Drawing and playback problems

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kdiddy13
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Drawing and playback problems

Post by kdiddy13 »

Would it be possible to change the apply style hotkey or the playback hotkey away from the space bar? I find that sometimes I'll use the select points tool, want to apply a style and press the space bar. Since nothings been animated yet I don't notice. I continue drawing and find myself with a drawing that's all over the place and almost no way of fixing it.

The other possibility would be to lock the playback at frame 0 so that it won't playback unless you press the play button. Does this make sense? I'm finding it bit difficult to explain what the exact problem is. Basically, it's a matter of helping to prevent user error while drawing.
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Last edited by kdiddy13 on Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Lost Marble
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Post by Lost Marble »

Does anyone have a preference for what key to press to start/stop playback? Unfortunately, the spacebar is kind of common for that. Also, Moho has been using the spacebar for special functions since version 1, so changing that would really mess up long-time users.
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spasmodic_cheese
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Post by spasmodic_cheese »

what about the keypad for all movie, preview controls ?
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kdiddy13
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Post by kdiddy13 »

Quite a few programs use the enter key for playback (Premier, I believe Flash and Avid DV). Numeric keypad for playback controls would be good, although people with laptops may find that cumbersome. Perhaps disable the space bar from playback while on frame 0?

I'm a pretty new user, so I'll go along with what the "old timers" prefer.
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Last edited by kdiddy13 on Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
myles
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Post by myles »

I'm fairly used to the Spacebar, and it's a convenient target, but I see Kurt's point - I have no solution to suggest except maybe an "animation mode" toggle switch somewhere.
Kurt, as a workaround, while you're still drawing and before you've animated, you can Alt+left-click and Alt+right-click on frame 0 (or possibly some other frame if you're drawing in anther frame) in the timeline, effectively locking playback while you draw. [Moho 5.0b4 and onwards]

While we're at it, are there any reasons Delete and Backspace both act the same ? Platform-specific or other implementation issues ?

Alt-Backspace is an awkward keystroke for deleting keyframes if you have a mouse in the other hand - can we make it just Backspace instead, and have only Delete for object deletion ?
(Personally, I'd prefer Delete for deleting keyframes, and Backspace for deleting points/shapes/bones, but that's probably just me.)

Or, have Delete delete points/shapes/bone on frame 0, and keyframes on any other frame, using Backspace to delete items on non-0 keyframes, because that is something you should be doing less often ? On second thought, no, that's probably getting a little too confusing to explain in the manual. But I still want plain Backspace for keyframes.

Regards, Myles.
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Lost Marble
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Post by Lost Marble »

The Delete key on notebooks often requires a weird key combination, so I don't think we should rely on it too much. Also, if you tell many people to press the "delete" key, they'll actually press Backspace.

I think points get deleted more often than keyframes, so using Backspace for points and Alt+Backspace for keys makes sense that way. If you find yourself deleting keys more often, we could probably add a preference to reverse the two.
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kdiddy13
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Post by kdiddy13 »

Kurt, as a workaround, while you're still drawing and before you've animated, you can Alt+left-click and Alt+right-click on frame 0 (or possibly some other frame if you're drawing in anther frame) in the timeline, effectively locking playback while you draw. [Moho 5.0b4 and onwards]
If that works like I think you say it works then that would be a fine and dandy solution. Thanks! Did you figure that out on your own or is it in the manual someplace? It being in the manual is always a possiblity as I have a tendancy to skim and assume I know how things work.
But I still want plain Backspace for keyframes.
I totally agree. After getting characters and assets all setup, I spend a lot of time tweaking keys, adding and deleting them. SImplifying the work flow for working with keys would be ideal.
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Last edited by kdiddy13 on Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
myles
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Post by myles »

kdiddy13 wrote:Did you figure that out on your own or is it in the manual someplace?
It's one more case of Moho just working the way I expect it to (or better) - three cheers for Lost Marble!
kdiddy13 wrote:After getting characters and assets all setup, I spend a lot of time tweaking keys, adding and deleting them.
Lost Marble wrote:If you find yourself deleting keys more often, we could probably add a preference to reverse the two.
Ooh, ooh, yes please! Like Kurt, I prefer to work a 2-stage process:
Stage 1: setting up a character
Stage 2: animating the character

For stage 2, I definitely want key deletion to be easier than point deletion (I'm already grateful for Moho's stable and effective Undo when hitting the Delete key in 5.0b4). A preference change would do that nicely, and enable me to change it depending on whether I'm in Stage 1 or Stage 2.

I see your point about the notebook users - since I may one day use a notebook myself, I hereby withdraw any requests that mention the Delete key and shall henceforth resolve to automatically reach for the Backspace key instead. :)

Regards, Myles.
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AcouSvnt
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Post by AcouSvnt »

myles wrote:I see your point about the notebook users - since I may one day use a notebook myself, I hereby withdraw any requests that mention the Delete key and shall henceforth resolve to automatically reach for the Backspace key instead. :)
Made all more complicated, of course, by the fact that Apple calls their backspace key "delete" .... :?
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myles
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Post by myles »

AcouSvnt wrote:Made all more complicated, of course, by the fact that Apple calls their backspace key "delete" .... :?
Eek! :shock: I didn't know that!

So, do Apple have the equivalent of, umm, delete forward/right ?

Regards, Myles - sticking with oranges, or at the very least, mandarins.
(Although I once had a PC that was a definite lemon :) )
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arglborps
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Post by arglborps »

myles wrote:So, do Apple have the equivalent of, umm, delete forward/right ?
Yes on the extended keyboards (which are now standard on all Macs, but weren't in the 80s). So many people are not aware that there's a backspace and a delete key. Also on the laptops (PowerBooks) the "real" delete key is rather hard to access (at least on the Japanese keyboard I've got here). So anyway, most people I know are using only the backspace key for deleting.
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