Moho Forum

I gave someone a few lessons in Moho animation, and they really like point animation - translating, scaling and rotating points to make shapes move. They don't have much interest in using bones to animate, though. I tried to convince them that bones are faster and everybody uses them, but my student simply likes moving points around.

I eventually told them, "I can't think of anybody who animates characters like that." I said people move points around for smoke and explosions and special effects, not for character animation. So they asked, "Nobody uses point animation like that? Are you sure?"

Okay, I'm not completely sure.

Does anybody know of any Moho animator who uses only point animation (and transform layer) to animate a character? I'm not talking about one-shape blob characters; I'm talking about humanoid characters with plenty of detail.

Thanks!

On Debut, I used point animation to move eyelids and a few other features. But I didn't have any other option at the time.

Point animation is an essential skill for smartbone animations, and the practice I received on Debut translated over quite well and probably made my face rigs a lot better. But if you're moving the same points the same way over and over, you're actually making more work for yourself and anyone else using the rig.

I've done quite a few point-pushing animations in the past. But always very short one-offs. Nothing intended to be used in a longer project.
I believe this was all just point motion:

Hoptoad wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:17 pm ...So they asked, "Nobody uses point animation like that? Are you sure?"...Does anybody know of any Moho animator who uses only point animation (and transform layer) to animate a character? I'm not talking about one-shape blob characters; I'm talking about humanoid characters with plenty of detail.

I sometimes use point animation for characters but this is usually on top of bones and warp animation. For me, point animation is a valid technique but, admittedly, it's rare for me to use it as a sole animation technique.

Coincidentally, however, I happened to do just that at my work last week.

I was asked to create several 2D effects in the style of Michel Gagne. Since the show this was for is still in production, I can't show what I did of course, but I used Moho for it because Moho's vector drawing and Magnet tool is uniquely suited to this sort of thing. As a matter of fact, I'm not aware of an equivalent tool for Magnet in other 2D animation programs. Anyway, the results got a very positive response, and I was happy with how they turned out considering the short schedule we had. (When I'm able to, I'll make a demo for how to do these type of effects.)

Anyway, that's one way I've used points-only techniques in Moho. No, this wasn't for a human animation, but it was used because the effect needed to be more fluid and organic than what I can get from using only bones or mesh warping, or particle sims (in any program,) and it was a lot easier/faster than creating this style of animation frame-by-frame .

I suppose if that's the goal for your friend's character work, then why not use this technique? I guess it depends on the style they're going for and what works most efficiently and effectively for it.

But if they decide they need more predictable structure in their animation, they can't go wrong with adding some bones to their characters. It never hurts to expand your skills and tool set.

I was looking at that reel and saw another example of point animation but this time for a character. Scrup to 0:26 to see the 'rock monster' I animated for Trolls: The Beat Goes On. This was animated using only point animation and layer transforms right up to when the monster takes its humanoid form, and then it's animated using a bones rig. (The bones rig is always there during the point animation, it's just not used until after the body is formed.)

Sorry the footage is so short. I cut it down for the reel and I probably sped it up even, but the original scene isn't much longer and you watch the unedited version on Netflix.

I often see many time Victor using point animation in his demos - particularly for facial expressions or finessing, and of course mesh manipulation - more often than not alongside use of the magnifier tool.

I do use it myself, but then also usually regret that I didn't initially underly the movement with bones.

I think when doing this, you can learn quite a bit from the workflow of another popular software for Cut-Out animation which shall not be named.

Anyways, there animators tend to rough out a sequence very loosely frame by frame and use that as a guide for the rig to follow. Often times they also only use computer tweens for picking and choosing individual frames for inbetweens, if that makes sense. Most of those rigs don't even have IK chains, because it's so hard to make them there but it's really more about deforming and skewing drawings into place. However the results are often times really cool and close to frame by frame so yeah, i think when doing point animation it would probably help to go in there with a bit more planning

I think it's qutie beneficial to look up workflows of stuff you like no matter whether it's made with Moho or not, because most stuff can be replicated in pretty much any software. The philosophies or methods are often a result of the features most readily available.

I also think early Moho stuff like the things by Freakish Kid or the short film "The Itch" were definitely a lot of point animation, since there were no Smartbones back then. So often times it was just very basic rigs and then a lot of point shoving. They still look good. I think it's also important to think about a design that will lend itself to that kind of thing which is probably why very often you see it used with characters that don't have any outlines i.e.

SimplSam wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:48 am I often see many time Victor using point animation in his demos - particularly for facial expressions or finessing, and of course mesh manipulation - more often than not alongside use of the magnifier tool...

Yeah, I tend to use it to customize existing mouth shapes. In my rigs, I like to include an 'emo' Smart Bone Dial control that morphs neutral mouth shapes to 'happy' or 'sad' versions, but sometime I need to push an expression even further when a performance demands it. This is why Magnet remains on of my favorite Moho tools.