Project organisation

[Nicohk92]

So I'm at the beginning stages of a client project where I intend to use only Moho.

It's a 4 to 5mn medical 2d animation film, meaning my characters are not people but rather cells, proteins etc.
It's about 20 shots across 4 or 5 set-ups/environment.
From experience, organization is key and so is thinking out my workflow at the start.

Here's how I intend to work on this project:

- I'd like to keep styles to a minimum. Instead, I'll have an "elements" folder where I store the master copy of each character, to be referenced and multiplied across different scenes. So for instance, even though I have dozens of T-cells throughout the film, I can always adjust all of their styling and other things from the parent one in that folder.
Is that a good idea? Any pitfalls to this?

- I'll have each scene (or shot) in it's own folder, which I'll animate and export independently to edit together elsewhere.
Is that the way to go? Can Moho handle it? I'd rather avoid having multiple files.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

[slowtiger]

Anything longer than half a minute is a pain in the ass to navigate in the timeline, so I always make it separate project files.

Sometimes I create a "master" file of stuff I intend to re-use in several scenes. This often includes some basic animation. For better handling I often export animated elements as video file and import it into the appropriate scenes.

If shots use the same setup (BG, elements, animation) I often animate the most complex one first, then copy that file and do the derivative scenes from that.

So far I've never used a master style for stuff in separate project files. If that works it is the way to go.

[Nicohk92]

Sometimes I create a "master" file of stuff I intend to re-use in several scenes. This often includes some basic animation. For better handling I often export animated elements as video file and import it into the appropriate scenes.

How about using the assets library?

I'm thinking of having my assets in one folder to be referenced across the project so that I update any change to them everywhere else easily.

[slowtiger]

Never used that. I always have a project folder with everything in it (script, sounds, whatever), I prefer to have my stuff all in one place.

[Greenlaw]

I agree with SlowTiger. I prefer to make produciton-specific folders.

My production folder may contain many sub-folders. For example, here's the folder for an animation I'm working now...



I think what goes in these folders should be mostly obvious. I keep a 'template' version of this folder structure that I copy for each new production, and I may tweak the structure a little depending on the production's needs.

For Moho project files specifically, the files go inside the folder called 05_Animation, and this folder could be structured like this...

05_Animation (folder)
-Shots (f)

-- s001 (f)
--- footage (f)
---- images (f)
---- audio (f)
--- WIP (f)
---- s001_v001.moho (project)
---- s001_v002.moho (p)
-- s001.moho (p)

-- s002 (f)
--- footage (f)
---- images (f)
---- audio (f)
--- WIP (f)
---- s002_v001.moho (p)
-- s002.moho (p)

Etc., ...

The folders s001 and s002 hold the files for shot 1 and shot 2, respectively.

Inside s001 is a footage folder containing any external files the project uses, like images or audio files.

The WIP folder contains the work-in-progress versions of the project, and each version has a version number.

In the root level of s001 is a version of the project called s001.moho, which doesn't have a version number in its name. This is the 'master' version, or the version that will get rendered for the edit or for compositing. This file is always overwritten by the latest WIP version. The reason the 'master' version doesn't get a version number is that Moho Exporter always uses the file name in the output name by default, and this can mess you up when you need to overwrite the animation frames because the output name will include the file versioning, and never actually overwrite the version used in the comp or editing timeline. (IMO, Moho really needs to allow the user to set the output path and default output filename for each project in the Project Settings.)

Keeping all of my production-specific files contained in one location makes the production easier to back up or sync to a portable drive to take with me when I'm working away from home. Any linked files should work fine after being copied as long as you don't break the structure.

I hope this helps.

[Nicohk92]

That's very neat. I should probably take example on you two.

Actually I think I didn't express myself correctly. By "folders", I meant "groups", with just one single file for my entire project.

I was wondering if Moho can handle it, having each shot or scene within its own group. I can easily export each scene as layer comps and keep everything dynamically updated with reference layers.



In this example, all my assets are in one group ((refs"), and I create reference layers when I need them in a scene, which is just a group away in that same file.
Sorry for the mix up in terms previously.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, I see what you mean.

IMO, if the animations and assets are fairly simple and the multiple shots in your production use the same assets over and over, it's probably okay to do it all in a single Moho project.

But for me, personally, my project would get needlessly unwieldy and subject to poor performance and errors. Putting all my shots in a single project would require too much memory and get too processor-heavy, and it wouldn't be much fun to work with.

