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Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 2:35 am
by BigBoiiiJones
Is there any way to render color and line art separately without rendering unwanted lines that the fill usually cover? I wanted to do some compositing but don't want to change my line art with compositing color/levels so I'm curious if there is a way and if there isn't I really hope they focus on things like this in v14.

Re: Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:49 am
by Greenlaw
This something I've asked for in the past and would still very much like to see it. Currently, I need to create custom layers in Moho using Layer Comps to break out line art from the fills, which is very time consuming.

I wish Layer Comps had more options so I can tell Moho to "render only the strokes for this pass" and "render only the fills (with some overlap) for this same pass." Oh, and also the option to render these passes with no-antialiasing. This would make the output ideal when compositing in Ae with the free OLM tools. (All the OLM 'anime' tools work best when there is no-antialiasing in the raw footage, and AA can be applied as a post effect using the OLM Smoother plugin.)

Re: Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 12:26 pm
by BigBoiiiJones
Greenlaw wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:49 am This something I've asked for in the past and would still very much like to see it. Currently, I need to create custom layers in Moho using Layer Comps to break out line art from the fills, which is very time consuming.

I wish Layer Comps had more options so I can tell Moho to "render only the strokes for this pass" and "render only the fills (with some overlap) for this same pass." Oh, and also the option to render these passes with no-antialiasing. This would make the output ideal when compositing in Ae with the free OLM tools. (All the OLM 'anime' tools work best when there is no-antialiasing in the raw footage, and AA can be applied as a post effect using the OLM Smoother plugin.)
That's what I was afraid of. I didn't really want to do it the hard way but I guess I have no choice if I want to composite color without effecting lines. I really hope v14 implements this because for most professional productions this is kind of a necessity for the production phase. At least with all the projects I've worked on.

Yep I hope for all of these as well. I made a post about AA being broken at 1080p for stroke widths under 2.x I cant remember the exact 2 number but AA becomes dotted after a certain point. I think you were the one I discussed with and agreed it was a bug. I think Moho's overall No AA distribution cant be handled a bit better as well since it gets chunky or to thin at certain parts. The AA is very important for anime production at least.

Re: Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:28 pm
by Greenlaw
Same here. I don't actually do a lot of FBF myself at work but I do work with FBF files created by our partner studios, and they always arrive with no AA applied. I think this is an industry standard because it makes it much easier to key the elements (i.e., with tools like the previously described OLM.)

Re: rendering strokes and fills separately, I typically want this for compositing so I can apply effects to the fills but not affect the line work; this is especially important when lighting characters.

Rendering without AA and using OLM is one way to do this without the separation but this tool is only available for After Effects, and I sometimes need to bring the art into other programs. Plus sometimes I need the strokes and fills separated with Layer Comps but also with Moho AA applied during render for the very reason you cited.

Re: Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:54 pm
by synthsin75
There are render styles in the project settings that allow stroke-only or fill-only, but I doubt that will give the results you need.

Re: Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:00 am
by Greenlaw
That's very interesting! I played with the settings and I'm not sure this will work in the way I need it to work but it's definitely worth trying. If anything, maybe the existence of these options is an indication that what I'm asking for is doable for a future release.

Thanks for the suggestion Wes!

Re: Render Line Art and Color Separately?

Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:11 am
by synthsin75
I'm guessing that you'd really need the strokes that show, occluded by the fills, instead of just all the stacked strokes.
That's why I doubted it would work, as is, for compositing.

Those render styles seem to be the same as fill/stroke only display quality.