Moho changelog

[Víctor Paredes]

i don't know if you have seen this, or if it's interesting for you. but, however, here is a little bit of history:

Moho version history / changelog
(from http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Moho?changelog=602)

Version 5.4 has the following improvements:

Mac OS Improvements
* Moho is now a Universal Binary application, and runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macintosh computers.
* Major speed improvement for both PowerPC and Intel Mac versions of Moho - playback and overall interaction is much smoother.

Other Improvements
* Paint Bucket tool for filling shapes with color - see the updated manual for more details.
* Support for using MP3 sound files for soundtrack when exporting to QuickTime or SWF.
* Various bug fixes.


Version 5.3 has the following improvements:

New Rendering Engine
* Higher quality fills and outlines
* Thinner, more precise lines
* Very small shapes look accurate
* Fractional line widths (less than 1) are now allowed
* Many imported AI files look much better when rendered in Moho
* In many cases, rendering is now faster as well

New Sound Subsystem
* QuickTime is no longer required for audio functions
* Faster and smoother audio playback and scrubbing
* Because QuickTime is no longer used, playback is better but fewer audio formats are supported - it's generally best to stick with WAV or AIFF.
* Scrubbing in the timeline doesn't change audio playback speed
* All audio functions now work on Linux too

Tool Improvements
* Freehand tool - closed shapes can now have tapered ends - this leaves the closed segment invisible
* Freehand tool - displays a preview of line width as you draw
* Line Width tool - line widths can be adjusted numerically

Miscellaneous Improvements
* Inverse kinematics (bone locking, Manipulate Bones tool, etc.) ignores controlled bones. You can have a controlled bone in a knee, for example, and still lock a foot bone effectively.
* Pressing Ctrl+F5 reloads brushes in addition to script files so you don't need to restart Moho when installing a new brush file.
* Image layers - when replacing the source image, the layer takes the shape of the new image, instead of distorting the new image to fit the old one's shape.
* Exporting an animation now allows you to include frame 0 if you wish to

Scripting improvements
* Scripts can now set the document's soundtrack - moho:SetSoundtrack(pathname)
* Ability for scripts to get the current document's path - string MohoDoc::Path()
* Import Image Sequence script - written by Julien Stiegler (thanks Julien!)

Linux-Specific Fixes
* Numpad keys work for entering numerical data
* Shift+tab works to go backwards between text fields

Bug Fixes
* Fixed a problem where Moho would close down when exporting very large vector objects to Flash
* Fixed a problem where noisy interpolation could cause crazy insane values
* Fixed a problem with bone dynamics where very small bones could become unstable and fly around crazily
* Fixed a problem with bone dynamics and layer flipping
* Various other bug fixes


