Lost Scripts' Shapes Window (**New** BETA 4 PE+) for Moho 14.3+ Pro

[BigBoiiiJones]

Anyway to add a feature to group shapes or add some form of group layer?

[Rai López]

Anyway to add a feature to group shapes or add some form of group layer?

Hi and sorry for the late response, somehow I missed it...

Well, my first guess was not, but, on second thought, although I think something could be done till some extent, I'd need to think if it'd really worth it taking into account all the limitations (plus complications) that comes to mind. First off, it should be kinda "faked", since neither Moho nor even the list widget offer anything like that natively, then I'm afraid the best we could get is an extra item e.g. " My Shape Group" (defined probably with the help of point groups ) in the list that would represent one of these "groups" and, below it, the "grouped" shapes being showed with some indent; at most and luckily, maybe the "group" item could "simulate" it is expanded/collapsed by showing/hiding from the list those shape items somehow marked as its children upon doble clicking it, but... little else? I mean, It would be quite something, but plus ease some little tasks like hiding/reordering or so, there weren't many more advantages I can think than alleviate the cluttering in a scenario with many shapes, a scenario for which the tool is not (yet) as capable as I would like, thus...

Anyway I admit it would be a cool feature to count with, but not sure if enough for all the trouble (if finally possible) it would entail trying to introduce something like that... But I'm glad I can have it in mind now just in case, so thank you for the suggestion.

EDIT: Hmm... On second thought, and to top it all off, how would non-contiguous shapes could be handled under these grouping scenarios? Thus I think the most we could get is something like AFX's "Shy" layer functionality (which may worth even if it's only to can include such a funny icon? ). Still quite difficult to implement as things stand now though, but that well may change...

[Rai López]

Well, time for another rebump — New BETA (the fourth one) just dropped! Check the first post for details and download links... Cheers!

[Greenlaw]

Awesome! I’ll check it out as soon as I get home!

Thanks for continuing to improve this amazing tool, Rai!

[Shizukuishi]

Terrific!

[Rai López]

Cool! And it's good that you're here, Dennis, since I think I read you comment somewhere that the script was kind of prone to become unstable after a while of use or something like that, so I was wondering if this fix: "IMPORTANT: Fixed crash related to Pick functions and main window resizing." will make from now on any difference... I hope so, but I'm not so sure because what you described, more than a sudden Moho closing, recall me to other situation I suffered a couple of times long ago where the program/viewport became unresponsive or like "freezed", but the problem is that I've never been able to reproduce or get a clue about it, so any info you could provide would be for sure of great help.

Moreover, if you or anyone can "feel" when an issue like that could bring up, now it's possible to enable a Debug Mode under main menu that goes writing a very simple log file that hopefully may throw some light. Of course, not something one may want to have always active (even though I think it's quite performant), but there it is for these kind of special cases where otherwise there is little else to hold on to... Well, thank you! And, as usual, any other feedback/testing is always welcomed

EDIT:

Terrific!

Well thank you!

[Greenlaw]

Hi Rai!

Sure, I will install and try it out shortly!

The freeze I experienced with beta 3 seemed to occur when I kept the Shapes Window open for a long time. Closing it when I didn't need it appears to keep Moho stable.

I think Shapes Window was more likely to freeze Moho when Points-Based Selection was enabled. Again, this was a gradual thing, and not immediate, so I'm not 100% sure about it.

FWIW, I haven't seen the freeze in a long time, but that may be because I close the window when I'm not using it.

After I update to beta 4, I'll leave the Shapes Window open full-time and see if I run into the issue. Will let you know how it goes.

[Rai López]

Great, thanks for the info! I thought you could be referring to something having more to do with sudden freezes or crashes, so that scenario is new to me and I don't know what could be a possible cause for that, but I'll keep it in mind when I start working on the performance part.

I think Shapes Window was more likely to freeze Moho when Points-Based Selection was enabled.

Well, at least now you can turn "Point-Based Selection" on or off more easily... or even not activate it at all most of the time if all you need are punctual uses of it.

After I update to beta 4, I'll leave the Shapes Window open full-time and see if I run into the issue. Will let you know how it goes.

Perfect! BTW, I added a note, but remember that this time it's necessary to remove any previous version manually due to the internal and filenames change (nothing to worry about really, except that you'll have two of them until you do so).

