Moho Forum

I notice the characters that come with Anime Studio are made up of image layers. They are not vector lines but a group of png files. Is this preferable? Rendering them in HD makes for some jagged edges.

Doesn't this also take up more memory and make it impossible to export as Flash?

To answer your last question first -- you can export bitmap images to Flash, as long as they don't deform in any way, As soon as they do (which is likely if they are linked to bones), Flash won't import them.

Obviously eFrontier already had this artwork available, and, instead of converting it to vectors, chose to stick a boned rig inside it and make it available for users. You can export animation using this to other formats, or convert the images to vectors yourself.

artfx wrote:I notice the characters that come with Anime Studio are made up of image layers. They are not vector lines but a group of png files. Is this preferable? Rendering them in HD makes for some jagged edges.

Doesn't this also take up more memory and make it impossible to export as Flash?

There was a big thread on this very topic last week, whether it's better to use PNGs imported from high-end design tools or to design stuff right inside Anime Studio (I think the real gist of the thread was dissatisfaction some folks had with Anime Studio's drawing tools).

I think doing character animation with vector art is the way to go in ASP... using images is fine for cutout animation.

-- Brett

Yes I saw the one about the drawing tools (which I don't agree with) and there was a much older thread about the specific characters offered in raster format too, but neither quite directly came to the answers given here. Thanks guys. I will definitely be all about vector!

artfx wrote:Yes I saw the one about the drawing tools (which I don't agree with) and there was a much older thread about the specific characters offered in raster format too, but neither quite directly came to the answers given here. Thanks guys. I will definitely be all about vector!

Between Anime Studio Pro and Mirage, you've got the best of both worlds, IMHO!

-- Brett

idragosani wrote:
Between Anime Studio Pro and Mirage, you've got the best of both worlds, IMHO!

-- Brett

Yeah, depending on the project I could defintiely see doing a lot of stuff in Anime Studio and rendering it out to be composited in and combined with animation and FX in Mirage.

Right now though I am also interested in the swf export abilities and vector for possibly doing longer series work using charcter rigs. Time will tell.

artfx wrote:

idragosani wrote:
Between Anime Studio Pro and Mirage, you've got the best of both worlds, IMHO!

-- Brett

Yeah, depending on the project I could defintiely see doing a lot of stuff in Anime Studio and rendering it out to be composited in and combined with animation and FX in Mirage.

Right now though I am also interested in the swf export abilities and vector for possibly doing longer series work using charcter rigs. Time will tell.

I think it might work well also with animated backgrounds that would be difficult (and tedious) to animate by hand.

Have you seen the stuff from "Sealed with a Kiss" by Phil Nibbelink? It was done entirely with Flash and Moho, all by himself (and a wacom tablet).

http://www.coldhardflash.com/2006/10/on ... wings.html

What an article! I knew about the movie but had no idea he used Vector to pull it off. I especially knew nothing about use of Moho. I figured being an EX Disney guy, he just did in traditionally.

I wonder if he started such a project today how much faster he could go with today's computers and the latest software. Amazing achivement! I hope I can do that one day with my anime stories.

artfx wrote:What an article! I knew about the movie but had no idea he used Vector to pull it off. I especially knew nothing about use of Moho. I figured being an EX Disney guy, he just did in traditionally.

I wonder if he started such a project today how much faster he could go with today's computers and the latest software. Amazing achivement! I hope I can do that one day with my anime stories.

I thought it was amusing he was actually considering using the venerable DPaint on an Amiga....

Yeah... I gotta admit. Dpaint and the Amiga took me far in my early anime creation days.

artfx wrote:Yeah... I gotta admit. Dpaint and the Amiga took me far in my early anime creation days.

Definitely... it was the first paint program I ever used that supported onionskinning and cel animation.

DPaint was a highly innovative program by EA. It is a pitty that Commodore's bankruptcy prevented the company to continue to develop a platform that was once very important for television and game artists. Loved to have seen the Commodore 65 in production as a consumer computer. Well, it turned out that Jack Tramiel wasn't a second Steve Jobs

idragosani wrote:Have you seen the stuff from "Sealed with a Kiss" by Phil Nibbelink? It was done entirely with Flash and Moho, all by himself (and a wacom tablet).

http://www.coldhardflash.com2006/10/one ... wings.html

WOW! This is a mind-blowing achievement. Despite what the LA Times says about it, I will not only see it, but probably buy it.