Lookout Flash!

Postality · Post by **Postality** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:26 pm

You guys are so caught up in the name I think we're missing the point of what's going to happen to moho now that a big company is moving in on it.

What's going to be changed, added. and removed?

How much are we going to have to pay for it now?

I can think of many questions about this merger.

Anime Studio is a perfect name and for those that think it a "hobbiest" artform with low framerate and bad lip sync, you really need to get out more and stop watching that pokemon crap.

First of all you can't compare lip sync with a japanese animation that was dubbed, OBVIOUSLY it's not going to sync properly since the original vioce sync was for the japanese language.

secondly, most anime is hand drawn frame-by-frame. Show me some animations done this way that was 100% smooth at 30 FPS.

Anime is MUCH bigger than those big eye, sleezy looking school girls that you see everywhere. Furthermore, that stuff is normally called hentai and not anime.

Anime Studio Fits just fine and will be recognised a hell of alot more than something called moho. Nobody know what the heck moho even means if at all anything.

The fact of the matter is, who cares what it's named? Obviously nobody cared about the strange name moho, so why should we care now what it's named?

I do understand that Anime relates to a style of animation and not really animation, so that's a given.

I'd rather see it be called something like "Animation Studio", it would definately appeal to a bigger audience...

CartoonM!ke · Post by **CartoonM!ke** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:29 pm

I personally have a lot of faith in e-frontier. They have treated me very well and have listened to me on numerous occasions.

GoChris is right on the mark, however I do disagree with him on the take that Anime Studio will take a long while to get pro features. I have a feeling that the final Pro or EX version will have a lot of features to give Flash a run for pure animation. With its Particles, bones and vector drawing tools, it can already do stuff that flash can't, at least without help from after effects. On the flash boards that I observe, there's a lot of grumbling about how flash makes animation hard. There's an opening for Anime Studio to take advantage of. I'm not expecting a whole lot from flash 9, if previous "takeover/merger" upgrades are any clue.

I think that the market that will be best suited for Anime Studio will be amateurs and the "Prosumer." That can include virtual studios that exist only as a group on the internet.

And if the Pro users exert pressure on the powers that be, Anime Studio Pro/Ex (what ever the suffix will end up being) the program will evolve. I'm just glad that Mike has partnered with e-f and that Moho won't die.

I'm just going to take a deep breath, go back and work on learning Moho and wait for my copy of Anime Studio and deal with things then.

m!ke

Green Walls · Post by **Green Walls** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:19 pm

I have to agree that efrontier is a “hobbyist “targeting company. And the name "Anime Studio" will defiantly pigeon hole Moho. I personally like and prefer the name Moho, but I think it may be too late to stop the corporate wheels from rolling.

Toontoonz · Post by **Toontoonz** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:58 pm

@Postality
I noticed on your posting:
"MoHo Video Tutorials - Coming Soon"

Are you going to have to re-do them all now that it is "Anime Studio" and probably have a different look to it?

Postality · Post by **Postality** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:46 pm

I'm affraid I may have to.

Unfotunately I've spent HOURS on making these videos and they all show the main window "moho". They aren't combined yet to complete a video (I create them in sections), but they're all branded with moho.

now if they where complete and released months ago this change wouldn't really affect me much. But seeing as everything is changing I'm going to have to redo them, otherwise I don't think people are going to buy video tutorials for something that doesn't exsist, LOL.

Another thing is, I didn't directly buy moho personally. It was a deal between me and another person I met on the internet. I did some work for him in exchange for him buying me moho (I don't have a credit card, don't like sending cash through the mail, and my wife is weary on giving bank infomation out over the internet so it worked out perfectly). Unfortunately I haven't seen the guy since and the whole "current users will get Anime Studio FREE" might just screw me because I have no proof of purchase. The only thing I do have is the serial number I used to activate it...

I'll bring this to Mike's attention though because if I can't get Anime Studio FREE with my current license I may be up you know what creek without a paddle...

Toontoonz · Post by **Toontoonz** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:43 pm

And then there is the potential problem that the new suits from the new company won´t allow their copyrighted/trademarked "Anime Studio" name to be used to make money with by a third party.... (they may want to make their own video teaching materials or want to license the use of the name & product and get some money from any 3rd party products).
Tread carefully; get all permissions in writing or maybe a big, bad corporate lawyer may be sending the old cease and desist letter....
Times are a changing with LM, Moho, et al.

Postality · Post by **Postality** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:08 pm

Well I don't know to what extent of control over moho efrontier will have, but Mike said "there will be alot more people interested in the video tutorials soon" so seems to me that I should still be able to complete and release them.

Of course you're right, there may be some sort of legal issues now that it's not just mike running things.

For all we know though, efrontier is just being the marketing side of things.

This is something that will have to be discussed with Mike after we see what happens.

Right now I'm more concerned with when the new version will be available, what new features we're going to be looking at, what's going to be changed from what we know, and concidering my situation if I'm going to be able to get my free copy of Anime Studio PRO...

Toontoonz · Post by **Toontoonz** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:28 am

Just a quick note to say I have been trying out the other product "Manga Studio" and it is a neat little program.
One could do all the same things in Photoshop, but Manga Studio is dedicated to making a comic book and it works well....and a fraction of the price of Photoshop.
From my initial go through the "Manga Studio" program is well thought out.

It even has a paint bucket fill tool! --- hint, hint LM.

Oh, yeah, and nice drawing tools. --- hint, hint LM.

Postality · Post by **Postality** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:32 am

Moho already has a paint bucket tool...

and pretty good drawing tools, what else would you need?

MarkBorok · Post by **MarkBorok** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:48 am

Okay, this is what people expect to be able to do with a product called "Anime Studio":

http://www.biteycastle.com/theYuyu.html

Not that most people would be able to tackle something like this, especially hobbyists. But it's very clear that Moho is not set up for this kind of animation.

Postality · Post by **Postality** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:01 am

MarkBorok wrote:Okay, this is what people expect to be able to do with a product called "Anime Studio":

http://www.biteycastle.com/theYuyu.html

Not that most people would be able to tackle something like this, especially hobbyists. But it's very clear that Moho is not set up for this kind of animation.

That's a pretty far out there video, and not anything near a normal anime style. Most things in anime don't move anywhere near that fast.

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:05 am

That was kinda/sorta cool in its own way, but what does that have to do with anime? Is that the kind of stuff you guys are thinking of when you think of "anime"?

Here's the kind of thing I thought you guys were talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqtmfCFy ... 20earthsea

MarkBorok · Post by **MarkBorok** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:07 am

No, but they move with the same amount of freedom in 3D space, especially in the action scenes. Just at a lower frame rate. You still have to redraw the characters many times from many different angles.

Postality · Post by **Postality** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:15 am

that's the price you pay using a 2d animation program vs a 3D animation program...

the only alternative that makes moving from one view to another is using solo that has tweening between views, then again that's hugely over-priced and thier bone system is bleh...

MarkBorok · Post by **MarkBorok** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:20 am

Postality wrote:that's the price you pay using a 2d animation program vs a 3D animation program...

the only alternative that makes moving from one view to another is using solo that has tweening between views, then again that's hugely over-priced and thier bone system is bleh...

Why are we talking about a 3D animation program? The animation I linked to was made entirely in Flash.

On edit: right, I see what you're saying. My point was, Moho isn't optimally configured to do that kind of animation and there are other 2D programs that do it better. Unless they substantially change Moho.

Lookout Flash!

Moho or not to Moho?