Masking Text Excluding Strokes

[ggoblin]

How do I exclude masking the stroke of a text layer whilst include masking the fill?

Unlike a vector layer, the masking panel in the layer window of a text layer does not give the option 'exclude strokes' so any stroke around the text just adds to the mask.

At the moment I'm having to duplicate every text layer with the lower layer having a stroke and not being included in the mask, whilst the upper layer without a stroke being added to the mask. If I place the two text layers in a group then the masking no longer works as masking is set at the group level so cant have one text layer in group added to the mask whilst the other excluded from the mask. Without them being together in a group it means I have to animate both layers in sync which is a pain. There must be a simpler, better way. What am I missing?

Thank you for your help.

[Maestral]

If you don't need the text as such but it could work just as the shape - while you're creating the text layer, tick 'Create one shape' and un-tick Create text layer.
This should solve the masking since you have a shape now with stroke available

If you need separate shapes - create a text layer and then right click on it, on Layers panel.

[ggoblin]

Brilliant, thank you very much.

I didn't realise you could convert from text to vector. It opens up great possibilities of modifying and animating individual points in a font.

Shouldn't the option be EITHER "Create one shape" where the text is converted to vector and is embedded as a shape in the vector layer, OR "Create text layer" where the text remains text and is in its own text layer? It seems if you select both, then the text still only goes in the text layer, nothing added to the vector layer?

[Maestral]

You're most welcome.

And, indeed, text in Moho has some oddities such as that confusing options combo. Furthermore, these options would not even appear when you create another text layer. Fonts would work only if properly installed, so no temporary installed ones...
There are several scripts apart from those available in Moho. If you deal with text often - you should look out for these. Also, Mynd tools is a quite handy addition for animating motion graphics or similar.

[ggoblin]

Yes initially I couldn't find these options as I was always creating text by first creating a text layer so the options aren't made available.

Thank you for pointing me towards Mynd tools. Watching the video, the Mynd Mover tools look very useful for motion graphics. But unfortunately I couldn't get them to work for me. I downloaded the version linked in the youtube video.



https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... iFnD6tv7rD

But I think it has changed since the video was produced. The Animations setting icon is now called Smart Animation Master and doesn't seem to have the same workflow so I'm a bit confused how to use it. I keep getting lua script errors ( attempt to index global 'DR-ANIMATION' (a nil value) ) so assume I'm not setting up the animation properly before calling it..

I did deviate slightly from the installation procedure in that rather than overwrite my _tool_list.txt with the one it provides, I copied the Mynd sections of it to the end of my existing _tool_list.txt as I noticed some of the default Moho palette was missing from the _tool_list.txt in the Mynd install zip file. I don't think this is the problem as I can see the Mynd icons on my palette and can click them.

I haven't tried the other Mynd scripts yet (apart from the Round Corners which works very well). Any suggestions for other scripts to help text or motion graphics would be most welcome.

Thank you.

[Greenlaw]

I did deviate slightly from the installation procedure in that rather than overwrite my _tool_list.txt with the one it provides, I copied the Mynd sections of it to the end of my existing _tool_list.txt as I noticed some of the default Moho palette was missing from the _tool_list.txt in the Mynd install zip file. I don't think this is the problem as I can see the Mynd icons on my palette and can click them.

I haven't tried the other Mynd scripts yet (apart from the Round Corners which works very well). Any suggestions for other scripts to help text or motion graphics would be most welcome.

About _tool_list.txt...

You don't need the list that comes with the MYND download. This list affects how the included tools appear in the Tools Window but it has no effect on their performance. As a matter of fact, I removed the MYND list because it completely re-defined my preferred tools layout and added a lot of tools I do not need.

You can set up your own tools layout using the Tool Layout tab in Preferences. It's a little awkward if you have a lot of tools but after you set it up, it works well enough for making minor changes. As you found, you can manually edit your own list in a text editor. I use both methods: the built-in window for quick changes, and text editing for major changes.

I keep a couple of different lists for different tool layouts to switch between depending on the task at hand. Changing the list isn't a routine for me, I mainly do this during testing. I might actually change my list only once or twice a year to re-optimize my workflow.

I also keep multiple 'disabled' folders inside my Script folder, like so...



So what's this for? As the folder names imply, it's for disabling any tools I don't want to use currently, but I wish to hang onto in case I need to another day. This folder has been a good system to keep my Tools Window from becoming unnecessarily bloated.

The way it works is that any scripts dragged into a sub-folder will be ignored by Moho when you launch it or press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+L.

I have multiple folders mainly organized by developer but you can organize it however way you like.

About the MYND tools, note that not all the tools in the archive are 'MYND' branded...for some reason, a handful of non-MYND tools are included in that archive from other developers. I got the impression that the developer just dumped their tools into the archive and probably didn't realize the 'bonus content'. These are probably the tools you don't find documented in the MYND instructions.

[ggoblin]

Thank you Greenlaw for the great tips.

I couldn't get the Mynd scripts to work so I will temporary disable them as per your instructions. Also for some reason I am getting double copies of them appearing in both 'MYND_MOVER' group and 'Other' group.