Concept: How to change the scene?

[djames.suhanko]

Hi, everyone!
Today, I'm doing a scene, then generating the video and composing the scenes in
my video editor.
Am I doing the right thing? If not, are there some tutorials explaining how to compose more than one scene in the same project?

[alanthebox]

In my opinion, your current workflow is the way to go. You could certainly create different scenes/shots in one project file, put them into groups, and then toggle group visibility to switch between these scenes... but that seems unnecessarily complex and can lead to bloated project files that can be clunky to work with. Compiling everything in a video editor shot by shot is the preferred approach.

Personally, I only work in Moho with the dialog track. Once everything is exported and arranged in my video editor, I'll then go through and add all the SFX, music, titles, and occasional VFX or color correction.

I believe this video can show you how to work with multiple scenes in one project, though: https://youtu.be/aRQh3Slllyw

[djames.suhanko]

Wow! Perfect! Thanks for clearing !

[Greenlaw]

Normally, you would break out each scene in your production in its own Moho project file.

Here's the traditional animator workflow; it's what I follow for my personal projects and its' also used at every animation studio I've worked at...

First make your storyboard, then create an animatic from it. An animatic is your storyboard on a video editing timeline with an audio track. The animatic is essentially the blueprint for the entire production, and it will be used as timing reference for the animation. The animatic doesn't need to have final audio, but it's helpful to at least have an accurate dialog track if there's lip syncing involved.

Export the individual scenes as clips from your video editor. Many editors will let you set markers for each scene and batch export every scene all at once. (Ideally, you want to use a video codec that gives you frame accuracy with light CPU/memory overhead. Sometimes I just use a low quality JPG image sequence with a separate audio track; this works best when streaming over a slow network.)

As you create each scene in your animation program (Moho in this case,) import a clip and place it in the corner for reference. Create your scene animation using the animatic footage as a guide for timing. Export the animation.

If you're going directly to the video editor, export a movie file (minus audio; you don't need it because the video editor has your final audio); if you will be compositing layers, export as image sequences (using Layer Comps and Moho Exporter.) You can export the movie file for editing from the compositing program. At home I use After Effects and Fusion Studio, and at my workplace I use After Effects and Nuke.)

Pro tip: For complicated or otherwise slow rendering Moho scenes, render to image sequence. Then create another Moho project to import the image sequence to and render the movie file. This way, if you change anything later, you only need to re-render frames that change in your image sequence and not re-render the entire project as you would need to do for a movie file.)

Back in your video editor, import the finished clip and place it in a track above the animatic, and align it with it's corresponding scene. The duration of the clip should match exactly.

Repeat this until you've overcut every animatic clip in your edit. Once you've done that, finish the audio, tighten up the edit if necessary, and you're done!

To keep track of all your footage, I recommend setting up a spreadsheet in a spreadsheet program. Use it to track each shot at various stages of progress and notes. Stages may include: Animatic, Animation, Comp, Edit. Notes can be whatever is helpful to you for completing each scene.

I also like to use color codes in my spreadsheets to track status for each scene; for example...

red = waiting
yellow = in progress
green = finished

If you don't have a spreadsheet programs, I highly recommend Google Sheets or LibreOffice. Both of these are free and very easy to learn and use. Somewhere in these forums I posted an example of how I might use it. I like to create a spreadsheet for any animation project I'm working one, even it it's for only one short sequence...it really makes life easier for me! Google Sheets is a good choice if you travel a lot or work on multiple computers, but if need more advanced features then LibreOffice is it.

Hope this helps.

[MrMiracle77]

I have seen some users simply arrange a second background on another part of the workspace, then move the camera in a single frame to simulate a 'cut' from one background to another. This does let you use Moho as a preliminary editor of sorts, which cuts down on the number of files you export. However, if you prefer to export as video (instead of image sequences), you risk losing the entire export process if there is a software error or a power issue. File size and complexity also balloons, as others have mentioned.

As a former Debut user, which is limited to 2x sound files per export, I never found bigger renders to be very useful. It made more sense to make bite-size renders that could be assembled together and trimmed for better timing.