For projects with multiple shots, especially when the running time is a few minutes long, the best practice is to set up individual Moho projects for each shot. Then, render out your shots and assemble them in a video editor.

BTW, this isn't a 'Moho-specific' workflow. It's a fairly common workflow when using any animation program.

Actually, the following is the common workflow for longer-format animation productions:

1. Storyboard the entire production.
2. Cut the storyboard in the video editor to create an animatic. The animatic establishes the timing for each shot. If there's going to be audio in the production, you should include it, even if it's just a temp track. You can replace it with the final audio later.
3. Render out each animatic shot as reference footage to use in your animation program.
4. Set up a separate project for each shot, animate, and render it as a movie clip.
5. In the video editor, import each clip to replace or overcut its corresponding animatic version.
6. When you've replaced all the animatic shots in your video editor with final versions, finish the audio mix, render a movie, and you're done!

If you don't have a video editor available, I suggest trying Davinci Resolve. This is a pro-grade editor, and there is a free version that comes with everything many users will ever need. But pretty much any video editor will be better than trying to manage and edit many shots inside an animation program.

[Greenlaw]

Of course, you should do what works best for you and your project. If placing everything inside Moho works out for you, that's great!

Every project is unique, so plan some time for experimentation. If it doesn't work out, there are other options to try.

Let us know how it goes, especially if you learn some cool tricks in the process.

[Nicohk92]

I'm already doing all steps in your suggested workflow (and I do edit on Resolve), It's just for #4 where I'm trying to keep every shot in the same file, to be exported separately as layer comps.

There is much more to come as assets in my "refs" group so I hope Moho will be able to handle it.

Otherwise I'll have to separate it into different files. Although I've never tried, it seems Moho allows referencing across files. I may have to try that.

Thanks!

[SuperSGL]

If I'm using references I almost always create it in another file. Moho let's you do this very easily. I had a fairly hefty project going and I wanted a separate animation displaying on a TV so, I created that in a separate file and imported it in to my project. I've done this quite a few times usually animated characters in a separate file.

(And one of these day's I'm going to spell separate correctly without spell check underlining it.)

[hayasidist]

I'm already doing all steps in your suggested workflow (and I do edit on Resolve), It's just for #4 where I'm trying to keep every shot in the same file, to be exported separately as layer comps.

There is much more to come as assets in my "refs" group so I hope Moho will be able to handle it.

Otherwise I'll have to separate it into different files. Although I've never tried, it seems Moho allows referencing across files. I may have to try that.

Thanks!

I'm with Greenlaw on this. I tried a "put it all in one file" some 10+ years ago (it was a 2-ish minutes animation) and it was a pain to work with. Since then, even though we do now have layer comps, I break everything into multiple files, sometimes only 2-3 seconds. Shared resources go in their own .moho which is never directly rendered - just groups (now) imported by ref into "shot" files.

[Nicohk92]

Ok I'm sold. I'll do it the proper way while there's still time.

Don't want to get stuck with performance issues when the project gets too bloated.

Thank you all. I ll keep you updated.

[hayasidist]

Ok I'm sold. I'll do it the proper way while there's still time.
...

just as a BTW, I number my shots in 10s -- If I expect more than 100 I'll use 4 digits -- but usually 3 is enough -- so the first one will be 010_<name> ... then, when I realise I need something between 1 and 2 I can use (e.g.) 013_<insert1> 016_<insert2> .. So far I've never run out of insert numbers, (which I ascribe to planning if not properly then adequately!). I generally keep 000-009 and 990-999 for opening and closing sequences -- I rarely use a "delayed" opening credit sequence or a stinger after the last closing placard, but they'll get an in-sequence number. Same numbering if I'm compositing -- e.g. 020_<Live>, 020_<comp A Animated> ...

[Greenlaw]

Just a variation on Hayasidist's post above...

I number my shots by ones, using three positions, so s001, s002, s003, etc. The shot numbering is worked out in the storyboard and animatic, and the assigned numbers rarely change after I begin animation. Still, occasionally, I find I need to add new shots after I've started animation. I handle this situation by adding a letter after the new shot number.

For example, if I need to add two shots between shots s001 and s002, I'll call these new shots s001A and s001B. This allows me to add up to 26 new shots between existing shots.

If I need to insert more shots than that, then I have a huge problem that should have been worked out back in storyboarding.

Later on, if I need to insert shots between the new shots, then I use a double-letter system. So, if I need to add a shot between s001A and s001B, that would be called s001Aa. I can't remember the last time I've had to do that but it's happened.