Greenlaw wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2023 4:32 pm
Allibanos wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2023 11:22 am
Do you know which, if any, free software’s layers are exportable as Moho vector layers? I’ve just started doing a tutorial on Procreate, but I think that’s a raster programme.
I'm jumping back into this conversation without reading too far back, so my apologies if this info was already covered.
Of the vector drawing programs I use,
Adobe Illustrator is probably the most powerful, and its SVG output works well with Moho. When I was the Lead Digital Artist on
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers, I used it regularly for creating motion graphic elements for animation in After Effects and Moho, which worked very reliably for me. The last time I used this feature (maybe a year ago,) I had to use the
Save As... version of SVG, not the
Export>Export As... version...otherwise, the SVG will not be read correctly. Also, I needed to use SVG Tiny option, but any version of Tiny worked.
This has probably changed with Moho 14.1 because we have a different and better SVG importer now, but if you run into any issues, check these options.
I use
Clip Studio Paint's vector tools for drawing my comics. I haven't drawn comics in a few years, but CSP did not export vector art in any format back then. I'm told this changed recently, and CSP can now export SVG. I'll try it with Moho over the weekend and see how it works for me.
(Sorry, it just occurred to me that neither of the above is free. However....)
Inkscape is another popular alternative to Illustrator, and it's open source and free! But I've never used it, so can't comment on how well it works with Moho. I'm sure others here can describe its performance with Moho.
Now, there are a few things you need to be aware of when using vector art created in a third-party program:
There is little reason to use an external program for drawing vector art for everyday character rigging and animation in Moho.
As a matter of fact, to get nicely deforming characters in Moho, you want to create your vector art directly inside Moho using the Add Points tool. This is because when creating vector art in another program, you cannot be sure if the point count and placement are optimal for Bones rigging and Smart Warp deformation in Moho.
I found working with Illustrator for Moho most helpful when I had to create drawings and graphic elements that had to be technically and geometrically precise. (If you've watched FFSR, then you know why.) But for everything else, it's optimal to draw inside Moho.
When working in a third-party drawing program for Moho, you don't want to spend a lot of time and effort styling your vectors in another program because some style features are
program-specific and may not convert correctly or at all to Moho.
Finally, Moho's vector graphics tools are actually quite good. When I say this, I'm mainly talking about the
Add Points tool, especially in Moho 14.x with the new 'click-only' feature, and when you add third-party scripts like
MR Curve, HS Shape, and the
SS Multilayer Transform Points and
AE Multilayer Magnet tools. (I believe all of these are available at
mohoscripts.com). Also, in Moho 14.1, the
Freehand and
Blob Brush tools received significant improvements and are finally usable for real-world production work. In fact, lately, I've been using Freehand regularly in Moho (mainly for short FBF animations and vector artwork that do not need to be deformed).
I hope this info is helpful.
