MOHO Lite

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:12 pm

Haha, I feel silly after having typed "MOHO Lite" as the subject. MOHO Lite?! Haha.

Okay, seriously. I desire a Lite version of MOHO, a version stripped-down and super-easy to use. An extremely basic MOHO with nothing fancy.

See, my young daughter wants to animate some cartoon ideas she has. I'd love for her to use MOHO, but I'm positive the interface would intimidate her. There are too many features and too much to learn to produce her simple Quicktime movie.

If there were a simpler version aimed at the novice, that would be AWESOME.

What features should be removed? I'm not sure. Line Width, Camera, and Styles, probably. The tool icons could be bigger and fewer, too. No Shear Points X, for example. And the Timline would need simplification.

An application like this might be a big hit with high school Art teachers, who would love to present an animation lesson, but lack sufficient classtime to teach the interface. (My wife, for example.)

What do you think? I'd happily pay $50 for something like this.

Tony M

jorgy · Post by **jorgy** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:32 pm

You know, since Moho is completely configurable with lua, it would be possible to create a new set of icons and not use some of the old ones, and do maybe 80% of what you are suggesting!

rylleman · Post by **rylleman** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:50 pm

Why not use one of the many animation kits that's intended for kids instead?
Like Disneys Magic Artist studio, Simpsons Cartoon Studio or the Bugs Bunny Cartoon Workshop?
Or better yet, set up a camera (a webcam works fine), get Monkey Jam (free) and let your kid do some real cut-out animation, it's faster and a lot more fun I think!

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:01 pm

jorgy wrote:You know, since Moho is completely configurable with lua, it would be possible to create a new set of icons and not use some of the old ones, and do maybe 80% of what you are suggesting!

Neat! I'm not totally sure what that entails, but I know I can't do that. My knowledge in that area is zero.

I'll have to wait for something I can buy.

Tony M

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:35 pm

Thanks for the links, rylleman! However, my daughter wants to animate her own characters and stories. Heck, while I'm typing this, she's telling me she wants to animate a movie about a girl who saves her land from destruction....and something about a bracelet (I'm only half-listening as I type).

Regarding Monkey Jam and cut-out animation: I did stop-motion with her using Play-Doh. Timing seems to be a problem. She's inclined to make things move quickly if I'm not there to slow her down, and I'm wanting to stay out of the picture as much as possible (I'm busy on my own project). I thought with MOHO, she could adjust the timing over and over on her own, until everything is just right.

That Monkey Jam program may be a good way for her to animate her pencil drawings, however. I'll check it out. Thanks!

Still, I wish there was a MOHO Lite. The way MOHO creates the inbetweens is frikkin awesome.

Tony M

kdiddy13 · Post by **kdiddy13** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:02 am

I second Monkey Jam. It would make it possible for her to adjust the timing on the animations (doubling, tripling, etc. frames) very easily with it's x-sheet setup. It would work with stop motion, cut out, and hand drawn paper since it just uses a simple web camera as its input device.

And there are very few tools. It's probably the easiest animation aid I've ever seen and still not lacking in funcitonality.
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myles · Post by **myles** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:28 am

Hello Tony,

you can partly make your own Moho Lite, at least as far as the toolbar goes, without using Lua.

Step One: make a backup copy of your entire C:\Program Files\Moho\scripts\tool folder (or the platform equivalent for Macs and Linux).

Step Two: edit the _tool_list.txt file in the C:\Program Files\Moho\scripts\tool folder (use a proper text editor - Notepad will do in a pinch - not a word processor). Remove the lines for those tools you think are not needed. Save the edited file.
You can either restart Moho to see the effects you are having, or leave Moho open and hit Ctrl-F5 to refresh the interface.

Step Three: You will probably notice that deleted tools have migrated down to the Others group. To remove them from the toolbar completely, delete the corresponding .lua and .png files from the C:\Program Files\Moho\scripts\tool folder (now you know why you made a copy of the entire folder).

Step Four: make another separate backup copy of the current changed C:\Program Files\Moho\scripts\tool folder.

Step Five: set up a couple of batch files, shell scripts, or equivalent, to delete the C:\Program Files\Moho\scripts\tool folder and replace it with one of the backup folder copies. One version has the simplified toolbar for your daughter, one version has the full toolbar for yourself.

Step Six: Run the appropriate batch file before starting Moho.

You can also go into Edit; Preferences; GUI Colors and tick the "Use large fonts" option if you think large fonts look more kid-friendly.

You can use the Settings button on the timeline to reduce the channels displayed.

That's all I can think of immediately. Anyone with any more "Lite-ification" tips?

Regards, Myles.

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:49 am

kdiddy13 wrote:I second Monkey Jam. It would make it possible for her to adjust the timing on the animations (doubling, tripling, etc. frames) very easily with it's x-sheet setup.

Oh! I didn't realize the timing was adjustable in Monkey Jam. Excellent news!

myles, THANKS for the customization instructions!!!

Okay, here's my plan...

Teach my animation-obsessed daughter Monkey Jam, for scanning and animating her drawings. Have her use Monkey Jam for a while. THEN, when she starts complaining about the time-consuming inbetweens (it's inevitable), introduce her to my child-friendly version of MOHO, which will display fewer tools and a bigger font.

Then, in a couple years or so, when she's ready for the full version of MOHO, I'll buy her a copy so she can see what she's been missing.

THEN...she gets a job as Pixar!

That's the plan.

PS: Lost Marble, I'd still like to see a MOHO Lite, should you think it's worth the effort and have the time to fashion it. It would certainly get a lot of use in my house, and would see some use in at least one high school. And I'm sure you would design it to be much, much better than my customized version. FIFTY times better than, I bet.

Tony M

red hamster · Post by **red hamster** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:19 pm

Moho does have a very high quality/price rate; it is powerfull and very easy to use. I spended only a week for learning the basis .
I only miss more 3d features.
The price is not really high , a cut off version could become a toy.
So, buy it and you don't regret.

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:04 pm

I already bought it, use it, and love it.

But alas, it's interface is too intimidating and complex for daughter, who will be 8 next month.

She is loving Monkey Jam, though. Just today, she's made 2 short movies of her toys chasing one another.

Tony M

kdiddy13 · Post by **kdiddy13** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:14 pm

Awesome! I'd love to see her animations sometime.
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