Lost Marble

1. Can I save my animation as a Flash file?
2. When I export to Flash (SWF), the lines in my animation look "wobbly". Is there some way to fix that?
3. Can I import Adobe Illustrator, PostScript, etc. files into Moho?
4. How do I add sound to my Moho animations?
5. Can I work with scanned drawings in Moho?
6. Is there a Linux version of Moho?
7. I live in Brazil/Norway/The Moon. Can you ship Moho to me?
8. I'm a student/teacher. Can I get an educational discount on Moho?
9. Why can't Moho find my fonts on Mac OS X?

1. Can I save my animation as a Flash file?

Yes! Moho can export your animation as a Macromedia Flash (SWF) file. This SWF file can then be imported into the Flash authoring tool and further edited to add interactivity and sound.

However, although Moho can export SWF files, we don't really recommend doing this. There are a lot of features available in Moho that aren't possible in the Flash format. These include image layers and fill and layer effects (like masking and shadows). Moho is a much more powerful tool when you are creating movie files. We generally recommend QuickTime as an output format, rather than Flash.

2. When I export to Flash (SWF), the lines in my animation look "wobbly". Is there some way to fix that?

Yes, there is something you can do. Most likely, the problem is that you're exporting the Flash files at one resolution, and displaying them at a larger resolution. Moho's default resolution is 320 by 240 pixels - if you're displaying the SWF file larger than that, the curves may look cruddy.

To fix it, do this: go into the project settings dialog in Moho (File->Project Settings), and set the project dimensions to match what you want your final output to be.

Although Flash is vector-based, it tries to keep files small for the web by storing only the minimum amount of data necessary. For example, if a curve is only expected to occupy a few pixels on the screen, it is not stored with much accuracy. If you end up displaying it larger later on, the low accuracy can be a problem.

3. Can I import Adobe Illustrator, PostScript, etc. files into Moho?

Yes! Moho can import Adobe Illustrator and EPS files. If you're creating artwork in Illustrator, save it in Illustrator 8 (or earlier) format.

4. How do I add sound to my Moho animations?

Starting in version 4, Moho provides support for a simple soundtrack. You can add a soundtrack in Moho, use it to synchronize your animation, and then include it in your final movie. QuickTime is required for sound support in Moho 4 (the free version of QuickTime will work fine).

The other option for adding audio to an animation is to use a video editing program on your final Moho output. We recommend using a program like Adobe Premiere to add a soundtrack to your final Moho movie - Premiere is also an excellent companion tool for assembling multiple scenes of an animation. A good video editor will also allow you to add multiple audio tracks - for example, separate files for music, voices, and sound effects.

5. Can I work with scanned drawings in Moho?

Moho is not really designed to work with animation originally drawn on paper. Because Moho is primarily vector-based, all Moho animation must be created inside the program. There are a couple of exceptions: It is possible to import your existing artwork as "Image Layers" that can be animated in Moho as if they were cut-out pieces of paper. Also, you can use an image to trace over - this way you can draw your original artwork on paper, then trace it by hand into Moho's vector format.

6. Is there a Linux version of Moho?

Yes, a version of Moho for Linux has recently been released. We have also heard reports that Moho will run on Linux under WINE (Details).

7. I live in Brazil/Norway/The Moon. Can you ship Moho to me?

When you register Moho, Lost Marble will email you a registration code that will allow you to unlock all of Moho's features. The free download version of Moho turns into the full version once you enter this code. We do not mail you a box or CD-ROM.

8. I'm a student/teacher. Can I get an educational discount on Moho?

We're sorry, no. At this time we aren't set up to validate and process educational discounts. This may change in the future, but for now there's just a single price for Moho.

9. Why can't Moho find my fonts on Mac OS X?

Because Moho is a cross-platform application, it doesn't handle fonts exactly the same way as the underlying operating system. Getting fonts to work on OS X may take a little bit of work.

First, Moho's Insert Text dialog can only use TrueType fonts. Make sure you have some TrueType fonts installed. You can find some fun free fonts for animation here. Wherever you get your fonts, Moho cannot handle Mac-specific font formats like suitcases or fonts in resource forks. In general, the Windows versions of fonts will also work on Mac OS.

Next, Moho expects all your fonts to be in a single location. By default (on OS X), Moho looks for fonts in the /Library/Fonts directory. It will only use the fonts it finds there. If you want Moho to use fonts in another folder on your system, you need to tell it where to find them. To do this, double-click the file called Moho.settings - this should open TextEdit. Add a line like the following to this file:

"FontDir"    "/Users/username/Library/Fonts"

Replace "username" with your user name on the system, save the file, and restart Moho. Moho will now look in this folder for TrueType fonts. You could instead specify any other folder you wish on your computer.