Gradient not showing in Tutorial files

[MrMajorThorburn]

I am trying to learn this tool (now using 13.5.4) and following the tutorials and in step 1.2 it shows a gradient being applied to a layer called Hills.
I am not able to achieve the goal in this step as the gradient does not show up in the view.
In step 1.3 it invites you to start by opening the file you saved in 1.2 or the file supplied.
I open the file Tutorial 1.2.moho and do not get the gradient I expect as displayed in the Moho Tutorial Manual.pdf page 14.
Is there an updated version of this pdf available?

[hayasidist]

looks to me as though the file (Tutorial 1.2.moho) is form an older version and the way gradients are managed in moho's internals has changed since then.

It's not the manual that's wrong ... it's the file (and, by extension, I'll guess that all the tutorial files are from earlier versions of Anime Studio).

If you follow the manual from page 11 -- i.e. select the shape and set the gradient -- that should work.

[MrMajorThorburn]

I was following the tutorial and was not able to get the gradient to work.
The tutorial sates to set the gradient and then select Ok I did that but the layer was not changed from the base brown colour.
There are two gradients in the product but not in the tutorial.

[hayasidist]

"... click the Select Shape tool in the Fill section of the Tools panel, and click the fill on your hills.
The Style window will display the settings for the fill: its color, its line width and color, and the styles used to display it. To remove settings that you have used in previous projects, click the Reset button to reset the fill colors to their default settings.
Set the line width to 1. Then choose Gradient from the Effect menu to open the Gradient dialog.
...
To set the left gradient color, double-click the left square at the bottom of the gradient bar to open the Color Picker. Select a green color and click OK to return to the Gradient dialog. [etc]
...
When your colors are selected, the Gradient settings should appear as shown [on page 12].
Click OK to return to the scene."

That works exactly as it should for me.

Some possible areas where you might have skipped a step:

-- make sure the shape is selected (with Select Shape tool active, click the fill) before using the gradient settings
-- make sure that the dropdown is showing "Gradient" before clicking the "..." button
-- use the colour picker to set the green / dark green / brown gradient colours: click "OK" for each colour selection.
-- back in the gradient settings panel: click OK to set the gradient in the shape.

Just in case there are some "display quality" issues -- press control-R (File / preview) to show the rendered image.

If you still can't get it work, could you post a screen capture of what you're doing?

good luck!

[Greenlaw]

I skimmed the 1.2 tutorial and, at a glance anyway, it appears to be correct to me. While it's possible that some parts of the tutorials are outdated, filling a shape with an effect like Gradient should be fairly straightforward:

1. Select the shape.
2. Apply the effect in the Style Window.
3. Adjust the effect settings.
4. Adjust the effect widget as needed.

My guess is that you don't actually have the shape selected as you are making the Style changes. If the shape isn't selected, any style changes you make in the Style Window are not applied to anything but the Style Window itself.

If you have something selected in the vector layer, it's possible that you have selected the points used in the shape, which is not the same as selecting the shape itself. Points and curves can be used to create shapes but they are not shapes. Think of points and curves as the skeleton of a shape, and the shape as the skin that goes over the skeleton. It's also important to understand that points and curves do not have have Stroke and Fill properties; only shapes have these properties. So be sure you have the shape selected when you want to change its style.

To select a shape, you must use the Select Shape tool...that's the one that looks like a bean with an arrow next to it. When you select the shape, it will become highlighted. By default, Moho will indicate this by filling the shape with a checker pattern. Note: The checker pattern is optional and you can disable it globally in Style Window. When you do this, Moho will instead highlight the shape using a thin red box around the shape. This is my preference because it allows Moho to display the fill and stroke style more clearly when I'm editing it.

Now, with the shape properly selected using the Select Shape tool, any changes you make in the Style Window, like adding the Gradient effect, should appear in the shape. Depending on the shape, you may need to adjust the Gradient settings and widget to get it to look the way you want. Yet another note: some effects do not display in the workspace, but they will show up in a render (the Drop Shadow effect is one of them.) You can preview what the effect will look like in the render like by pressing Ctrl-R.

Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

Paul wins! He beat me to it by 1 minute!

[MrMajorThorburn]

Thanks for the hints folks but I still have a problem.
I have selected the shape as confirmed by the Name S1 being shown in my screenshot.
I selected width 1 and effect1 gradient and colours as per the tutorial and clicked ok in the gradient popup and got the result shown in the screenshot I have but don't know how to add it here.
Do I need to put it on a web share and post the url or can I somehow upload it?

[Greenlaw]

To post an image here, it will need to be uploaded to a image hosting site or a cloud storage site like Dropbox or Google Drive. Then copy and paste the link to your post. Once the link is in your post, select it and click the Image button.

Additional note if you use Dropbox: change dl=0 in the link to raw=1. This displays the image instead of making it downloadable.

[hayasidist]

I have selected the shape as confirmed by the Name S1 being shown in my screenshot.
I selected width 1 and effect1 gradient and colours as per the tutorial and clicked ok in the gradient popup ...

are you sure you're using the factory content tutorial? the file "Tutorial 1.2.moho" has only one unnamed shape in it.
also, it seems that you have the "Advanced" style options open -- and that should (win 10) show a blank field in the "Name" box if you're using the factory .moho

so I'm guessing that you've had a play with the files and ...

... the effects handle (the "dumbbell" shaped thing) has been moved out of the range of the hill shape.

With the shape selected, try grabbing the red-filled-blob end of the handle and drag it down into the hill shape.

Let me know if that does anything useful!

[synthsin75]

Just in case there are some "display quality" issues -- press control-R (File / preview) to show the rendered image.

This would be my guess. Shape effects might be disabled in the Display Quality settings.