issues with animating gradients

[danielandrus]

I've been working with Anime Studio for a while now and have been able to figure my way out of most issues and limitations that i find in this program. What I haven't been able to figure out no matter how much time I've spent on it is how to work with gradients. In the image im posting you can see what i run into constantly when animating something with a gradient. I've tried all sort of different approaches to the rigging, placing, etc. I end up spending huge amounts of time fiddling with the bone strength to minimize it as much as possible. What shows in the image is actually very minimal distortion, when the movement get a bit more complex, the gradients are all over the place. Anyways, hopefully someone can help me with this or tell me to quit the gradients. I hope its something that I've been overlooking.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

[danielandrus]

No one knows how to work this out?

[slowtiger]

Is the arm just one shape, or two or more shapes overlapping? Don't expect gradients to be as controllable as points. Split up your limbs at places where it's invisible, like in the wrinkles. Live with the restrictions: if you want completely realistic gradients and shades with any movement, use 3D. This is a 2D program, so don't overload it. Change the style to adapt to the possibilities.

[Víctor Paredes]

Anyway, there is a bug about gradients. They don't work as they should when animating points and bones, in many cases you see the gradients have a limit and doesn't cover the entire shape.

[AHMED003ADALAT]

Anyway, there is a bug about gradients. They don't work as they should when animating points and bones, in many cases you see the gradients have a limit and doesn't cover the entire shape.

hope u guys can fix gradients in future update

[Greenlaw]

Can you post an example of what you're having trouble with?

When I need a grad for a shadow or lighting effect that has to follow the contours and deform precisely, I don't use Moho's procedural grads. Instead, I may create the shading as vector layers. This deforms accurately with bones and, if necessary, can be deformed additionally using the Magnet tool.

To see examples, take look at the Boss Baby 'Dekker Moonboots' footage (the spaceman) and in the Kung Fu Panda footage on my 2019 reel. In the KFP stuff, I made the shading separate passes for compositing using Moho's Layer Comps, but in the Dekker Moonboots shots, the shading is built into the rig. (The rig was designed so that the shading could be moved and disabled as needed...that was a lot of work, but we did get to use the characters in multiple episodes.)

Anyway, the vector based shading can be done using soft stroke edges (preview compatible) or by blurring the layer (must be rendered.) If you go the Layer comps method, render the layers sharp; you can always blur them to taste in the compositing program later.

One other example is the 'Big Guy' Trolls animation near the end of the same reel; the soft shadows and lighting seen there are painted as a layer in Photoshop, and added and bound as a separate layer on top of the rig in Moho. This helped sell the illusion that the character could turn in 3D by sliding the felt textures underneath. (This technique was inspired by Victor's Wool Buddies animations.)

[synthsin75]

I assume this is about gradient effects that don't move with points, exposing their limitations, when they need to be moved by bone influence. Use selected bones for flexi-binding should work to help isolate which bones influence which gradients.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, yeah, that could be it. Moho's procedural grads need to be deformed by bones. I'm guessing this is because points were not traditionally used to deform something in Moho. But now I'm wondering, do gradients deform with Smart Mesh? I would think so but I'm not sure I ever tested this.

I thought AHMED003ADALAT could also be talking about the limitation of shading effects when they are offset, and we sometimes see the edges of the effect or get some odd distortions. Making the element as a separate graphic layer solves this problem for me.

It would be helpful to see exactly what he is dealing with. (The OP's example from 2012 at the top of the thread is apparently long gone.)

[synthsin75]

Just checked, and smart meshes don't affect gradients.

[SuperSGL]

If you can use bind Layer that should work. Using just Bone strength might work but all your other shapes would have to be separate from that with there own bone set up - so they are not influenced by the gradient shapes bones. Not sure that will be very helpful but I like using gradients as well and it can get quite frustrating. I've started using masks with different color shapes and soft edge applied to get a similar effect. Lots of extra work though.