Moho right for me?

[HoleInTheHead]

Hey everyone. I have a small project and I'm wondering if Moho is what I'm looking for. I have no animation experience, but instead I'm fluent in video editors and photoshop. I was filming a project and missed an unexpected but important part of the story. I'd like to recreate the scene with an animation. That basic storyboard goes something like this:

Scene: autumn in the mountains, partly cloudy sky, small wood cabin sauna with smoke coming from chimney, next door to a pile of wood and an axe.

- guy walks over to wood pile, grabs piece of wood, positions on wood chopping stump.
- guy swings downward with axe trying to split the wood. Has difficulty, tries a few times
- guy #2 walks by and offers him a larger axe, then leaves.
- guy #1 clumsily swings big axe at wood, misses, hits foot.
- look of shock, blood flows, scream.
- several people come over and lay guy on ground, general chatter, bandage foot
- someone uses a phone to make call
- helicopter flys in and lands. Guy loaded onto helicopter. Helicopter takes off and leaves.

I'm figuring about 45-60 seconds.

Can I accomplish that with no experience but with lots of time to view tutorials and learn? I can't really draw but I can buy the images I need from stock websites. I'd rather not have to program each frame, but rather enter commands for "walk to the right" or "look surprised" and so on. Could the above story more or less be done with Moho? And by an animation noob like me?

Thanks for the help.

[djwaterman]

Not really, not as you described, there's no auto commands like walk right, look surprised and so on, you need to rig and animate everything, which you could learn to do if you have plenty of time, and you can bring in photos and rig and animate them to make that scene. But I think you're looking for a different type of solution that doesn't require actual animating.

[HoleInTheHead]

Ok thanks. Do I need to animate each individual frame or can I specify a start and end movement over X number of frames? Time I definitely items have, I won't be walking for a couple weeks, so this might be a good opportunity to play around with a new skill.

Can I import my own stock Jpegs (of an axe, helicopter) and animate those? Do I need the full version or just the debut?

[djwaterman]

No you don't have to create each frame, you use a skeleton rig of bones to make the photos walk about, so you move things to key positions and the computer calculates all the in between frames from one position to another, it's like a digital puppet I guess. Watch one or two tutorials on setting up a rig in MOHO and if it looks like something you could handle. I not sure about the different versions, I use the pro version, I imagine the debut version does quite a lot of the same things but I'm not aware of the specific limitations.

[synthsin75]

Sounds like you're looking for something more like Muvizu or Plotagon.

[Greenlaw]

Hey everyone. I have a small project and I'm wondering if Moho is what I'm looking for. I have no animation experience...Scene: autumn in the mountains, partly cloudy sky, small wood cabin sauna with smoke coming from chimney, next door to a pile of wood and an axe...I'm figuring about 45-60 seconds....Can I accomplish that with no experience but with lots of time to view tutorials and learn? I can't really draw but I can buy the images I need from stock websites. I'd rather not have to program each frame, but rather enter commands for "walk to the right" or "look surprised" and so on. Could the above story more or less be done with Moho? And by an animation noob like me?

That's a pretty tall order if you have absolutely no previous animation experience. That's not meant to discourage you, just being realistic about your goal. Even for a skilled animator, it will take considerable time to design and create the assets, rig the characters and props, and then animate the scenes. And this is assuming the artist already knows how to use the program.

Beginning with no knowledge, expect to spend at least a few weeks learning the interface and tools. Once you have a handle on the basics, try animating smaller, simpler projects to practice your skills and to help you develop a workflow for your big project. This will help you determine what you can and can't do for your bigger project.

Learning how to draw can certainly help but depending on the style of animation your going for, this may not be necessary. It's good that you at least have some Photoshop experience. Moho allows you to use bitmaps and photo images, so being able to freehand draw isn't absolutely necessary. Naturally, you do need to know enough about image editing to be able to prep artwork for rigging and animation.

If you're looking to automate animations, Moho does have excellent tools for storing and accessing repeatable animations. However, you still have to create these animations before you can use them as Actions.

It sounds like you have a lot of time. That's good because there's a lot to learn and practice even before you begin your production. If this sounds like too much work, Moho may not be the right program for you because it's definitely going to be a lot of work.

But if you have a passion for animation and are determined to pursue your project, then Moho can be a good choice. IMO, Moho has the best rigging system for 2D animation in the industry and once you know what you're doing, it makes animating characters pretty easy. Moho won't do the work for you but it can certainly help you create it more efficiently than with most other animation programs.

[HoleInTheHead]

Ok great. Thanks for the info. Time I definitely have.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, another great thing about Moho is this forum. The knowledge and experience of the users here, and their willingness to share ideas and techniques has saved my butt time and time again. This is a great place to learn even for experts!

[djwaterman]

I just had a look at MUVIZU and it might be the solution you're looking for, I hate to promote rival software but it seems to be a drag and drop type of approach to animation, it's 3D which might be more than you expected to deal with but I think it's more about importing characters into a environment, telling them what to do with preset behaviors and automatic lip sync. There's a free trial version you can download to test it and the actual program is very cheap. At least look at it.

(Yeah I know guys, this sort of pre-packaged anyone can animate stuff is killing us, but even MOHO comes with a Character Wizard, anyway we have to remain true to our own art and individual styles and not be distracted by the person with zero skills potentially turning out what looks to the casual observer like better looking product.)

[synthsin75]

A good Muvizu animation (good for that software anyway) is better than a bad Moho animation. So I have no qualms with pointing people to software that may serve their skill and purpose. I prefer Moho, but then I can draw (not that that's absolutely necessary) and don't mind the work involved.

[HoleInTheHead]

I did have a look at movizo anfd the interface seems to be what I'm looking for, however if my research is correct I can not import my own 3D objects (like an axe or helicopter). I am limited to the objects that come with the software.

Edit: actaully looking again it seems I can import objects to movizo but they can't be bone animated (if that's the right term). Which is find because it would be rigid objects like wood and buildings and so on. So my options are Moho with lots of customization and features and movizo with a more beginner interface but limited features. I'll probably start with movizo and see if I can whip up something sufficient. Thanks gang.

[HoleInTheHead]

Ack, just saw that movizu is Windows only, and I'm on a Mac so that's out.

[jahnocli]

You could take a look at these cheap alternatives. Most can run on a Mac.

[djwaterman]

Yeah, that list, I forgot about DAZ, I never used it but that might be the go, pretty sure it was designed with the complete novice in mind.

[HoleInTheHead]

There's also Blender. Anyone have experience with that?