Lag When Holding Tool Hotkeys For Tool Toggling

[DigitalDesignDude]

I remember hearing that Moho supports hold hotkey tool toggling, similar to other art programs like Toon Boom Harmony, Affinity Designer, etc.

Though upon testing it out, I found that holding tool hotkeys causes lag as I shown in the below screen recording.

Does anyone else experience this? Also, I’m using Moho’s default settings and shortcuts on Windows 11.

I find hold-toggling tools very convenient for my workflow so I hope this bug report helps others who appreciate this feature as much as I do.



STEPS TO REPRODUCE BUG
• Press and hold a tool hotkey to temporarily select a tool (e.g., “F” for the Freehand Drawing Tool).
• Click and drag to use the tool, and note that performance is noticeably better when the hotkey isn’t being held.

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR
• Tools should perform the same whether or not their assigned hotkey is held.

ACTUAL BEHAVIOR
• Tool performance noticeably drops when its assigned hotkey is held down while drawing.

[Greenlaw]

Pressing and holding a hotkey has always done that in Moho, and it's especially noticeable when posing a rig. The lag probably occurs because, when pressing and holding a key, Moho appears to constantly send and check the tool's current state.

Pressing and holding a hotkey works fine for simple tasks, but it's impractical for more complicated ones. IMO, when I see a lag, it's better to tap and release to complete the tool switch, and then continue.

That said, maybe the behavior could be improved by not having it constantly check? i.e, just send it once, then ignore the key press until it's released? (Pleas note that I'm making an assumption about what's happening under-the-hood.)

[synthsin75]

Try going to Windows Control Panel>Keyboard and changing repeat rate to slow.

[Greenlaw]

Good suggestion, Wes! I'll try it out when I have a complex rig open.

I tried press-and-hold hotkeys with the rig I'm animating right now, using default keyboard settings, and didn't see any lag. It's not a good test case, though; it's a very simple rig that doesn't even use Smart Bones. I think I've only seen the lag with a heavy rig and lots of keyframes, so I don't normally use this feature.

[DigitalDesignDude]

Thanks for confirming I’m not the only one seeing reduced performance when holding tool hotkeys!

To work around this, I think I'll use an AutoHotkey script to simulate holding a hotkey without repeatedly sending it to Moho. Here's an example AutoHotkeyV2 script in case it helps someone else out:

Code: Select all

F1::Send("{e}")       ; On F1 press, select eraser tool only once.
F1 Up::Send("{f}")   ; On F1 release, re-select the free hand tool.

I find it odd how Moho technically supports hold toggling tools, but does not appear to be fully optimized for it. Though I'm glad I have this workaround for maintaining the hold-toggle muscle memory I have from other creative apps.

[Greenlaw]

To work around this, I think I'll use an AutoHotkey script to simulate holding a hotkey without repeatedly sending it to Moho...

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this, DigitalDesignDude! Coincidentally, I started using AHK2 recently, so I'm ready to try your tip.

(For anyone familiar with my old MQC tool for Moho 12, I just updated it for Moho 14.4 using AHK 2. It will be available at our Ko-Fi page once I finish the tutorial video for it.)

[Greenlaw]

I find it odd how Moho technically supports hold toggling tools, but does not appear to be fully optimized for it. Though I'm glad I have this workaround for maintaining the hold-toggle muscle memory I have from other creative apps.

A friend of mine uses press-and-hold hotkeys when she's animating in Moho. She seems okay with the lag, even when animating a character. But the lag drives me nuts, so I tend to avoid the option.

[DigitalDesignDude]

Same, I wish to avoid lag whenever possible, especially when drawing.

It amazes me how often AutoHotkey comes in handy for stuff like this. AHK has even replaced my pen tablet software for managing my tablet buttons' hotkeys based on which app I have opened.