Moho Forum

killerham wrote:i dont think that this is a 3d program i just want to know how to make a character turn around

In the Layers window click on the layer you want to rotate.
Go to:
Tools > Layer > Rotate Layer Y
Up in the top left corner of the main screen you will see "Y Rotation". It will be 0. Change it and your character will rotate on the Y-axis. If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, click in the 0 window and scroll your mouse to quickly rotate it.
To get it quickly back to the 0 postion, click the RESET button at the top of the screen.
(An alternative - depending on what you want to do in your animation - one could also rotate the camera around the character, making sure the "Rotate to Face Camera" option is on in the Layer Settings options. The Character will rotate to always face the camera.)

A good tutorial to get the basic "2D in a 3D world" of Moho is do Tutorial 5.8 in the Moho Users Manual. (Tip: Don´t just read the Tutorials, actually follow along and do them.)

If you want to learn more about using 3D objects in Moho Tutorial 6.8 is a good place to start.

One of the best things to do with Moho is experiment. Make a character and then try each tool and see what it effect it has on your character.

killerham wrote:i dont think that this is a 3d program i just want to know how to make a character turn around

Mr blaaa answered you question before... it is quite a tedious task drawing your character from all the different angles, but its the only way with out using 3d, its how traditional animators do it (they do a hell of alot more drawing though, in order to keep it looking smooth). the problem with trying to do it with moho is you would have to draw a whole new set of mouth shapes for each angle, and make sure everything is lined up corectly, ie. noses are level, eyes are level, mouths etc. but the good thing is once you have done it its done and you have a complete character from all angles.

If on the other hand you want the camera to revolve around your character, like in the matrix i suggest you do that bit of your animation traditionally, its would probably take you a day to do maybe more if you've never animated traditionally before, plus you need paper, peg etc...

victorialatham wrote: [...]
but the good thing is once you have done it its done and you have a complete character from all angles.

Exactly. That's the basic thing to do, so if you are done with the character setup, you can go for animation.
(But as victorialatham already mentioned, the smoother you want your character to move and turn, the more work you will have to put in.
E.g.: In the early disney toons you can see how much work it needs.
E.g.: In the Ren & Stimpy, or even Tex Avery Show, you can see, one can work with less drawing, but therefore the style must be more expressive)

Unless you want to draw all the different angles, this is what a 2D character looks like turning around in a 3D Moho space:

http://www.zippyvideos.com/9964486812677486/turnx/

Everything in 2D is flat - Two dimensions: length and width, but no depth.

Slight clarification:

Toontoonz wrote:You gave us all a step-by-step method of how to do it, the one person even asked you to elaborate on part 3 of your method -

jahnocli:
1. Imagine your character in 3D. Draw him/her/it from a number of different angles...
2. Make a simplified model and use that as a basis for character studies
3, "Draw" it in 3D with Teddy(search this forum for links), then spin it in space and draw it from different angles

Toontoonz, I think you missed a bit:

jahnocli wrote:One of these should get you started...

As I understood it:
Not 3 steps, but 3 alternatives for helping create multiple single-angle character templates for re-drawing in Moho.

One option was using Teddy (or SmoothTeddy) as a virtual mannequin maker (for Moho's Tracing Image feature, or just as a visual template).

Random rambling:

Hmm, it's been a while since I looked at Teddy - I grabbed the latest Sun Java J2SE runtime, downloaded and unpacked SmoothTeddy, ran the batch file and everything ran fine here - had a quick look at the included manual to see the changes from Teddy to SmoothTeddy and to remind myself of some of the techniques.

Make a mannequin shaped roughly like your character, which might make drawing some perspective shots easier in Moho (just what does my character's head look like from the perspective of the dog looking up at them from the side?).

Some cheats for turning characters: For simple animation you can often just flip your character, possibly hiding the flip behind a blur. You can cut to another shot, changing the camera angle and background and let the audience assume the character has turned.

Regards, Myles.

