Moho Forum

Hey. Just purchased Moho. I'm loving it so far. Its just like. . . a 2D Animation Master. Very cool.

I have some flash export questions though.

1. How do I embed a sound file? The docs talk about using an .mp3 but I guess support for that got broken in the last update so. . . I'm kind of stuck.

Flash 8 Pro locks up when it tries to import this .swf even though its only 1.4 mbs.

I read somewhere on the forum about a command line flash tool that could add an audio track to a flash file but. . . I can't find it any more. If anyone can help me out with an alternative solution or help me find that post that would be very helpful.

2. How do you make object only appear when needed? My logo animation has the letters coming in about half way through but when things are off the stage, Moho still exports their movement which I think is causing bigger files than needed. So is there an animated hide toggle I could use? Or "on off" or something?

3. Is there a searchable manual? What I have read of the manual is fairly clear but its so hard to find things without any way of searching for key words.

4. When the animation loops. . . it seems to be adding another layer over the old one instead of starting from scratch. Hmm. . . hard to describe.

http://www.eggington.net/SuddenLink/FirstAttempt.swf (very odd without sound).

Watch that movie through and when its over, instead of it looping it overlays a new version doubling things up. Not really what I'm looking for and I'm wondering if thats why Flash 8 Pro is having a hard time importing it.

5. Is there an IRC room where Moho people hang out?

6. Am I asking too many questions?

Wegg wrote:3. Is there a searchable manual? What I have read of the manual is fairly clear but its so hard to find things without any way of searching for key words.

You can use your OS search function instead to find exactly the key word/s you want, it's that I do actually with my Windows "Search..." Right Mouse Button option over the C:/Program files/Moho/help folder and can helps a lot... CIAO!

Hello Wegg, and welcome!

Wegg wrote:Its just like. . . a 2D Animation Master.

Animation:Master users should be fairly comfortable with most of the basic concepts and tools in Moho - it's even got bone constraints, including dynamics! There are a few illustration concepts mixed in, but nothing too confusing. The users that have an initial period of confusion are the people from a paint-software only background - "where's the paint-bucket tool?"

Wegg wrote:I have some flash export questions though.

Be aware that while Moho does do SWF export, that's not its main focus and there are a number of limitations - many of the (pixel-based) effects won't export to SWF, for example, nor - perhaps more importantly - masking.

Wegg wrote:1. How do I embed a sound file? The docs talk about using an .mp3 but I guess support for that got broken in the last update so. . . I'm kind of stuck.

As the docs say, it does have to be an .mp3 file at a specific frequency, although there have also been other posts about problems. I haven't tried it myself - if I get time I'll experiment tonight.

Wegg wrote:Flash 8 Pro locks up when it tries to import this .swf even though its only 1.4 mbs.

Were you using variable-line widths, by any chance? That seems to reach the limits of the SWF specification fairly quicky.

Sothink SWF Quicker seemed to load single Moho-produced .swf files without any problems, last time I tried the trial version.

Wegg wrote:I read somewhere on the forum about a command line flash tool that could add an audio track to a flash file but. . . I can't find it any more. If anyone can help me out with an alternative solution or help me find that post that would be very helpful.

Possibly SWF Tools ? There is a command-line Wav2swf and a command-line CombineSWF - I once used it successfully to add 2 visual SWFs sequentially - I didn't try adding audio on top of visual although I'm fairly sure it can also do that. In fact, a quick look finds instructions for that in the Wink forum, along with a little GUI program further down in the thread to avoid the command-line .

Warning: there is a distinct possibility you'll get audio-video synchronisation problems when combining video and audio SWFs in this way (each SWF is added in as a separate sprite into the master SWF file).

As I understand it, SWF in general has potential synch problems - you either have a separate sound stream which is not synched to the video and it is up to the machine to keep the video frames playing fast enough or the sound gets ahead, or you have smaller sound chunks linked to specific events/frames, which can get choppy if the machine doesn't keep up and the sound is meant to play continuously.

Wegg wrote:2. How do you make object only appear when needed? My logo animation has the letters coming in about half way through but when things are off the stage, Moho still exports their movement which I think is causing bigger files than needed. So is there an animated hide toggle I could use? Or "on off" or something?

There is a keyframeable layer visibility toggle - either through layer settings, or click on the visibility channel in the timeline to directly toggle visibility.

Wegg wrote:4. When the animation loops. . . it seems to be adding another layer over the old one instead of starting from scratch. Hmm. . . hard to describe.

Possibly try ticking the "Extra SWF frame" under File, Project Settings. I vaguely seem to recall this fixing a similar problem.

Wegg wrote:5. Is there an IRC room where Moho people hang out?

Postality had a "dalnet #MoHo" channel - I don't know if it's well-attended or even still going - not an IRC person myself.

Wegg wrote:6. Am I asking too many questions?

No - you haven't even reached double figures yet - and it's all been relevant.

Regards, Myles.

Wegg!!???

Is that the famous "Wegg"?

It's me... heyvern.

Anyway... as was already mentioned the doubling of the SWF on a loop can be fixed by checking the box at the bottom of the project settings... "Add extra SWF Frame". This eliminates the "doubling" effect. I don't know why... or what the heck it does... but it works. It took me AGES to figure that out.

I would also suggest that Moho export for flash would be best used IN ADDITION to owning Flash.

Sort of like how AM works with polygons... but you still want a poly app to "clean it up".

Anyway... if this is the same "Wegg" I know from the AM community...

Moho IS the 2d equivelent of AM.

I am in up to my eyeballs with a HUGE moho project for a television pitch... I can't even show any samples which is driving me CRAZY. I haven't been hanging out much in the AM forum... people over there probably think I am dead or something.

I like this forum though... it is very quiet... not a lot of noise.

-Vern

myles: Thank you. Its good to know there is an active supportive community. I wish I could SEE what you had posted while I type this. . . but I remember it being helpful.

heyvern: Yea its me. Flash is a program that I have never been able to learn. I have a few books that I have gone through. . . and have made several attempts at it but my brain just can't process it. The timeline makes no sense to me and all the tutorials and information out there throw you right into action scripts which to me is like buying a $400 program so you can use Wordpad. No thanks. I believe I had Moho figured out in a matter of hours.

Thanks for clarifying the extra SWF Frame thing. That should help a lot. It was pretty confusing to say the least.