[djames.suhanko]

Wow! It's gold!!! Thank you very much, Greenlaw!

Normally, you would break out each scene in your production in its own Moho project file.

Here's the traditional animator workflow; it's what I follow for my personal projects and its' also used at every animation studio I've worked at...

First make your storyboard, then create an animatic from it. An animatic is your storyboard on a video editing timeline with an audio track. The animatic is essentially the blueprint for the entire production, and it will be used as timing reference for the animation. The animatic doesn't need to have final audio, but it's helpful to at least have an accurate dialog track if there's lip syncing involved.

Export the individual scenes as clips from your video editor. Many editors will let you set markers for each scene and batch export every scene all at once. (Ideally, you want to use a video codec that gives you frame accuracy and light memory/cpu overhead. Sometimes I just use a low quality JPG image sequence with a separate audio track; this works best when streaming over a slow network.)

As you create each scene in your animation program (Moho in this case,) import a clip and place it in the corner for reference. Create your scene animation using the animatic footage as a guide for timing. Export the animation.

If you're going directly to the video editor, export a movie file (minus audio; you don't need it because the video editor has your final audio); if you will be compositing layers, export an image sequences (using Layer Comps and Moho Exporter.)

Pro tip: For complicated or otherwise slow rendering Moho scenes, render to image sequence. Then create another Moho project to import the image sequence to and render the movie file. This way, if you change anything later, you only need to re-render frames that change in your image sequence and not re-render the entire project as you would need to do for a movie file.)

Back in your video editor, import the finished clip and place it in a track above the animatic, and align it with it's corresponding scene. The duration of the clip should match exactly.

Repeat this until you've overcut every animatic clip in your edit. Once you've done that, finish the audio, tighten up the edit if necessary, and you're done!

To keep track of all your footage, I recommend setting up a spreadsheet in a spreadsheet program. Use it to track each shot at various stages of progress and notes. Stages may include: Animatic, Animation, Comp, Edit. Notes can be whatever is helpful to you for completing each scene.

I also like to use color codes in my spreadsheets to track status for each scene; for example...

red = waiting
yellow = in progress
green = finished

If you don't have a spreadsheet programs, I highly recommend Google Sheets or LibreOffice. Both of these are free and very easy to learn and use. Somewhere in these forums I posted an example of how I might use it. I like to create a spreadsheet for any animation project I'm working one, even it it's for only one short sequence...it really makes life easier for me! Google Sheets is a good choice if you travel a lot or work on multiple computers, but if need more advanced features then LibreOffice is it.

Hope this helps.

[djames.suhanko]

I got it, MrMiracle77 ! Thank you !

I have seen some users simply arrange a second background on another part of the workspace, then move the camera in a single frame to simulate a 'cut' from one background to another. This does let you use Moho as a preliminary editor of sorts, which cuts down on the number of files you export. However, if you prefer to export as video (instead of image sequences), you risk losing the entire export process if there is a software error or a power issue. File size and complexity also balloons, as others have mentioned.

As a former Debut user, which is limited to 2x sound files per export, I never found bigger renders to be very useful. It made more sense to make bite-size renders that could be assembled together and trimmed for better timing.

[Greenlaw]

Glad that helps! Here are some more tips:

Make your scene assets as separate project files and organize them in a production library. For example, make separate projects for each character, backgrounds, props, etc. When you're ready to work on a scene, just import or reference the asset projects to your scene project.

You can use Moho's Library system for this but I just make a directory for each production on my network.

Also, if you have unique production specific settings or certain environments/locations you keep re-using, create a template for it. You can use New From Template to open that file. As you add templates to Moho, they will appear in the menu's list. (Personally, I just open the location's master project file and save a copy for the scene project. It's just easier for me to keep all the production related files in one network location, especially when I need to work mobile. Don't use Dropbox for this though...there's a known error when working on Moho files stored in Dropbox.)

[djames.suhanko]

Thank you again! I'm saving these tips in a document. Will be my guide!