A moment of cynicism.

Whatever...

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myles
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A moment of cynicism.

Post by myles »

Greetings all,

Just sharing a moment of cynicism. :)

When I was living on the beautiful Queensland coast, I noticed a disturbing trend:
People would visit a lovely little coastal area and say something like: "Oh, isn't this charming, the wonderful natural vegetation, the great beaches, the unspoilt area, the great fishing. This is unique - how refreshing."
Then they would say: "We could share this - and make some money too".
Then they would put in hotels, resorts and timeshare apartments, often very close to the beaches.
They would remove the natural vegetation (some of it stopping the beaches from eroding) and put in the usual grass, landscaped gardens and palm trees (not naturally common in the area, even if it is tropical), right up to the beach sand.
The difficult-to-navigate muddy mangrove riverbank areas (where young fish would survive among the sheltering mangrove roots) would be made into sandy canals with waterfront properties.
Several years later, they would ask: "It's just like like all the other holiday areas. Where did our charming unique area go? The fishing, the beaches, the natural vegetation, the unspoilt views?"

Sometimes I get the feeling that Moho users are going the same way - I'm guilty of feature requests that point that way myself.
"Oh, isn't this charming, a vector-based 2D cartoon animation program. So simple and fun - how refreshing. So different from all those fully-detailed over-realistic 3D programs, or the ink-and-paint richly-textured frame-by-frame 2D animation programs, both of which take so much time or large teams of people to produce professoinal animation"
"Now let's request 3D geometry and 3D bones (if you come from a 3D background) or detailed painted textures and brushes (if you come from a painting or illustration background)."
Several years later, will we be saying "It's just like all the other 3D or ink-and-paint animation apps. Where did that charming simple fun unique 2D cartoon animation program go?"

Regards, Myles - wondering if there's such a thing as a high-tech Luddite.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."
-- Groucho Marx
Nichod
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Post by Nichod »

I hear you on the beaches. I'm from South florida. And half the beaches have been replaced by million dollar condos. I miss the sand between my toes.

Its the nature of people to try and fix something into what we feel is ideal. I think in many ways it can be good. But as you have said it can also ruin something that is perfect the way it is.

In the case of Moho, the reason many of us have started using the software is because we are trying to find that blend of what we are looking for, I for one feel that Moho is a step away from reaching my image of perfection. If my image is the right way I do not know, I'd like to think that the features and additions I want would not ruin the program.

My list is short:
-Better fills (image textures locked, more procedural, and improved gradients)
-Brushes improved
-Additional sound layers
-More visible camera framing when in a "3D" view

Those are my key wants. I think a lot of the "wishes" are really just things that many of us feel are necessary from our own experience. Lets just hope that whatever is added, makes Moho a better program, rather then a worse one. As Moho is now, I can achieve the look and control that I've been looking for.

Brian
Sometimes in order to accomplish something you need to not sleep.
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kdiddy13
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Post by kdiddy13 »

I agree. I'd hope to Lost Marble's efforts put into improving the current interface and tools, rather than adding more 3D. I know Maya and I don't think Moho is going to ever realistically replace that for 3d needs.

3D is complex. Too bad, get over it and either learn it or decide that you want to do something easier. There isn't going to be an easy solution that will give you 3d like Pixar or even Jimmy Neutron. Just like Moho isn't going to make your 2D animations look great or give you instant animation skills. No amount of additional tools will be able to replace actual skill or hard work. Sorry.
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Last edited by kdiddy13 on Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Banterfield
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Post by Banterfield »

This is well put, Myles.

I was immediately captivated by the simple yet powerful interface of Moho 4. From the moment I did a test render I knew in my gut I'd be purchasing the software.

I too have had that uneasy feeling that my simple yet powerful Moho will get replaced by a complicated and ALL powerful Moho. Not to suggest that this has occured yet. Here are fingers crossed that we don't go there. I can't tell you how many times I was flummoxed by trying to learn the various point/surface manipulation methods in 3d programs (bevel, extrude, blah blah blah). Too many options! One too many dimensions to work in! Talk about killing the fun of making something.

Hopefully moving forward we can see moho invested with all the power and capabilities we could ever want without surrendering its ease of use. No small request. It's hard to keep software from becoming cluttered (to distraction) with features. LM's heart seems to be in the right place, though.
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myles
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Post by myles »

Well, it was a temporary moment of cynicism - after reading Brian's post and looking a bit deeper inside, I have to admit to some elements of hypocrisy. :shock:

I'll admit I've been won over by some of the 3D features (particularly the ability to place 2D layers at various depths like a multi-plane camera, and 3D particle crowds of 2D characters), and impressed by examples of brushes (Barry Baker's eyelash brushes spring to mind) and image shapes (Reindert's spider monster), so no doubt I'll also be impressed by other features as they are implemented and as they get used.
Different people will use different features in different ways, and the Moho community will be richer as a result.

Whatever future features are added, Moho is capable of some great work now.
As Kurt said, hard work and skill are what really makes the difference - the tools, however great, cannot do the work for you. With that firmly in mind, I'm going to spend some of the weekend trying to get some animation done with the Moho currently available, and leave worrying about future development to Lost Marble. :wink:

Regards, Myles.

Edit: On re-reading this, I'm apparently now arguing both sides of the issue - a sure sign of insanity - or at least arguing in a circle. Sorry all, I'll try and refrain from getting philosophical in the future.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."
-- Groucho Marx
nobudget
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Post by nobudget »

Well I wrote it before and I'll do it again :D Moho has enough features in place for now. More is not better by definition. I think the best way to improve the program right now is to create some kind of "think-tank" of users with different work methods and optimise the workflow and general usage. Are the buttons where you expect them, are there tools that could be combined for easier use? Optimise every aspect of the program that is already there. That could make Moho the killer app we all want it to be. I hate those big company programs that add features upon features and stack them up just waiting to collapse. There's stuff I'd LIKE to see added but I'd rather see some current features perfected!

Reindert.
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kdiddy13
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Post by kdiddy13 »

I couldn't agree more, Reindert. Flash is a big offender in this. I think even though Moho has it's issues, but it definitely feels more like a program designed by someone who uses it and listens to it's users.

I have a list of "simple" improvements I would like to see that merely capitalize on it's existing architecture, but aren't necessarily additional features. I think that's where the Feature Request section comes in really handy.

And Myles, you may be insane, but I think we're all there with you on this one. And I've often written back to my own posts with conflicting views.

I think the bottom line is that one man's improvement can be another's clutter. It's definitely a delicate, tight-rope act trying to improve on good software.
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