Dear friends,
as some of you may know, I´m a huge fan of this software called MoHo. It is very rare to find someone who know it, and me and the MoHo community around the world are always willing to spread the word about it because we all love it very much.
It is a 2d vector animation software, where you can create vector drawings and then animate using rigs and skeletons, just like in 3d softwares. You can also use images and videos to connect to the rigs.
The long awaited new version 5 has just been released as a beta version. Here is a list of its new capabilities:
User interface
looks better
multiple windows
multiple viewport option
control over display quality
customizable UI colors
Editing view improvements
adjustable quality options
option for live display of layer masking and transparency effects
Timeline improvements
channel cycling as a new interpolation type
soundtrack waveform displays in timeline
cycling and actions are visible in the timeline
channels can be selectively shown/hidden
layer visibility is readily apparent in the timeline
Scripting
all the tools in Moho are now written in the Lua scripting language
you can write your own tools if you wish
also, the scripting menu contains "plugins" that are also written in Lua
scripts can access audio data to create animation based on sound
Tool improvements
auto-welding for certain tools
new tools: magnet, bone strength, arrow, hide edges, bending,...
hide edge tool
turns the edges of fills on or off
allows you to easily create a partial outline around a fill
select shape tool can pick shapes below the top one
click the top one, then use Ctrl + up/down arrows to select objects at different depths
Improved SWF export
better line quality, smaller files, optimizations to reduce filesize
layers that can be optimized during export are marked with a dot in the layer window
image layers can be exported, as long as they're PNG or JPEG, and don't have "complex" movements
image layers can only be exported if they are "SWF-optimizable"
gradient fill effect can be exported
variable-width lines get exported
soundtrack can be exported if it's in MP3 format
New layer types
note layers ("sticky notes")
3D layers
import OBJ files, or use scripts to create new 3D objects
toon-rendered edges
texture maps are supported
can be warped using bone layers
Actions
create some animation for a character, and re-use it as much as you want
walk cycles, facial expressions, spoken dialog, etc.
Styles
create styles that can be applied to multiple shapes
just change the style to change the color/line width/brush/etc. of all the affected shapes
Bone improvements
adjustable bone influence
this is a huge feature, and will totally change the way you work with bone in Moho
however, it may not be obvious how it works until updated tutorials are available
bone dynamics - automatic rubbery bone movement
switch layers are now a sub-type of bone layers
what this means is that you can use bones together with switch groups for more expressiveness
ex: use bones to control the shape of a mouth while it talks, for smiles, frowns, etc.
new techniques for bone binding
standard bind-points-to-bones - takes a lot of time and effort, but gives you complete control
flexi-binding - happens automatically, with no work required from the user (maybe adjusting bone strengths)
region-binding - requires some work setting up bone strengths, but is still pretty quick, and gives cleaner movement than flexi-binding
Ability to create complex shapes without making a separate fill and outline
in fact, the fill and outline tools have been combined into one
this feature may not be clear until updated tutorials are available
Rendering improvements
improved layer masking
more powerful and flexible
NTSC color-safe rendering option
layer blending modes
improved AVI import and export (Windows)
red/blue stereo rendering option
maximum blur radius has been increased (this affects blur, shadows, shading, soft edge effect, etc.)
plus, the blur algorithm is really fast now, so feel free to use blurs of up to 256 pixels
In case anyone is interested, here is the link for download:
http://www.lostmarble.com/downloads/moho5beta/moho_win32_5.0b1.zip
Hope you all like it =)
