more than one curve at a time

[julgul]

Is there a way to view multiple motion graph curves at a time in the timeline?

[julgul]

Anyone? Like, you know, you animate one bone and then another, and then you want to see both curves in the Motion Graph editor at the same time. Is this possible?

[Hoptoad]

I don't think so. But if you figure-out a way to do it, please share the answer.

[Greenlaw]

Sure, just open Graph Editor and select multiple layers. The curves for each keyframed channel in every selected layer will appear in the window.

That may sound straightforward, however if you've used graph editors in other animation or compositing programs, you'll find it's a little weird in Moho. To see how it's different, try to follow this example:

Make a bone layer and a vector layer, animate the bones, and then animate different layer transforms for both layers (just Translation and Rotate should be fine.)

Over in the left, you'll see icons for the channels with keyframes for each layer. Note that only channels with keyframes will appear here. As you hover over each channel icon, Moho will report which layer that channel belongs to (in this case, of of the two in your selection.) If only one layer has a particular type of animation (i.e., bones) then you will only see the channel for that layer; if a particular channel is animated in both layers, you will see multiple channels listed, one for each layer.

To edit a channel, you need to double click the channel icon. The curves for the selected channel will become editable.

IMO, it works but it could be better if it followed more common standards. Surprisingly, I hardly ever use the Graph Editor in Moho, but maybe that's because it's kind of a pain so I deal with velocity and timing on the main timeline as much as possible. Tip: if you enable Show Path, you can see the spacing of the frames and keyframes in the workspace. This can very useful when animating speed and timing.

Hope this helps.

[julgul]

Thanks, Greenlaw! Yes, this is helpful. I see that I can see the curves for different layers that have animations, but it seems there is no way to do this with different bones that are on the same layer. For example, a character rig has many bones, but they are all on the same layer. Is there a way to see the curves for the different bones' animations? I come from after effects, and I am used to spending a lot of time in the graph editor.

[Greenlaw]

For example, a character rig has many bones, but they are all on the same layer.

Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, AFAIK, for bones you can only edit one at a time in the GE. This is probably why I almost never bother with the GE when animating a character, and only do so when I really need to use a Bezier curve.

For character animation, I typically just stick with the Smooth interpolation mode and that's been fine for the TV work I do. As mentioned earlier, I'm surprised by how little I use the GE in Moho compared to, say, how much I use it in a 3D program like Maya or in compositing programs like Ae or Nuke.

But I'm sure if the GE was better in Moho, I'd probably use it more. Then again, maybe not being distracted by it is a good thing? Maybe? (I'll keep telling myself that.)

Other users have spoken out about the GE too, so hopefully we'll see some improvements to it in the future.

[julgul]

Thanks, Greenlaw! Yes, it would be nice to have this option in the future. Moho seems to have so many hidden features, and I was hoping this was one of them