[Greenlaw]

Well, at least now you can turn "Point-Based Selection" on or off more easily... or even not activate it at all most of the time if all you need are punctual uses of it.

I just noticed 'P-B S' had been left on in my Shapes Window, so maybe what I wrote is incorrect? Or maybe no longer correct?

Anyway, switching over to beta 4 this morning.

...it's necessary to remove any previous version manually due to the internal and filenames change (nothing to worry about really, except that you'll have two of them until you do so).

Got it! Saw your note, but still thanks for the reminder!

[Rai López]

So you mean you thought it was deactivated, but it was actually active the whole time? But, at the time being, I can't see how that option could affect performance over time. Of course it can slow things down while it's active because it has to do extra work with every update, but I don't see how something could be persisting or accumulating in memory with use... But that part of the code also deserves an in-depth review, so maybe I'll be able to see something else when the time comes?

Got it! Saw your note...

OK, I had doubts about whether I should have made a bigger warning or something . Anyway, I think it's always better to remove previous versions, even if it's only to avoid leaving behind any possible obsolete resources (nothing to worry about either), so maybe most people already do that as well, but...

Thanks for continuing to improve this amazing tool, Rai!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that under the new workflow I should be able to respond quicker to bug fixes or anything else that may come up. Or at least I hope so, because then reality always hits you in the most unexpected ways

[Greenlaw]

Of course it can slow things down while it's active because it has to do extra work with every update

You are correct! Slow down was my issue with Point-Based Selection, not the UI freeze. Different issue entirely. Sorry, I must have had a brain freeze.

Anyway, I like the solution you came up with. The button seems to work great. Having the Alt-key option to make the mode persist will be useful when I need it, but I the default 'temporary' behavior should work for me most of the time.

OK, I had doubts about whether I should have made a bigger warning or something . Anyway, I think it's always better to remove previous versions,

If it's okay, I'm of thinking of making a short follow-up tutorial about beta 4, including removal/replacement instructions for beginner users who previously installed beta 3.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that under the new workflow I should be able to respond quicker to bug fixes...

Yay! Keep up the excellent work!

[Greenlaw]

Oh, should you make the Download link for Beta 4 more obvious? Less observant visitors might click the Beta 3 link, thinking that's the latest version, because it appears more prominent. Just a thought.

But, then again, since Beta 4 is an early release, I see how that may be intentional.

BTW, the Shapes window was open all night and no freezing yet. Though I haven't worked Moho very hard yet, this is still promising.

[Rai López]

You are correct! Slow down was my issue with Point-Based Selection, not the UI freeze.

So no progressive slowdown after all? That would be great news, thus nothing to sorry about! And thinking on it, maybe an explanation of that feeling was due to simply go naturally adding more and more shapes to the project?

Anyway, I like the solution you came up with. The button seems to work great. Having the Alt-key option to make the mode persist will be useful when I need it, but I the default 'temporary' behavior should work for me most of the time.

Very happy to head that, thanks for the feedback! Plus, it's now much obvious for such kind of demanding feature to know whether it's active or not at a glance...

If it's okay, I'm of thinking of making a short follow-up tutorial about beta 4, including removal/replacement instructions for beginner users who previously installed beta 3.

Of course! You know how much I loved your little review (for anyone interested: 3 Favorite Moho Animation Scripts! Vol. 1) at YouTube... maybe I should have linked it at the first post?

Oh, should you make the Download link for Beta 4 more obvious?

Sure, I thought I could avoid another link to maintain having now the other more time-reliable options, but it's true that with all the other old links all around it may not be clear what to do. So, yeah, already done...

BTW, the Shapes window was open all night and no freezing yet. Though I haven't worked Moho very hard yet, this is still promising.

Yay! Keep up the excellent work!

That's so good news! Thank you very much again for the feedback... And already on it!

[Rai López]

And bumped again — New BETA (v0.4.1) just dropped and this time it's all about PERFORMANCE! Well, as usual, check the first post for details and download links... Cheers!

[Greenlaw]

And bumped again — New BETA (v0.4.1) just dropped and this time it's all about PERFORMANCE!

Woo! Thanks, Rai! Checking this update out later today!