Version 5.2 has the following improvements:
* Multiple bones can be selected at once.
Hold down the shift or ctrl keys to select multiple bones with the Select Bone tool.
All bone tools (where it makes sense) can now operate on multiple bones.
Useful for setting up bone constraints and dynamics.
NOT often useful for translating multiple bones at once - just translate a root bone for the rest to follow.
The selection commands in the Edit menu now work on bones (Select Connected, Select Inverse, etc.).
The "selected bone" channels in the timeline display keyframes for all selected bones.
The Bone Audio Wiggle script was also updated to apply to all selected bones.
Any script writers that have scripts that operate on bones are encouraged to update their scripts to apply to all selected bones where possible.
This also makes it easy to adjust bone dynamics for multiple bones.
* Add Bone tool - if you hold down the Alt key and click on a bone, it selects that bone, instead of adding a new bone.
(No more excessive switching back and forth between the Add Bone and Select Bone tools.)
* Bone dynamics for individual bones can be turned on and off during the course of an animation.
* The Line Width tool can now be animated.
* Option to export as a sequence of layered PSD (Photoshop) images
Top-level Moho layers become layers in the PSD file.
Opacity and blending modes are exported intelligently, so they can later be tweaked in Photoshop.
Motion blur is not exported to PSD.
* The default interpolation type for new keyframes can be changed by clicking the Settings button in the timeline.
Be aware that this affects all scripts that create keyframes.
Some scripts may have unexpected effects if the interpolation type if something other than smooth. For example, the Smoke script probably won't look right if the interpolation type is set to Step.
* Keyframe markers are display tiny icons to show the interpolation type.
The most common interpolation, smooth, appears as the old-style keyframe indicator.
* When setting noisy interpolation, the dialog that asks for amplitude and scale shows the current noise settings.
This makes it easier to tweak noisy interpolation to get it just right.
* New animation channels in the timeline:
line width
line width (selected points)
bone dynamics
bone dynamics (selected bones)
* Increased maximum project dimensions to 9000x9000 pixels.
* Increased number of Undo levels to 32.
* Scripts can set the document's soundtrack.
MohoDoc::SetSoundtrack(pathname)
* Scripts can query the pixel width and height of image layers.
ImageLayer::PixelWidth() and ImageLayer::PixelHeight()
* Embedded scripts (experimental).
A script can be attached to any layer in a Moho project, and will be evaluated during playback.
Examples of how to do this will be posted soon in the scripting forum.
In addition, the following bugs have been fixed in version 5.2:
* Bone constraints - there were situations where bone angle constraints were ignored (noisy interpolation, for example). Angle constraints are now enforced in these situations.
* Fixed a problem when inserting actions that make use of bone locking.
* Fixed a problem when using Undo inside an action.
* Fixed a problem where importing a Moho object with styles could sometimes lock up Moho.
* Fixed a problem where styles in use could not be deleted - now they can be.


Version 5.1.1 has the following improvements:
* Improved playback speed, especially with a large Timeline window. This fix specifically affects the Timeline window, which ran poorly enough to slow down the actual animation.
* Improved Illustrator import - better interpretation of line widths and CMYK color
* Improved bone locking (in some cases locked bones would "vibrate" - this situation has been improved)
* Fixed a problem when combining flexi-binding, bone offsets, and vector layer transformations
* Fixed display error in brush dialog when a large number of brushes are installed
* Quitting an "F5 preview" now requires you to click on the preview progress bar, allowing you to work in other programs while the preview is being generated. Previously, even clicking in a different application would cancel the preview.
In addition, there are a couple Linux-specific fixes:
* Pressure-sensitive tablet support on Linux. If you can get your drawing tablet configured to work with Linux, then Moho should be able to use it to control the line width of the Freehand tool. (We currently only know that Wacom tablets work, but they do work well. Hopefully other brands will work just as well.)
* Fixed file dialogs on Linux so that they now work with Lua scripts that make use of file selection dialogs


Version 5.1 has the following improvements:
* Preset options in Project Settings dialog for different video dimensions.
* Command-line rendering mode. More information about how to use this in an upcoming post...
* When exporting an animation, the soundtrack is included if you are exporting starting from the document's start frame. Previously, it was only included if exporting from frame 1. (These are usually the same thing, but not always.)
* External files can now be in sub-folders within the project file's folder (images, movies, sounds, 3D objects). More information about this in an upcoming FAQ...
* When zooming the timeline, the current frame will still be visible.
* Fixed problem with importing OBJ files containing tabs.
* Fixed problem with animating points in a mesh layer, when that entire mesh layer is bound to a single bone.
In addition, there are several Mac-specific fixes:
* The program should be more responsive when using tools, menu commands, and various other operations.
* Fixed some crashing problems that could happen when rendering, exporting an animation, or batch rendering.
* Auto-playback of SWF files exported from Moho has been turned off. The problem is, for most people on Mac OS, the QuickTime Player is the default application for SWF files, but it can't handle Moho's SWF files correctly.
* Copy/paste between text fields on the Mac version now works.


5.0.8 would crash when working with certain actions. 5.0.9's main purpose is to fix this bug.
The new preview function introduced in 5.0.8 can now be canceled if you don't want to wait for it to finish. Just click and hold the mouse button on the progress bar until it goes away.
Color-coding of selected channels in the timeline. This distinguishes the selected bone rotation channel from the regular bone rotation channel, for example.