I haven't tried this but can't you make a front and back view using the same basic outline, change the fills and group them back to back so when you quickly change flip them you can see his back? Also for a fake 2/3 view maybe you can flip the nose < > and one ear on/off (as person revolves one ear would be not visible. If the turn is done fast this should be enough to fool the eye. In fact now that I am learning some traditional animation I am amazed. Many animators put all those weird frames with extreme stretches, feet backward and so on to increase the action and snap and you don't really see them because they zip by so fast.

Myles, did you go through the process of trying to create an animation in Moho using the modeling done Teddy. How did it turn out?
Everything I tried to make in Teddy (when it didn´t crash on me) turned into blob like shapes. Anything other than something very, very simple was a waste of time.
The idea for the technology is great - just wish somebody would perfect it.

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I am still trying to figure out what the original poster wanted -
A. How to turn a character around in Moho. (Simple rotation on the Y-Axis)
or
B. How to animate a character turning around in Moho (which entails drawing lots of different views).

Hi Toontoonz,

Toontoonz wrote:Myles, did you go through the process of trying to create an animation in Moho using the modeling done Teddy. How did it turn out?

No, I'm trying to stay away from 3D animation, even in Moho - the only use I'd make of it is as jahnocli suggested, the 3D equivalent of a pencil sketch (or perhaps pencil thumbnails would be more accurate) for planning Moho views, for those of us who aren't that great at 3D visualisation.

Toontoonz wrote:Everything I tried to make in Teddy (when it didn´t crash on me) turned into blob like shapes. Anything other than something very, very simple was a waste of time.
The idea for the technology is great - just wish somebody would perfect it.

Yes, it's okay to try for quick roughs of simpler major shapes such as the head but for anything detailed a full-control 3D modelling program might be a better choice (maybe something like sPatch/HamaPatch/JPatch for those who like Moho's splines and don't have the budget for a commercial program).

Toontoonz wrote: I am still trying to figure out what the original poster wanted -
A. How to turn a character around in Moho. (Simple rotation on the Y-Axis)
or
B. How to animate a character turning around in Moho (which entails drawing lots of different views).

I had assumed the second option.

Sidenote:
victorialatham asked if a mac version of Teddy was available - it's a Java application, see the notes at http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/teddy/mac.html

Regards, Myles.

myles wrote:victorialatham asked if a mac version of Teddy was available - it's a Java application, see the notes at http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/teddy/mac.html

That only applies to the Java applet (running inside a browser, so not able to save anything). Safari works fine too, but you will need a right click button (on your mouse or stylus), because Ctrl-clicking doesn't register as a right click in this applet.

AFAIK the Java application only works in Windows (started with the batch file). I tried running the JAR file, but that didn't seem to work on my Mac.

i just want to know how to make a character to look 3d and make him be able to turn around..........

killerham wrote:i dont think that this is a 3d program i just want to know how to make a character turn around

killerham wrote:i just want to know how to make a character to look 3d and make him be able to turn around..........

Hmmmmmm....maybe check out Tutorial 6.8 Using 3D models?

Well, I saw this clip in the latest episode of Channel Frederator. You can simply turn by drawing in 2D. I've slowed down the animation by a factor of approximately 4 so you can study it better.

You could do something similar to a whole character. It is not a real 3D look, but more a projected 3D look.

Another method might be to make a clay model (with real modelling clay) and use that to see how an actual 3D representation of your character looks like and draw this into a vector layer. I have seen a similar method demonstrated in television shows about animation studios (Dreamworks, Disney).

Many studios are getting away from it at this point, but you're right, Rasheed, even a quick (physical) 3D version can be really helpful. I know a lot of folks who sculpted maquettes that were scanned for 3D animation. I've done a few, would've done more if I could tolerate LA. I've sculpted toys where the reference was not control art but the official studio maquettes (particularly for Warner Bros, Bugs and all them). A rough clay that you just shoot digital pics of from different angles (or in a pinch just rotate it to a few different angles on your scanner, not nearly as clear but can do the job) can be great reference if you import it into Moho as a tracing image. And a cartoony figure is pretty easy to sculpt, you don't need to be Michaelangelo or anything.