Problem with edge cutting when rendering bitmap

[23rovelt]

I am creating animations with non-antialiased images. (I guess it's like pixel art).

I'm importing the psd files individually into Moho, but the rendered images are not right.
The left and top edges are cut off, while the right and bottom edges are wider.

I think I know why.
When Moho converts a psd file into layers, it crops the image to the smallest possible border.
And Moho can't seem to render bitmaps that are on the very edge of the border correctly.

Increasing the resolution of the images or re-saving them with margins solves this problem,
but it's too annoying when there are a lot of them and has been bugging me for years.

Does anyone know of a good way to fix this?

[hayasidist]

which Moho version are you on? there was a bug similar to that which was fixed in 13.5.2

[DK]

As a last resort you could try removing the objects outline and use "outline on" in the layer settings. This will give you an equal thickness line overall only visible when rendered. Not ideal but it may work?
Cheers
D.K

[hayasidist]

oh - and - what are the pixel dimensions of the images and of the moho workspace -- it might be to do with having the relative scale of the image and/or its position such that when the render engine tries to map the "input" pixels (which, btw, look as though they have a small opacity gradient) to "output" pixels there are situations where the two outermost pixels at the "edge of the rendered line" would be only "partially" filled -- could be done by varying alpha; or could be resolved by only filling pixels above some threshold. Which could give rise to (say) a line that should be 5 px wide being rendered at 4,5 or 6 px wide depending on how the edge threshold is calculated.

[23rovelt]

Thanks for the advice.

It's good to hear that the latest version has fixed the problem. I was using the 13.5.1 version.
But upgrading to 13.5.2 didn't improve the situation. Hmmm.
Is there something wrong with my settings?

I tried different positions and scales, but the edges still get cut off. The same is true when It rotate.
I often enlarge the pixel art scale by 3 or 4 times and shoot in full HD.

I also tried using the outline settings to create an edge. It seems to be a little better.


↑Rendered with moho

↑original size png

[synthsin75]

Try making the canvas size in your bitmap editor something like 100x100 pixels to give the art plenty of padding.

[Greenlaw]

If you don't mind using PNG images images from Photoshop layers, you might consider using the free Export-Layers-To-Files-Fast script for Photoshop. One nice features in this tool is that it lets you set boundaries around the layers when you're ready to export. Also, if you enable Overwrite Files in the tool, each time you run it, Moho will automatically pick up the changed layer images, making the tool pretty much 'click-and-go.'

It's not as elegant as the new Layered PSD support in Moho 13.5.2, but it's a reliable workflow and a good workaround until this the PSD boundary error gets fixed.

Hope this helps.

[23rovelt]

OK,
I know that adding a margin of at least 1px to the image solves the problem.
Moho crops the image with minimal borders when importing psd, so it's a pain to fix.

Thanks for letting me know about a tool that might be useful.
I don't have photoshop, but I'll keep it in mind when I eventually get it.


Incidentally, the current solution is to apply a thin blur to all layers in the psd.
I don't like to use it too much because it destroys the concept of pixel art.

[23rovelt]

Hi all.
I found that when I load a psd file created with procreate into Moho, a generous cropping occurs, which solves this problem.

I'm using several paint tools to create psd files.
I usually use the paint tools SAI and CLIPSTUDIO.
The psd generated by these software did not seem to be supported.

I don't know what difference these make, but anyway, I was able to confirm the update for the 13.5.2 version.

Does anyone know of any other software that will export psd's that are compatible with Moho? I guess Photoshop is still the safe bet...
I am using Windows 10.

[Greenlaw]

That's interesting. I mainly use Photoshop for PSD but have used Procreate occasionally, which may be why I haven't noticed this.

I also occasionally use Krita, a free program, but I use it with its native Layers to PNG script. I'll see how it goes for layered PSD later today.

I don't have SAI but I do use Clip Studio Paint for my comics. I'll try making some Moho art with CSP today and see what happens.

[synthsin75]

Incidentally, the current solution is to apply a thin blur to all layers in the psd.
I don't like to use it too much because it destroys the concept of pixel art.

That would be one way of forcing a margin. You could probably do the same with single-pixel dots in three corners. Then you could use either the image crop or masking tools to get rid of those margin marks in Moho.

[ITAK]

Does anyone know of any other software that will export psd's that are compatible with Moho? I guess Photoshop is still the safe bet...
I am using Windows 10.

I would also recommend Krita. It has special brushes just for pixel art.


I made an example file and exported it from Krita to *.psd. You can test it and see how the export will work for your tasks.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, that's cool! My child was asking me about the best way to draw '8-bit' style the other day. They're familiar with Krita, so I'll let them know.

[23rovelt]

I tried Krita, but it seems that the psd created with it is also cropped to a minimal extent.
Nevertheless, it seems to be a useful tool, so I will try to use it. Thank you very much for your instruction.

It seems that when importing a psd created with procreate in previous versions, all layers were the same size as the canvas, and that seems to have been fixed in 13.5.2.
I'm going to suggest to support that they add the ability to crop with margins to all psd files.

In the meantime, I'll take the various tips you gave me and deal with them as the case may be.
If I ignore the hassle, the best way would be to move the finished psd to procreate and re-save it.

[Greenlaw]

I agree.

Additionally, I would like the ability to import with a user defined margin. I'm sure the margin issue you're experiencing is a bug and will get fixed, but there are situations where I would like to have a much wider margin around the image. This is one of the reasons I like using the Save Layers To Files Fast script for Photoshop. The downside with this method is that you need to position all the imported art manually inside Moho. To make this easier, I'll save the fully 'comped' artwork as a jpg and import that to the bg in Moho as visual reference. After re-positioning the PNG layers, I delete the reference image.