How to Swap out Images on a Rigged file

[scottmayhew]

New to Moho!

I have rigged a character and animated it. I want to swap out the artwork but use the same rigging and animation. That way I could have many characters without having to rig each of them. Is there an easy way to do this? Thanks!

[hayasidist]

perfectly do-able.
but how easy it will be depends on how you've associated your current artwork with the skeleton.
for starters: is the artwork bitmap or moho vector?

[EDIT:]
just read your other post -- sounds like bitmap...

assumption: your characters are all built with the same structures / psd layer names
the easy way:

have each character in a different directory;
copy the .moho from the first rig's directory to the another
open the .moho in the variant directory .. it won't find the "first rig" file, so say "yes" to locate the file manually - and point moho at the second rig's psd... that should update all the file references

[Greenlaw]

If you're using layered PSD files, it should be pretty easy. First, on the desktop, move or rename the PSD file the rig is referencing, and Moho will ask you to select a new PSD file when you open the rig project. Now select the PSD with the new character art and save the project as a new character rig. If the new PSD uses the same layer naming structure, Moho should replace the artwork and use the same binding. This requires some pre-planning and having a standardized art format in place.

If you're replacing separate art files for each image layer (like PNG files) instead of changing a layered PSD, ensure that your replacement art files use the same canvas size and aspect ratio. If it differs from what's currently in place, Moho may try to transform the new art to fit the region of the old artwork. As with the above method, planning and using a standard format is necessary. This is how I setup my character art before Moho 12.5 and earlier. (FYI, Moho 13.5 introduced improved support for layered PSD, which nowadays I try to use as much as possible.)

Another way to avoid issues is to import the replacement art as new image layers, position and scale them manually over the old art, and then delete the old art. If you set up custom mesh warp layers for the artwork, you might need to make adjustments to the meshes to fit the new art, and of course, the mesh warp layers will need to be selected for the new artwork. Otherwise, you'll need to bind the new artwork.

Again, how well any of this works depends on how carefully you plan for it and stick to your own rules.

[hayasidist]

ha! cross-posted! apols.

[scottmayhew]

Hayasidist and Greenlaw -- Thanks so much! Sounds fairly straightforward, at least if I'm careful.

All the images are bitmap. Planning on replacing layer for layer, with exact same names, in PSD file...then will try the method of copying the moho file to a new directory and manually searching for new (variant) psd file. Hopefully that works!


thanks again
Scott

[Greenlaw]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that, when replacing a layered PSD, the new PSD file can have a different name from the original (and probably it should.) It's only the layer names that need to be consistent.

That's probably obvious, but I thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone reading this was unsure.

[scottmayhew]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that, when replacing a layered PSD, the new PSD file can have a different name from the original (and probably it should.) It's only the layer names that need to be consistent.

That's probably obvious, but I thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone reading this was unsure.

Good to know! thanks again!