Moho Forum

I'm using Moho 13.5, and I am working on a head turn action for a more complex character. I have an action for turning the head to the left, but it's taken me a while to finish it, and I'm really dreading having to do it all over again for the opposite direction. Is there any way to duplicate the action to save some time? I was thinking of just flipping it horizontally, but I don't know how to implement this.

It depends on how complicated you're making the turn setup.

If you're planning to just flip the art, consider flipping the head bone. That's probably the easiest method because it automatically flips any artwork and child bones parented to the head bone.

However, this method doesn't work well for asymmetrical designs. One soclution is to use a switch layer, and switch to a mirrored version artwork. This might save you from making mirrored actions and controls.

These simple tricks work well but for more complicated rigs, you may run into limitations with these techniques. Again, this depends on the design and how you intend to animate it. For example, if the shapes in the character artwork are desgned to be seamless, you may see twisted curves when flipping bones. Target bones in a rig may also prove problematic with flipping bones.

For very complex setups, you'll probably have to set up separate Actions and controls. You could make new mirrored versions of actions and animations by copying and pasting keyframes. This can be tricky to do in a single project, and sometimes I find it easier to make a separate project where I rename the existing parts to reflect the mirrored version, and then just flip everything there. Then, I copy/paste or import this 'flipped' version into the original project.

There are also third party scripts at MohoScripts.com that can help simplify the task. For example, check out Mult Rush's MR Name and MR Transform Rig.

If you're turns involve complicated morphing, DKWRoot's Mirror Points and Swap Sides are great! These tools don't simply flip the art, rather they move points and respape to create true mirrored versions of a drawing. These scripts can be downloaded from here:

https://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=28816

I made a simple tutorial for using the tools here:

https://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 74#p205374

(Maybe I should make an updated a video tutorial for our channel?)

One more tip:

Beware of overengineering a rig and the temptation of feature-creep.

I personally prefer to keep my rigs reasonably straightforward, even if it means doing a little more work in the animation stage.

Through hundreds (thousands?) of hours of production experience, I found that overcomplicating a Moho rig to perform 'everything' may actually limit the rig's usability and hinder performance on a real-world production, and it's easier to adapt a simpler rig to address unique shot-specific situations.

Hope this helps.

BTW, the original download links for the Mirror scripts at the top of the topic no longer work, but the scripts' author DKWRoot gave me permission to host them at the links in this post:

https://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 78#p208378

Greenlaw wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2025 9:21 am One more tip:

Beware of overengineering a rig and the temptation of feature-creep.

I personally prefer to keep my rigs reasonably straightforward, even if it means doing a little more work in the animation stage.

Through hundreds (thousands?) of hours of production experience, I found that overcomplicating a Moho rig to perform 'everything' may actually limit the rig's usability and hinder performance on a real-world production, and it's easier to adapt a simpler rig to address unique shot-specific situations.

Hope this helps.

that's the golden tip. rigs in moho are 2d and many of user fall into 360 rigging and forgot the artistic fundamental. I watched Hilda animation series. they never use a 360 turn animation in a shot. they simply and professionally used simple head turn. some times head turn from 3/4 to side view in one frame but the moved face elements to the correct position and form.