How do I add perspective into my character

[RASH]

Sure, a Moho character is a flat object, but I've seen some animation drawn in perspective in Preston Blair's Cartoon Animation, and want to know if something similar can be done in Moho without having to rearrange all the relevant points of the character manually (as was done in the test animation below), because this can easily lead to errors.


(Sorry for the rather poor animation, but it's just to illustrate what I mean.)

So the idea is: when body parts move away from the camera, they shrink in size and when they move towards the camera, they grow in size; in the meanwhile the body parts stay connected to eachother. I which way(s) can I achieve this effect?

If I may, I also have a second question, which may be related to the first.

I had to create two duplicate layers for the ball, because when the ball is kept below the hand, the fingers are in front of the ball and when the ball is kept above the hand (in the highest position of the throw and thereafter), the fingers are behind the ball. I had to keep the layer in front invisible until the ball was in front of the hand.

I assume there in the current Version of Moho there is no way to change the stacking order of layers during animation. This would simplify matters enormously. Until this is implemented: is there a way to simplify this kind of animation, without having to use the duplicate layer-in-front/layer-in-back trick?

[NeepNop]

Hi,
I think you could achieve this with switch layers, which changes the stacking order of the images search the forum for "switch layers"
hope that helps.

[critter47]

Check out the help. Animation section 5.4 on depth sorting.

[cribble]

Well i kind of know a little bit about perspective if it helps. Think how perspective works first of all. As you get closer object gets larger, and the further away you get, the object becomes smaller.
From this you are going to have to predict what type of perspective you want, so i recommend drawing 2 lines from say where you want the perspective to be at its biggest point to where you want it to be its smallests point (so the lines should eventually run diagonally into each other).
Now draw whatever and basically work with-in those lines. So say if its a worms-eye perspective, the shoes would be really big while the head should look small.
From there you're on your own how to apply and animate this into MoHo. But i'm guessing if you draw guide lines, it might aid you on what to do and how the size of object should react according to the position... its kind of like one of those special lense you get for cameras!

[RASH]

@NeepNop: The best I could come up for the hand/ball problem with using switch layers was this:

I used three switch sublayers, each with a layer for the hand, the ball and the fingers: [1] ball behind the hand, [2] ball in front of hand with fingers enclosing the ball, [3] ball in front of hand with fingers opened. Then I animated the switch layer and switched sublayers in this switch layer at the appropriate keyframes. This is still roughly animated, more switch sublayers would probably make it more fluid.

@critter47: How would this help me to create perspective in a flat drawing?

@cribble: I think I know how to create perspective on paper, but how can I create it in Moho, other than rearranging points with the Move Points tool?
Of course, I can always create seperate drawings of the scene in seperate sublayers of a switch layer and animate frame-by-frame, switching sublayer images, but I hoped I could use some kind of a shortcut in Moho, not needing to draw all these frame images.

[LittleFenris]

@critter47: How would this help me to create perspective in a flat drawing?

You should really read the tutorial they mentioned BEFORE you asked a question about something you didn't bother reading. You asked about how to make an object go from behind another object to in front of it w/o using 2 different layers. You do this with depth sorting. Read the tutorial.

Of course, I can always create seperate drawings of the scene in seperate sublayers of a switch layer and animate frame-by-frame, switching sublayer images, but I hoped I could use some kind of a shortcut in Moho, not needing to draw all these frame images.

Moho can't do everything for you, no program can. For the longest time in animation you had to do everything frame by frame.

[7feet]

Another option I often use is employ bone scaling to simulate the foreshortening of limbs and such as the move towards or away from the viewer. If you don't go too nuts with it, it works pretty well.

[RASH]

I'm very confused. Depth sorting while the perspective of a hand changes from outside-hand-view to inside-hand-view? Making limbs smaller using bone warping? It boggles my mind so much I get headaches.
Perhaps I should stick to pencil drawing for now. This is all too difficult for me!

[cribble]

@cribble: I think I know how to create perspective on paper, but how can I create it in Moho, other than rearranging points with the Move Points tool?
Of course, I can always create seperate drawings of the scene in seperate sublayers of a switch layer and animate frame-by-frame, switching sublayer images, but I hoped I could use some kind of a shortcut in Moho, not needing to draw all these frame images.

Hmmm.. I wouldn't recommend using the Move Point Tool for this. I think its a better idea to use the 'Shear Points' and 'Perspective Points' tools inorder to achieve whatever you're after.

[RASH]

Thanks, cribble. That seems to be exactly what I needed

[RASH]

Perhaps I should stick to pencil drawing for now. This is all too difficult for me!

Perhaps I should elaborate on this.

I read most of the tutorial material, but seem to forget most subjects it mentions after a few days. Even after rereading the relevant part of the tutorial the knowledge somehow "re-evaporates" after a few days. It all so difficult to grasp, perhaps too difficult for someone like me.

I must admit that most concepts of Moho are alien to me and the counter intuitive user interface doesn't make things any easier. Most of the time I'm not struggling with the animation, but with program controls. This distracts me, and my concentration is lost. I have only a limited concentration span.

It seems a mere tutorial is not enough for me. Aren't there any good books on animating with Moho? And I don't mean which buttons to push, but rather a conceptual book (with examples).

[LittleFenris]

I must admit that most concepts of Moho are alien to me and the counter intuitive user interface doesn't make things any easier. Most of the time I'm not struggling with the animation, but with program controls. This distracts me, and my concentration is lost. I have only a limited concentration span.

I have used all kinds of different animation programs from 2D to 3D and I haven't found Moho one bit counter intuitive to use. I think you need to simply spend more time learning the program instead of just hoping they will tailor it to your specific needs. I have found Moho to be one of the easier, yet still very powerful programs to learn and use.

[nobudget]

RASH does have a point, although I could work with Moho pretty quickly and it's quite a lot easier compared to most other animation software it might not be very intuitive for people who are new to digital animation. I was used to Flash so I had a background, that helps but I also believe Moho could be more logical in some areas. The Moho tutorials are very well done, and I can work with it pretty easy but when I really stop and think about what I am doing I come to the conclusion it could be done easier or dare I say it...more logical.

I can't help RASH with his "re-evaporating" mind but I wouldn't mind some serious user input concerning the Moho workflow and how it can be improved. Everyone will have different ways of working but I think some brainstorming couldn't hurt. I'm thinking of improvement of basic functions like multiple layer select (if I want to move some layers to a group for instance) and things like a "color picker" (the now named "color picker" is more like a color MIXER). If it exists I couldn't find it (swatches you say? close but not enough). If LM would like a more complete list just ask...if you dare!

Reindert.
www.nobudgetvideo.com

[LittleFenris]

I can't help RASH with his "re-evaporating" mind but I wouldn't mind some serious user input concerning the Moho workflow and how it can be improved. Everyone will have different ways of working but I think some brainstorming couldn't hurt. I'm thinking of improvement of basic functions like multiple layer select (if I want to move some layers to a group for instance) and things like a "color picker" (the now named "color picker" is more like a color MIXER). If it exists I couldn't find it (swatches you say? close but not enough)

Yes, there are some archaic features in Moho that do need some changing, but overall they are speed of workflow improvements and not life or death features. It is VERY annoying when you have 10 layers you might want to move into a bone layer or something and you have to do it one at a time. It would be much faster if you could select all the layers you want (w/ the control-click option if you need to do non-continuos layer selection). There are other examples like tools that you should be able to use one to do a certain task, but it takes 2 or 3 because it must have been easier to program the different tasks in seperate tools than to try and make them work together.