Cannot find Bitmap Tools and New Image Layer

[FloridaJo]

I've seen several tuts where they add a new image layer and dialog pops up for the layer.
Mine wants to import an image. How do I get the image layer parameter pop up like this:


And if I do import an image, I'm not seeing the bitmap tools like this:


I've got 13.5.2
Also, could not find anything in the manual.
And search anything on this forum is returning this:

Information
The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: image new layer.
You must specify at least one word to search for. Each word must consist of at least 3 characters and must not contain more than 14 characters excluding wildcards.

Must be a simple answer, but running up against a brick wall.
Thanks for any help.
cheers

[hayasidist]

That looks like a 13.0 panel -- Bitmap tools in 13.0 were "incomplete" and caused more problems than they solved... so Bitmap create / edit is not in 13.5.
If you want to import an image into 13.5, use the File / Import / Image menu command.

[FloridaJo]

ah, I just found it same time you replied.
I wish search would work on the forums. Must have been a change, because basically useless now.


As for 13 change, found this:

Some more news about the beta:
As you know, we had to work over a previous version of the code in order to make it compatible with Big Sur and also to be able to work in an environment that allows us to work fast and add new features quicker.
To make this work, we had to remove the bitmap drawing feature from version 13 and bring the Actions window and the 3D options back to the way they worked before that version.
Our plan is to work on better drawing tools in the future, but we want to spend more time developing them to be sure we can give you something powerful and useful.
We know this can be an issue for some users and we are sorry about it. It was a hard decision to make, but we really believe it’s the best for the future of Moho.

About 13.5, we are working hard to have everything ready soon. It has some big new features that make Moho more powerful than ever. I can’t say anything else for now, but I’m sure you will enjoy the new possibilities.

All the best,
Víctor and the Lost Marble team.

[hayasidist]

yeah -- the following all IMO -- some of the support stuff for 13.0 bitmap was superb (Brushes and Brush Management for example) - a real shame those disappeared. But there are plenty of bitmap drawing programs out there, including free ones, (e.g. Krita) and the actual drawing stuff in 13.0 was nowhere near those in terms of functionality and usability.

[Greenlaw]

It's a shame we lost the new features of 13.0, but TBH, you're not missing a lot. 13.0's paint tools were good for a demo but the tool set wasn't complete enough for serious production use. And the biggest disappointment for most of us was the new Actions window. The window itself was a good idea but the changes made to how Smart Bone Actions worked totally broke Moho.

So, when the Lost Marble team took over Moho this year, they skipped over 13.0 and built version 13.5.x on reliable Moho 12.5 code instead. Smart Bones in Moho 13.5.x now work as well as they did before 13.0, and Lost Marble added a ton of genuinely useful new features like Quad and Perspective warps, Smart Warp Layer, Vitruvian Bones, Wind Deformers, improved layered PSD support, Deep Copy, easier masking, and much more!

If you have a PSD compatible paint program, like Photoshop or the free Krita, some of these new features make it so much easier to rig and animate bitmaps in Moho that you shouldn't mind (too much) having to paint them in another program.

[FloridaJo]

Thanks all. Good to hear your perspective.

[MrMiracle77]

Drag-and-drop into the preview pane also seems to work for adding image files to a scene. The layer is added above the currently selected layer.

[synthsin75]

You can also paste copied images into Moho, and it will ask you where to save them.

[Greenlaw]

A couple of things to add:

I mentioned Layered PSD specifically because the 13.5.2 update streamlines getting the artwork layers placed as intended and makes editing them in the source program after placing them in Moho more reliable than in previous releases. But Moho still works great with PNG images too. Using PNG can take a little extra work to set up but it can still be more reliable for updating in some situations.

If you use Photoshop for PNG layers, I recommend installing the free Photoshop-Export-Layers-To-Files-Fst plugin; and if you use Krita, use the native Export Layers script.

So definitely give the new layered PSD system a try, and if it doesn't quite do what you need, we still have a good PNG system to fall back on.