Version 5.0.8 addresses the following issues:
Fixed actions by reference - the first frame (where the action is referenced) now actually refers to the action. Previously, the first frame acted like a normal key in the timeline, and the action only started on the next frame.
Layer transparency in vector layers can be previewed in the editing view. Note that this is not a totally "correct" preview. When you have multiple overlapping shapes, you will see both shapes. In the final rendering, the overlap area is computed before the transparency is applied, so the preview won't look quite right. But, it's only a preview.
When an image or 3D layer is inside a group (or bone) layer, and the image/3D layer is set to face camera, the image or 3D layer went through a weird flattening effect. This is fixed.
Better support for AVI DV codecs when batch rendering. Some DV codecs will refuse to operate unless the source resolution is 720x480. These codecs would not work in Moho's batch mode. Moho now passes along the resolution of the first document in the batch queue, so if it 720x480, the DV codec should accept it and allow batch rendering to continue.
Bone dynamics work in particle layers. Here's an example:
http://www.lostmarble.com/misc/flying_frogs.mov
Bone dynamics simulation only starts at the animation's start frame. This prevents unexpected "jumps" when moving a character from frame 0 to frame 1. (This was supposed to be fixed in 5.0.7, but there was a second problem that needed to be solved to fix this issue.)
Style window - if you start to enter a name, but don't press tab or enter, then click a checkbox, the name would revert to what it was before. This is now fixed.
When a referenced action is deleted, Moho would crash. Fixed.
Fixes to motion blur - renders correctly now when combined with other layer effects. Also hanldes layer blending mode correctly.
When exporting a movie file, the movie is automatically opened at the end of the render in the default movie player application.
Preview rendering: press the F5 key to render out a quick preview of the current animation. You don't get to choose any quality options here - it's just a low-quality, fixed codec (QuickTime Sorenson) output, rendered at half the project's final dimensions. This was a last-minute feature addition, so we may add a way in the future for you to specify what kind of rendering options you want to use. The purpose of this feature is to let you see the animation playing back at full speed, even if it's too complex to play back in Moho itself. You could always export the movie yourself, but this feature lets you skip the process of choosing rendering options and codecs, and figuring out where to save the movie file. Just press F5 and let Moho take care of it.
In addition, there are a couple updated script files that you can use with Moho. On the following page you can find an update to the Add Point tool that gives you the option of adding points with sharp corners, and a Split Curve tool that automatically adds intermediate points along the selected curve segment(s), giving you an easy way to increase the "curve resolution" of a drawing.


Version 5.0.7 addresses the following issues:
Fixed timing problems on Mac OS. Audio files play back in better sync with the animation. Also, FPS display is more accurate now when playing back an animation, and frame skipping should work properly. This fix only affects Mac OS.
When changing project's fps, audio waveform display in the timeline is updated correctly.
Bone dynamics simulation only starts at the animation's start frame. This prevents unexpected "jumps" when moving a character prior to the start of the actual animation.
Interpolation in switch layers now works with actions and cycling.
Fix for problems with certain fonts in the Insert Text function.
Color pickers now also show the color in web format. This makes it easy to match the colors in a web page, plus makes it possible to copy and paste colors in color pickers.


2/12/2004 Version 5.0.6 addresses the following issues:
Fixed a bug with certain layer masking operations when rendered
Fixed a bug with 3D layers and layer effects
The Style window is now resizable. (The controls don't resize, but you can make the window bigger if you have a long list of styles and can't see them all at once in the popup menu.)


19/10/2004 5.0
http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/whatsnew.shtml


10/9/2003 - Moho Updated
Version 4.6.1 of Moho has been released. This update fixes a bug with switch data files and audio files on OS X. The Windows version of Moho didn't appear to exhibit the same problem, but was updated with the fix as well.

9/19/2003 - Moho Updated
Version 4.6 of Moho has been released.

