Importing PSD files and rendering

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ChrisH
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Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:43 pm

Importing PSD files and rendering

Post by ChrisH »

Hi Guys, I have a quick question, hope anyone can help me with this one. When importing any psd file into MOHO I seem to lose quite a bit of quality in the image , colors look less intense and lighter. You won't notice it really until you compare the original with the rendered image from MOHO. Is there a specific setting for this when importing images, or does this happen in the rendering? Hope you got an answer to this.Let me know, thanks!
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Greenlaw
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Re: Importing PSD files and rendering

Post by Greenlaw »

I haven't seen this issue (probably because I normally work with PNG layers in Moho*) but maybe it has to do with color space settings in Photoshop? Moho doesn't recognize this feature so you may need to disable it or use a different setting. Also, if you're using a higher color bit-depth setting the PSD, Moho can only handle 24-bit color so it maybe displaying the colors inaccurately. (This is one of my long standing complaints about Moho--they really need to expand Moho's color specs and add professional image formats like .exr.)

Or do you mean the colors change in a rendered movie file from Moho? I know there are issues with preserving correct color when writing with certain codecs or containers from Moho (like a gamma or levels shift.) This is one of the reasons why I only ever write out PNG frames from Moho and then compile the frames in another program. I typically do this in compositing but some movie players will also do this. Conversion programs also exist for this purpose. For example, many years ago, I would the old Virtual Dub program to batch process all my Moho scenes frame renders to create separate movie clips with the optimal codec and settings I wanted for the video editing program I was using.

*If you decide to go this route, I highly recommend getting the free the Photoshop Export Layers Fast tool found here: https://github.com/hsw107/Photoshop-Exp ... Files-Fast This tool works much faster than the native tool in Photoshop and it has more useful features too. If you're using Krita, there's a script that does something very similar. It's not as powerful as the above script for Photoshop but it still works very well for Moho.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Fri Feb 07, 2020 8:23 pm, edited 3 times in total.
ChrisH
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:43 pm

Re: Importing PSD files and rendering

Post by ChrisH »

Thank you for your reply, appreciate it very much.Will look into this what you just explained to me and see if that will solve the issue i am having:)
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Greenlaw
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Re: Importing PSD files and rendering

Post by Greenlaw »

This is probably getting OT at this point but, the reason I prefer using PNG over PSD in Moho is for flexibility and dependability.

For example, with PNG, I can update the images by simply overwriting or replacing them with a files with the same filenames.

With PSD, Moho is tracking the layers by using the original layer IDs from the Photoshop files. When you update a layer in Photoshop, Moho updates the layer in Moho. At first, this may sound very convenient but if you never add new layers and merge anything in Photoshop after you've imported the file and rigged the layers in Moho.

The problem is a big problem for me because I'm always updating character artwork in Photoshop or getting revisions from the art department, and the layers are likely to break because changes were made that affected the original layer IDs in the PSD.

To me, it's much more reliable to use clearly named layers and use Export To Layers to overwrite previously written PNGs. So long as the names don't change, Moho will update the to the new versions immediately, even if the images are based on merged files or completely new layers in Photoshop. Moho won't care so long as the image and format hasn't changed too drastically.

If Moho was capable of reading higher quality color bit-depths, I might be persuaded to switch to using PSD. But more likely, I'd probably just export a higher bit-depth PNG. It's simpler and not at risk of breaking because of changed layer IDs.
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