Making a living

[-RR-]

Hi all, Moho is definitely one of my go-to tools for animation. I wish more studios would use it.

Do you any of you use Moho as a full time job?

I know some here do.
I use it for paid projects where I'm 100% in charge.

[Greenlaw]

Yes, I use Moho fairly regularly at the studio where I work. Here are some of the TV shows that I used Moho on...

All Hail King Julien
Dawn Of The Croods
The Adventures of Puss-In-Boots
Puss-in-Book (interactive episode)
Trolls: The Beat Goes On!
The Epic Tales Of Captain Underpants
Boss Baby: Back In Business
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws Of Destiny
Fast & Furious Spy Racers

I use other animation programs where I work too, but for rigged puppet animation, I love using Moho. Most of the work on my last two demo reels was animated in Moho. My coworkers have used Moho on other TV shows we make.

I also use Moho for some of my personal animation projects.

[chucky]

Sure, you can make a living using Moho if your production uses it and that production makes money.
It's not the tool so much. it's the product that makes money.
If a tool can make that product most effectively and economically then use that tool.
Moho is geared to a few specific production techniques currently, and is very effective in a few areas, more efficient and effective than a few more commonly used applications.

Cartoon Saloon know this, Dreamworks knows this and other studios are coming on board.
However they only use it for specific purposes and work within its limitations, as you would with any tool.
I use it for may of my commercial productions and have talked with an established studio thinking of transitioning to Moho for future production.

So absolutely you can make a living, it's really just the scope of the business side of the operation, if you take the wrong contract or make a product with no market then you could lose out big time.
Make sure your tools are well tested and never dig in too deep on a project to find a dead end in your software ( I made tat mistake once and it cost me dearly).

[synthsin75]

Kung Fu Panda: The Paws Of Destiny was created using moho?

If I remember correctly, it was only used in the 2D dream sequences.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, I almost forgot:

The Epic Tales Of Captain Underpants*

For this show, I used it mainly wherever I needed facial animations that I could track on IRL puppets or stop motion. (So combination of Moho, Ae, and Mocha Ae.)

Re: Kung Fu Panda, this one was a unique case. I was asked to create a Moho version of panda shots for the opening sequence as an alternative to an FBF version. You can see this footage on my 2019 demo reel. I believe they went with FBF footage because it looked closer to the After Effects footage that surrounded it. The request wasn't too unusual...part of my job is development and exploration, and, as I mentioned, we use a lot of different programs and techniques in our work. Nothing is wasted though: creating this footage was an opportunity to see how far I could push a Moho puppet rig, and I applied what I learned to rigs used in later shows.

You can see a lot of my television work using Moho here...

My Demo Reels

Much of the Boss Baby work was 100% drawn and animated in Moho, except for the backgrounds which were painted in Photoshop. Compositing was done in Ae.

Hope this clarifies how I use Moho for work.

*Previous list updated.

[Greenlaw]

If I remember correctly, it was only used in the 2D dream sequences.

Yeah, it's a story telling device we use often, i.e., 3D for main scenes, 2D for backstory or fantasy sequences, as seen in Boss Baby. Even some of our 2D shows use it, as seen in Dawn Of The Croods, where we had FBF for main scenes, and used puppet rigs for the cave painting animations.

[SimplSam]

I would also say - check out https://moho.lostmarble.com/blogs/news, it features an increasing number Creatives & Studios earning from Moho. It is a recent thing, so I am sure there will be many more to come.

[dueyftw]

Years ago I was helping on a project and the girl who was lead animator was thinking about quitting. After 2 bfa's in art and animation she is still the best animator I have work with. But she was thinking about quitting. She went into restate sales. The problem is that animation is feast or famine. 5 sales in NYC restate is more money than most will make in the industry in a year.
I have seen people here that have made some amazing animation. Then they move on. Being good is not enough. You have to push, be in the right place and have the attitude of never give up.

Dale

[JoelMayer]

I am heading a small creative team at a Fortune 500 company and make a good living doing it. We do animation amongst lots of other things. I also freelanced for some independent TV-Projects as well as commercial/corporate movies.

What I've learned is: the more fun an assignment, the less money it pays, the less fun, the better it pays. Meaning, a puny explainer video for the local pharmaceutical company got me much more money than a stint as an animator on an Adult Swim show. And also the clients were easier to please, more professional and very grateful in my experience at least (meaning the network, not the other animators or supervisors i worked with) That being said, I still need the artistic satisfaction of being part of cool projects or making my own, so i try to balance my freelance work between these two poles.

But when people talk about animation, they almost automatically think only about the entertainment industry. Look around though, animation is EVERYWHERE from user interfaces to billboards to social media content. So there's endless opportunities to make a decent living as an animator, you just have to dig in the right mines to strike gold

(I used Moho on a lot of those projects because of the ease of use/speed it offers which accommodates the budgets available in the lower-tier commercial field)

[chucky]

I'm not sure about the fun/ no fun equation, In my experience there's not much correlation.
Some of the quickest, easiest and funnest jobs have paid really well, when some of the most dreadful have dragged on and on with brief creep and horrible pay.

The weirdest thing is sometimes you don't actually get to know what you are working on till you've agreed to it, I learned early that you just have to trust sometimes ( when I turned down a dream job on the matrix- yes that happened ) and now I feel old lol.

[JoelMayer]

I'm obviously just speaking from my personal experience I mean i'm being a bit harsh probably, the job I am at currently actually is quite fun to do and is for my day-job so i guess falls into the "pays well" category. But it's not made in Moho so...