Can't animate the drift color independently

[Damon_lai]

Let's say I set the brush's main color to Red & drift color to Green and draw a circle, then add keyframe at frame 12th. Now I wanna animate the drift color Green to Cyan at frame 24th while keep the main color Red unchanged.

The problem is when I change only the drift color at frame 24th, it affects the entire timeline' color drift, including frame 12th.

It seems that the main color and drift color's relationship(the "Hue" value of color drift) is forced to be consistent across the timeline. Just like the brush's other settings, once it is changed at any frame, it applies to the whole timeline.

Any way to fix that?
Thanks!

[slowtiger]

Have you tried to first check "animated layer effects" in the layer tab, and only then set the drift colour? (I'm just guessing.)

[Damon_lai]

Have you tried to first check "animated layer effects" in the layer tab, and only then set the drift colour? (I'm just guessing.)

Just tried checked "animated layer effects", and still can't animate the drift color indepently.

Worth trying. Thanks~

[hayasidist]

there are some things in Moho that can't be animated but it would be good if you could. This is one example. Another is layer origin. I'm sure there are more that other folk might mention.

However, in this case, I can imagine a couple of workaround options. Both require you to have two identical shapes - one has the red / green drift; the other has a green / cyan drift - and you need to switch between the two. The only fundamental difference is how you achieve the switchover - and the best choice will depend (IMO) on factors such as: how much animation do you need on the basic shape; is colour drift for the whole shape or just a segment (or two or ...); what else is in the vector layer; what sort of transition you want ...

[Maestral]

Perhaps creating a duplicate layer/s, with those new colours, and then switching through visibility.

Or perhaps Color Points could be a handy alternative

[Damon_lai]

there are some things in Moho that can't be animated but it would be good if you could. This is one example. Another is layer origin. I'm sure there are more that other folk might mention.

However, in this case, I can imagine a couple of workaround options. Both require you to have two identical shapes - one has the red / green drift; the other has a green / cyan drift - and you need to switch between the two. The only fundamental difference is how you achieve the switchover - and the best choice will depend (IMO) on factors such as: how much animation do you need on the basic shape; is colour drift for the whole shape or just a segment (or two or ...); what else is in the vector layer; what sort of transition you want ...

Yes, this workaround would work, by creating reference layer and adjusting the settings according to specific need.

Really love this Color Drift feature. Not being able to animate the drift color directly limits its potential on further creativity.

Another limitation is that it can only drift between two colors, workaround is needed for broader color variations.

Really hope those two limitations can be resolved at next version.

Thanks, hayasidist.

[Damon_lai]

Perhaps creating a duplicate layer/s, with those new colours, and then switching through visibility.

Yes, create duplicate/reference layer with new color drift setting and switching them would work.

The workaround is not that complicate on this Red/Green circle case, but would be tedious on more complicate creations.

Color Drift is an awesome new feature. Wish could animate the drift color directly, and not limit on drifting between only two colors.

Thanks, Maestral.

[hayasidist]

Let's say I set the brush's main color to Red & drift color to Green and draw a circle, then add keyframe at frame 12th. Now I wanna animate the drift color Green to Cyan at frame 24th while keep the main color Red unchanged.

Had a thought... not quite what you wanted but...

you can animate the base colour and the percentage drift ... so animate the base colour to step change to: the result of the red/green drift plus zero drift; then animate the drift -- red - green - blue drift

the file is here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/iba0yk7p ... .moho/file

[Damon_lai]

Let's say I set the brush's main color to Red & drift color to Green and draw a circle, then add keyframe at frame 12th. Now I wanna animate the drift color Green to Cyan at frame 24th while keep the main color Red unchanged.

Had a thought... not quite what you wanted but...

you can animate the base colour and the percentage drift ... so animate the base colour to step change to: the result of the red/green drift plus zero drift; then animate the drift -- red - green - blue drift

the file is here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/iba0yk7p ... .moho/file

Here're the results of what have been discussing on. Both of them need duplicated layer to achieve.

1, drift between 2 colors, while keep the main color unchanged:


2, drift between 3 colors, all is changing:


It would be much more handy to achieve those effects if the drift color can be animated indepently, and can drift between more than 2 colors directly, especially working on more complex project.

[hayasidist]

there are other ways to achieve similar effects --- exactly which approach would depend on what the desired end result. However, by way of illustration, this uses a stroke which has drift to control Value (not Hue), and the colour comes from a layer with a single shape - colour gradient / animated stops with blend mode overlay on the stroke.

[Maestral]

It's a bit easier now to propose a solution.

Color Points could help. Although it would not be applied to a stroke but rather on a ring, you may still achieve the desired effect. Unlike Color Drift, changes on CP can be animated. As in the example, you might need additional points for fine gradation, but I believe this could work.



