Fills not staying with lines.

[NealF]

Hi.

I've been drawing with the freehand tool and then filling in some of the areas with the bucket tool. Also with the blob tool.
When I animate the freehand lines the fill doesn't always follow the outline exactly.
I know it would stick together if I made a shape, but I want the lines to look hand drawn.

Is there a way to keep them from separating?

Thanks.

[Greenlaw]

Do you mean when deforming the shapes with bones? Without seeing any example of what you're seeing, this is just a guess but it could be because the shapes aren't sharing similar enough construction. If this is the case, try adding and/or moving points in the pieces of geometry so they are more closely matched in point structure. This should allow them to deform more similarly. It usually doesn't have to be an exact match, just similar.

[NealF]

Yes. It's when I'm trying to move it with bones. I did move some points to fix it but thought that maybe I'm doing something wrong concerning my understanding of shapes. I thought maybe there's a way to make sure they become one shape like when you create a shape with a stroke.

Thanks.

[synthsin75]

If the strokes are already welded into a closed shape, the paint bucket will use the existing curves. But Moho doesn't know if you want unconnected curves welded to create a the new shape, so it creates new curves for the new shape. If you want to use the same curves, you'll need to connect them before creating the new shape.

[Greenlaw]

Just adding to what Wes said: you might try Freehand drawing with Auto-Close enabled. This will normally insure that the shape is properly fillable with the Paint Bucket even if you don't draw the shape as a visibly closed path. (I say 'normally' because sometimes I get odd results with the end points when using Freehand. Usually it works though.)

[NealF]

Sounds good. I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know the results.
Thanks.

[NealF]

OK. Now I see how it all works.

I can use the auto close some of the time. Just have to uncheck for certain looks sometimes. Other times I'll just have to adjust the fill and line separately. Not a big deal.

Thanks all.

[Greenlaw]

Yes. Sorry, I should have been a little more clear--you'll want Auto Close disabled if you want strokes that are not meant to be be filled.

Tips:

When I'm drawing something complex with FH, I tend to draw all the major closed shapes with this enabled first, and then I switch it off and draw in the details. After that, there's generally less switching back and forth between modes.

Also, it helps if I import a sketch or if I rough out the drawing in a separate layer so I can trace a clean version in a 'final' layer using Freehand. After tracing it, I'll delete the sketch layer.

[NealF]

Good tips.

Thanks. Really getting into this program. Going to make a web series once I get it down a little more.