I found it reasonably quick to work with. To see recent examples, I used this method to fill the FBF 'kitten' bits in my channel animations and tutorial videos. I've used it elsewhere, too, but it's too early in the morning for me to recall. (Maybe for the 'Apple Cat' Storyboarding segment? I need coffee.)
One downside to using Freehand this way is that there is no Draw Behind option for Freehand like there is for Blob Brush. To work around this, I add a 'fill' FBF layer beneath it. To simplify this process, I sometimes use Simplsam's Clear Copy FBF Layer to make a clean copy of the original 'line' layer FBF sequence, and draw the Freehand fills in the copy.
Tip: Don't use Multistroke Fill for complex Fills...this will slow things down, and it's prone to errors when used for too long. (Memory leak?) Instead, draw as many small 'fill' shapes as you need, select them, and click the Merge Button. Obviously, you'll need to work with one fill color at a time with this system. I'll post a demo after I finish the short I've been working on this week...which should be later today. (Actually, a tutorial video on my 'fill' technique is a good idea for the next video...will discuss this with my producer.)
Chucky developed another system for managing a separate fill layer using Reference layers. He recorded a detailed video years ago that explained his process. The system worked great at the time, but since then, I've had too many problems with Reference layers, so I tend to avoid this feature except for the simplest things. Lost Marble is aware of the issues with Blob Brush and Reference Layers, so hopefully, fixes are in the works.
Until then, using Freehand with Sam's tool has worked well for me. FWIW, I haven't had to launch Adobe Animate once this year, which used to be my fall-back system for getting FBF into Moho.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Sun Nov 17, 2024 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fill Tool: Pixel expansion resets itself after clicking
Yea Sam kindly made this script after i asked for a similar tool that other apps have on the Discord
I dunno as soon as i do anything freehand Moho always glitches quite a lot. Blob brush doesn't work, Fill tool doesn't work. Yes, i know the lasso fill option definitely but personally (just personal taste) i find it sometimes quicker IF i have to fill all this stuff by hand to do it the coloring book way but oh well.
I did use freehand for rigs obviously and it serves it's purpose there since i just draw shapes.
Might give it another go later down the line but for the moment i can't bring myself to do any other fbf experimentation in Moho, which is a shame and might simply be of how i'm wired but i'll surely be back to give it another go. It honestly just doesn't feel very FUN to me to do frame by frame in Moho and i think that's an aspect that should not be underestimated when you're supposed to draw 5000000 frames Buuuut fairness where fairness is due, Moho has never been built from the outset for this purpose i guess i just dreamt of a word where i could do all the things in one software.
Still, it WOULD be nice IF the fill bucket even in its limited capacity at least was bug-free
Because the thing i wanted to try is the same process i do in Toon Boom using their art layers (Toon Boom has 4 layers per timeline layer):
You basically duplicate the empty vector information without any stroke or color applied to a layer underneath and then fill on that. So i thought if i'd take a clean up drawing, duplicate it, remove the shapes and then use the bucket fill it might not be perfect but depending on the artwork might at least get you 80% of the way there. Then you just grab your brush, pencil whatever and fill in the little errors.
FWIW here's my FBF test from today...
I dunno as soon as i do anything freehand Moho always glitches quite a lot. Blob brush doesn't work, Fill tool doesn't work. Yes, i know the lasso fill option definitely but personally (just personal taste) i find it sometimes quicker IF i have to fill all this stuff by hand to do it the coloring book way but oh well.
I did use freehand for rigs obviously and it serves it's purpose there since i just draw shapes.
Might give it another go later down the line but for the moment i can't bring myself to do any other fbf experimentation in Moho, which is a shame and might simply be of how i'm wired but i'll surely be back to give it another go. It honestly just doesn't feel very FUN to me to do frame by frame in Moho and i think that's an aspect that should not be underestimated when you're supposed to draw 5000000 frames
Buuuut fairness where fairness is due, Moho has never been built from the outset for this purpose i guess i just dreamt of a word where i could do all the things in one software.Still, it WOULD be nice IF the fill bucket even in its limited capacity at least was bug-free
Because the thing i wanted to try is the same process i do in Toon Boom using their art layers (Toon Boom has 4 layers per timeline layer):
You basically duplicate the empty vector information without any stroke or color applied to a layer underneath and then fill on that. So i thought if i'd take a clean up drawing, duplicate it, remove the shapes and then use the bucket fill it might not be perfect but depending on the artwork might at least get you 80% of the way there. Then you just grab your brush, pencil whatever and fill in the little errors.
FWIW here's my FBF test from today...