The brushes bring some texture to it but I believe you'd have it here as well with some masking or overlay.

[Damon_lai]

@hayasidist @Maestral
Have done some trials:



1 & 2 Color Points
- create gradient shape with Color Points tool, mask and blend it with texture image layer
- animate the gradient shape's rotation is much convenient than animate the point's color
- btw, why it would have the swinging effect when animating the layer rotation, although it looks alive?

3 Color Drift
- it has vivid brush texture, just need an extra duplicated layer to accompany
- would be really nice if can drift between more than 2 colors and animate the drift color indepently

4 Stroke blend on gradient shape
- basically the same as 1&2
- just mask and blend with vector layer to get the brush stroke texture

@hayasidist The sample video looks so smooth, I still have some questions on it:
- is it the color gradient shape created with Color Points tools and then animate its rotation or point color?
- the stroke looks like static, do you animate the base color's Value to control the drift color's Value?
- does the trial-4 get the idea rightly?

Looking forward to your feedbacks, guys~

[hayasidist]

@hayasidist The sample video looks so smooth, I still have some questions on it:
- is it the color gradient shape created with Color Points tools and then animate its rotation or point color?
- the stroke looks like static, do you animate the base color's Value to control the drift color's Value?
- does the trial-4 get the idea rightly?

gonna say no to the first two - but the effect in 4 is fine - just different.

Before I go on, one thing that I've found with Moho over the years is that there are usually many ways to achieve a desired output - and there is equally often never a "right" or "wrong" way to get the finished output looking right for its context. So if you're happy with the way #4 (or, indeed, any of the others) looks, then that's the approach / output to use ...

What I did:

• the colour is a circle (slightly off but not worth fixing) - it needs to be bigger than the target circle because that one's stroke goes beyond the target's path. It has a radial gradient fill and I animated the intermediate stops' colours (you can play games with the stops - position, colour ... whatever .. I kept it simple). This has blend mode overlay. It is also masked on the stroke-only torus. It's the only thing in the layer - I rotated the layer about its (offset) origin.

• the torus has a stroke that is mid grey (x808080) and has colour drift on the Value. That is animated from "black" to mid grey and back to black in the example.

[Background info on "Overlay" if you want it: Overlay mode on mid grey leaves the source colour unchanged. Overlay on greys towards black darken the colour; and on greys towards white lighten it. Once again, you can play games on the base colours over which you overlay -- here's an example where the overlaid shape starts out mid grey, but actually heads off into greens, reds and shades of grey: https://youtu.be/llKAoDTW_fo]

• The last element is the shape that gives the fill to the torus. This is outside the masking and overlay group.

the file is here (updated from the original example which is still in there)

[Maestral]

- btw, why it would have the swinging effect when animating the layer rotation, although it looks alive?

Two things came to me mind - the centres of the circles and the rotation pivot point don't match (deploying grid while constructing/drawing could prevent it), or splitting the curve caused uneven curvature on points.

On a side note...
Have you tried to mask these "rings" (1&2) with the brush, as one in the drift samples? Looks like the brush has opaque to transparent portions, which, as a mask, could make the colour points rather harsh gradients somewhat softer. It could be upon the brush you choose but overlay, as an addition, could make things even further editable.

[Damon_lai]

gonna say no to the first two - but the effect in 4 is fine - just different.

Before I go on, one thing that I've found with Moho over the years is that there are usually many ways to achieve a desired output - and there is equally often never a "right" or "wrong" way to get the finished output looking right for its context. So if you're happy with the way #4 (or, indeed, any of the others) looks, then that's the approach / output to use ...

What I did:

• the colour is a circle (slightly off but not worth fixing) - it needs to be bigger than the target circle because that one's stroke goes beyond the target's path. It has a radial gradient fill and I animated the intermediate stops' colours (you can play games with the stops - position, colour ... whatever .. I kept it simple). This has blend mode overlay. It is also masked on the stroke-only torus. It's the only thing in the layer - I rotated the layer about its (offset) origin.

• the torus has a stroke that is mid grey (x808080) and has colour drift on the Value. That is animated from "black" to mid grey and back to black in the example.

• The last element is the shape that gives the fill to the torus. This is outside the masking and overlay group.

the file is here (updated from the original example which is still in there)

I completely agree that there're many ways to achieve desired output, and there is no "right or wrong" way.

Moho is new to me, so I may not be familiar with something that looks "basic", such as the gradient effect can be applied through the Style setting quickly. "does the trial-4 get the idea rightly?" does not mean to get close to a standard answer, but to seek possibility of finding a new way to create, then compare or merge it with current way (in this case trial-4) to find a possible new better way.

Your sample file is very clear, and I do learn something new from it.
Thanks a lot!