How to make a blinking light, view layers on timeline, create new scene?

[Username5]

Hi,
I'm evaluating Moho debut and I would like to know how to do the following, or if they are not possible.

To make a blinking light animation. I have set up a switch with two vectors - one with the light coloured yellow and one with it coloured grey. I would like to switch between the two every few frames for the duration of the scene. Obviously it is possible manually if I move the timeline forward and use the switch selection to change vectors, but this is not really feasible for the whole scene. Could you explain how to do it?

To view more than one layer on the timeline. I have almost decided this is not possible. If it is not, how do you place events in different layers precisely, in relation to each other?

Creating a new scene - do you have to just start a new file?

Thank you for any advice,
UN

[slowtiger]

1. Create 3 switch keys: A, B, A again. Set the last key interpolation to "cycle" and type in the number of frames from A to A.

2. Just put the current frame position to where you want to create keys, then select layer. The numbers on top of the timeline are an indicater too.

3. That's what we usually do, since professionals put their scenes together in a dedicated video editor.

[Daxel]

Hi,
I'm evaluating Moho debut and I would like to know how to do the following, or if they are not possible.

To make a blinking light animation. I have set up a switch with two vectors - one with the light coloured yellow and one with it coloured grey. I would like to switch between the two every few frames for the duration of the scene.

Hi! Before reading, have in mind that I'm not informed about the limitations of the debut version so some of these tips may rely on features that are missing in that version.

I don't know what kind of light effect are you looking for, but remember you can add transparency to colors using the alpha channel at the color editing panel. Sometimes a semitransparent light is all you need, so maybe you dont need the grey version. You can just turn the semitransparent light on and off and that should do the trick.

To turn the light off, in this case the switch layer is probably not needed as there are simpler ways to make something invisible or change its color in Moho. For example, you can just animate the color of the light instead, making it totally transparent, or grey if you want. To do that, use the Select Shape tool, select the light shape and then change the color of its lines or its fill, and any other property.

Another way to achieve this, instead of animating the color of the shape, is having the light in one layer and animating the visibility of that layer. Here Greenlaw gave me a nice summary of the techniques you can use to make something invisible in Moho, if you want to go deeper in your study: http://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 46#p190346

Obviously it is possible manually if I move the timeline forward and use the switch selection to change vectors, but this is not really feasible for the whole scene. Could you explain how to do it?

Yeah, if you want to repeat an animation multiple times you can use cycles, that let you repeat a secuence of keyframes the amount of times you need. There are different types of cycles and it's a powerfull feature that I recomend you to learn. You can try this youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG2k80lzq8c

To view more than one layer on the timeline. I have almost decided this is not possible. If it is not, how do you place events in different layers precisely, in relation to each other?

Creating a new scene - do you have to just start a new file?

Thank you for any advice,
UN

To view more than one layer on the timeline you just need to click on the little squares that are on the layers panel next to each layer, on the column below the clock icon that indicates "timeline".

To create a new scene you usually want to start a new file to have your proyect better organiced, and for performance reasons (so you don't have, for example, all the characters of the movie on the same file dragging its performance) and because you dont need to. Also remember that if you made a character on the scene 1 and want to reuse it for the scene 5, you can easily import just that character using the Library or you can open both scenes at the same time and copy one layer (also group layers) from the scene 1 and paste it on the scene 5 (to copy layers use the menu Edit - Copy layer).
The professional workflow is usually to make a scene, export it as an image sequence, and then use any video editor like adobe premiere or sony vegas to put the scenes together with nice transitions, audio features etc. But you can totally do everything inside Moho too, if you want. This is an example of someone doing scene transitions inside Moho:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-1rQg1Obxk

Have fun!

[MrMiracle77]

I like to use embedded switch layers for this.

Switch 1
-Switch 2 - Set this one to cycle
--Vector: Light in On Position
--Vector: Light in Off Position
-Vector: Light in Off position

This way, you can switch between 'off' and 'flashing'. You can add a third vector to switch 1 if you also want an 'always on' position.

[Username5]

Thanks very much for your replies. I've bought the software..and now discovered that you can only have two audio tracks. Which seems to mean only two characters, without some jiggery-pokery and re-editing in a video app. I'm also having problems with layers, but I'll post again about that. Thanks again.

[synthsin75]

I've bought the software..and now discovered that you can only have two audio tracks.

Yeah, cheaper versions have limitations.

Check out the product comparison, from the user manual posted here: http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtop ... 87#p195587

[cgrotke]

There is a blinking light tutorial in the new version... Tutorial 5.3: Cycling, pdf page 184. : )

[arglborps]

About the audio track limitation: normally you'd only put audio in for the lip synch and other timing as a reference in Moho.

I usually have one audio track for each character, but that's in my video editing app (Final Cut Pro X). Then I'd output the whole audio sequence as one file for reference to use in Moho for the scene I'm going to animate.

Once you're done you render out the scene as a movie file or image sequence, then take that into your video editor and assemble all the scenes one after another. I'd also usually remove/silence the audio from the rendered animation, once I've made sure it syncs with the audio in my editor. Having the "real" audio with separate tracks in the video editor will allow me to add audio effects (echo, etc.), foley (sound effects), and music. So Moho would be used only to animate each scene, all other editing you'd want to do in a video editing program. That'll give you more flexibility and you can keep the rendering sequences short.

If you're on a budget I'd recommend to look into DaVinci Resolve to edit your videos (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... ciresolve/) it's free, cross platform, great speed and is absolutely pro level.