Moho Debut 12 vs Motion Artist

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mnor
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Moho Debut 12 vs Motion Artist

Post by mnor »

How does Moho Debut 12 compare to Motion Artist? Can I do similar effects in Moho Debut 12 or do I have to use Moho Pro 12? I liked Motion Artist, but this software has a few bugs and has not been updated for some years. Looking for something to replace Motion Artist. I like Adobe After Effects, but don't like paying $20 a month. thanks for the help......
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jahnocli
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Re: Moho Debut 12 vs Motion Artist

Post by jahnocli »

Try Saola Animate. It's free to try for a month; after that, you can get a so-called "perpetual licence" for $59. Buy it outright, in other words. I bought Motion Artist a while back, and got discouraged at the lack of development. In my opinion, it's abandonware. Saola exports to HTML5, and it has a number of features lacking in Motion Artist. You can try it for free and make up your own mind...
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Greenlaw
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Re: Moho Debut 12 vs Motion Artist

Post by Greenlaw »

There are some similarities between MotionArtist and Moho but there's not much point in comparing them because the programs are created for different uses/markets.

I haven't used MotionArtist but I understand it's a variation of the Moho environment, with tools for creating panel layouts, image transforms and button interactivity as commonly seen in motion comics.

Moho Pro and Moho Debut have tools for drawing, rigging and creating more advanced animations. Debut is a stripped down version of Pro. It's fine for simple puppet animations but lacks advanced features like SmartBone Actions, SmartMeshes, target bones, etc. (For more info, there's a full comparisons list on the SM website.) Neither program has options for adding interactivity to the animations like Motion Artist. Technically, you could use Moho to create a 'motion comic' but it wouldn't be interactive.

So, it really comes down to what you intend to create with these programs. You can use MotionArtist for assembling and animating motion comics with interactivity, and you can use Moho Debut/Pro for drawing, rigging and animated footage for animated shorts, websites, games, etc., and, yes, even motion comics. For example, if you need more advanced animation for a motion comic created with MotionArtist, you could probably create the animation in Moho and import it to a panel in your MotionArtist project.

(FYI, where I work, we use Moho Pro to create animation for current TV shows. Other studios have used Moho Pro in feature film production. So, it's capable of quite a bit more than MotionArtist, at least for animation.)

I recommend downloading the free trial versions of Debut and Pro to see if these programs are something you can use in your productions.

As for comparisons between Moho and AE, again these very different programs and it depends on what you want to do with them. Moho is primarily an animation program and AE is primarily a compositing and FX program. There is some overlap in features: for example, you can do some limited and fx work compositing in Moho, and you can do some limited character animation in AE, but I wouldn't want to do any advanced compositing in Moho, nor would I want to create a lot of character animation exclusively in AE. The two programs work great together though...almost like they were made for each other.

If you don't want to get AE in addition to programs you're using, there are good free options. For example, I used Fusion to composite my first 'Moho' short 'Scareplane', which was almost completely animated using Moho (called ASP at the time.) Fusion can be downloaded free for non-commercial productions, and like AE, it works great with Moho's Layer Comps system. BTW, the free version of Fusion has an excellent built-in 3D particle engine. With AE, you'd have to add-on Trapcode Particular to get something comparable.

FYI, I used the commercial version of Fusion for film, TV, and video games for many years at my former job, and use AE for TV production where I work now. I like both compositing programs a lot but they have very different GUI's, strengths and weaknesses. If you're looking to add compositing and fx work to your pipeline, I can highly recommend either one.

Hope this helps.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Tue Jul 03, 2018 7:25 am, edited 3 times in total.
mnor
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Re: Moho Debut 12 vs Motion Artist

Post by mnor »

jahnocli wrote:Try Saola Animate. It's free to try for a month; after that, you can get a so-called "perpetual licence" for $59. Buy it outright, in other words. I bought Motion Artist a while back, and got discouraged at the lack of development. In my opinion, it's abandonware. Saola exports to HTML5, and it has a number of features lacking in Motion Artist. You can try it for free and make up your own mind...

Thanks for the link and info. I'll give Saloa Animate a try. It's sad that Motion Artist died on the vine. I enjoyed using that program, but time to move on to something better.
mnor
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Re: Moho Debut 12 vs Motion Artist

Post by mnor »

Greenlaw wrote:There are some similarities between MotionArtist and Moho but there's not much point in comparing them because the programs are created for different uses/markets......

Thanks for the very detailed and thorough info on the various options available.
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