Changes:
Depth in particle layers, plus special support for randomized crowds.
Improved Freehand tool.
Color picker function for Select Shape, Fill, and Outline tools.
Automatic, flexible bone binding option.
Rotate Workspace tool.
Other miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

6/23/2003 - Moho Updated
Version 4.5 of Moho has been released.

Changes:
True 3D layer positioning and camera movement.
Depth sorting of layers (layers can move in front of and behind each other during an animation).
Automatic depth of field effect when using 3D layer positioning.
Camera moves are undoable.
Bone scaling.
More control over layer shadow and shading.
Other miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

4/4/2003 - Moho Updated
Version 4.2 of Moho has been released. This version is primarily a bug-fix release.

2/25/2003 - Moho Updated
Version 4.1 of Moho has been released. We've loaded Moho up with lots of new features requested by our users.

Changes:
Instant lip-sync feature, based on an audio file. (QuickTime is required for this function.)
Lasso selection tool.
Optional motion blur effect.
Path animation.
Option to evenly space particles in particle system layers.
Option for infinite-lifetime particles.
During playback, actual frame rate is displayed in the timeline.
Ability to constrain playback to just a limited part of the timeline.
Other miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

2/10/2003 - Moho for Linux Official Release
The Linux version of Moho is now official! Download it here.

2/3/2003 - Moho for Linux Updated
The Linux version of Moho has been updated with a new beta. This version fixes several bugs, and is compatible with more Linux distributions.

1/23/2003 - Linux version of Moho
A preliminary version of Moho for Linux has been released.

1/10/2003 - Moho Updated
Version 4.0.2 of Moho has been released.

Changes:
Fixed point group bugs.
Fixed switch group bug in older, updated files.
Went back to old bone manipulation method - the new one is still available through the Moho preferences dialog.
Improved processor usage and performance on Mac OS.
Other miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

12/9/2002 - LM Stitch Updated
Version 1.5 of LM Stitch has been released.

New to version 1.5:
Now available on both Windows and Mac OS X.
Export Photoshop files, complete with layers.
Several bug fixes and improvements.

12/3/2002 - Moho Updated
Version 4.0.1 of Moho has been released. Several bug fixes and small refinements.

11/24/2002 - Moho Updated
Version 4.0 of Moho, our 2D animation software, has been released.

New to version 4.0:
Improved interface
Graphical animation curves
Bone constraints
Batch rendering
Audio support
Context-sensitive info panel
More animatable parameters
Flexible animation cycling
Object naming
Keyframe scaling
Resizable projects
Much more!

New to version 3.5:
Particle system layers for water, smoke, and swarming effects
Layer shear tools

New to version 3.2:
Improved freehand drawing tool
Optional display of NTSC "safe zones"
Option to hide "offscreen" artwork
Reversible layer masks
Line thickness randomizer
Set fill and line settings for upcoming objects
Bug fixes

New to version 3.1:
Enhanced Switch layers: they can now be manually controlled, and can interpolate between sub-layers
Drawing tablet support for the freehand drawing tool (Windows only)
Option to display SMPTE timecode in the timeline (see Edit->Preferences menu item)
Bug fixes

New to version 3.0:
New streamlined, modeless user interface
Layer masks
Onion skins for easier animation
"Virtual camera" with depth effects
Numerical editing of points, bones, layers, and camera
Image warping
More things are animatable: fill and line colors, layer shadows and shading, layer depth, virtual camera

New Product
Lost Marble is pleased to introduce a new product, LM Stitch.

New to version 2.6:
Vastly improved Flash export (files are smaller, more visually accurate, and more compatible)
Dramatically improved Illustrator import
Bug fixes
Moho is now available for Mac OS X

New to version 2.5:
Flexible bone binding (for smooth and squishy animation)
Color swatches in the Style palette
Bug fixes

New to version 2.2:
Moho is now available for Mac OS
Switch layers (for lipsync and other audio-synchronized animation)

New to version 2.1:
QuickTime output on Windows (including alpha channels for codecs that support them)
QuickTime input on Windows for image layers (including alpha channels for codecs that support them)
Render up to 4096x4096 pixels
New layer shading effect
Bug fixes