Shading hand drawn "Anime style" shadows in Moho.

[Lae82]

Shading hand drawn "Anime style" shadows in Moho.

1. On a new vector layer > Create a color filled rectangle above your character that covers the entire character.

2. Use Select Shape and select rectangle and set the color opacity slider as you see fit in color picker popup. Hide strokes in styles.

3. While the rectangle is still selected in Select Shape mode use > Blob brush > Activate Merge strokes > and press and hold CTRL while erasing areas where highlight should be. Also set the Blob brush smoothing to a higher value to avoid too many vertices/points being created when painting/erasing. Paint regular by not holding CTRL and notice the blob brush strokes merges with the rectangle.

CTRL+ ALT + LMB drag = Adjust blob brush size in erase mode
ALT + LMB drag = Adjust blob brush size in regular mode

Note: You can't select the rectangle shape in > Draw > Select points and then use Blob brush since then the Blob brush will just create new shapes on top of the rectangle and not merge with the rectangle mesh. We want the shapes/strokes to always merge with the "shadow" rectangle. Thats why you need to always select with shape select first.

4.
- Place the shadow rectangle vector layer inside a group layer.
- Use "Hide all" for the group layer the shadow layer is inside.
- Use "Mask this layer" for the shadow vector layer.
- Use group folder(s) for other shapes below the shadow vector layer. On every group folder only (not every single vector layer) use:
Group Mask > No masking in this group, Layer Masking > + Add to mask.


Layer Hierarchy:

+ Group (Masking: Hide all)
----+ Vector layer (shadow rectangle. Masking: Mask this layer)
----+ Group (contains filled shapes. Masking: No Masking in this group, + Add to mask)
--------+ Vector layer (No masking)
--------+ Vector layer (No masking)
--------+ Vector layer (No masking)


5. After you erased/created highlights on the shadow rectangle for a while you might notice a slowdown or lag in Moho. This is because extra vertices are created around the rectangle or along the highlight shapes. To solve this use lasso or rectangle in point select mode ("G" keyboard shortcut) and select the vertices and delete them. You can also try using point reduction. Just go around the highlight shapes and select and delete unnecessary points. Try also to use Blob brush smoothing to a higher value to avoid too many vertices/points being created when erasing. If the points have been successfully reduced the lag will be gone.


Try it out!

[Hoptoad]

Try it out!

Thanks! I tried it and it worked great. By the way, your explanation was excellent.

A little more information for Mac users: use command instead of control to erase, and adjust the size of the blob eraser by holding down command and option.

[Panha]

This is a good method, but if we do it for all characters in the scene, I guess Moho will slowdowns and hard to work with. I guess we may do it at the end of all scene after for the final edition.

[Lae82]

Use CTRL + ALT + LMB drag to change brush size when erasing with the blob brush.
Use ALT + LMB drag to change brush size when in regular blob brush mode.

The point reduction tool doesn't always reduce points but it functions as a good selection tool for points.
Just select points with point reduction and press delete.
Use ALT + LMB drag to change point reduction brush size.

Fast convert the curves after cleaning up points.
CTRL + P to peak/sharpen curves
CTRL + M to smooth curves

[Lae82]

I tried animating the highlight shapes and it worked with simple point deformation without using any bones. Just select points and move them around to match the current character keyframe pose.

Adding wobbly animated line effect (layer settings) also looked nice for the shadow/highlights. Like an animated fire lightning up the character.

[lucasfranca]

I liked your workflow and it will take me to try something different: use a rectangle, subtract a shape drawn with bloob Brush, use Liquid Shape and blend to smooth out the edges.