locking frame 0

[Reindeer]

is there a way to lock the playhead on frame 0 when we don't need to animate?
During the planning, sketching, drawing, coloring, rigging phases I find one of the most frequent nuisances is realising that I've inadvertently pressed play and finding I've been moving layers, or adding keyframes. Most of the time it's easy to find the spot, copy the edited keyframe and paste it on frame 0. But with lots of layers and folder and subfolders, it can be a treasure hunt, and a loss of time. Unless it's there and I don't know about it, I think there's lack of a lock.

[hayasidist]

you can enable drawing tools only on frame 0: edit / preferences / tools

does that achieve what you want?

[Reindeer]

you can enable drawing tools only on frame 0: edit / preferences / tools

does that achieve what you want?

I actually have that already enabled, and it does help when actually drawing. But I still find myself from time to time (enough to notice it) unwillingly editing layers and points beyond frame 0, because not being able to draw on frame 0 still allows moving points. So, maybe I've drawn a character's hand and I find I've been editing it on frame 20 for ten minutes. No problem: I copy and paste the edited keyframe on to frame 0 and carry on, but it is a hiccup. Same thing with size or rotation or position of layers.
I'm sure it's clumsiness on my part, probably due to the fact I also use other animating software which have different shortcuts and I guess my fingers fumble at times, but it is a thing that happens. Knowing the playhead could temporarily be locked would solve that.
I'm aware that this is one of those "personal" kind of topics, which are based on individual use, it doesn't necessarily indicate a flaw. I do wonder, though, if other users share this experience.

[synthsin75]

Here's a button that will lock you to frame zero:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... eoxp0&dl=0

Hit the button to lock to frame zero, and hit it again to unlock from frame zero.

[Hoptoad]

I activated the script, and then tried to move a point on any frame other than frame 0 to see what would happen, and Moho quit.

I tested again; got the same result.

So, yeh, the script works, as I couldn't move the point because Moho had closed.

I'm not sure shutting down Moho is the ideal solution, though. Maybe the script could show a PNG of that villainous computer guy in Jurassic Park saying "uh uh uh" and wagging his finger.

[synthsin75]

I'm not seeing that here. I can lock to frame zero and move points just fine. I can even try locking on another frame, and it immediately goes to frame zero.

If you have a specific file showing the problem, you can PM me a link.

This must be installed to the tools folder and shouldn't allow you to even select another frame while it's locked.

[Hoptoad]

Whoosh.

PS: "whoosh" is the sound it makes when I send a PM, in my imagination.

[synthsin75]

I tried everything I could think of, but wasn't able to reproduce a crash or error.

[Hoptoad]

Okay, thanks.

I just tried again. After I activate the script, Moho shuts down and I get the "Moho quit unexpectedly" window as soon as I click a frame beyond 0. My only guess is that the script requires me to have certain script resources already installed, and I don't have them? But as I've never written a script, I bet it's something else.

I don't make the mistake of drawing beyond frame 0 as often as I used to, so I can live without this nifty script. I really could've used it a few years ago, when I was making this mistake a lot!

[synthsin75]

This script doesn't rely on anything else, but maybe it doesn't play well with some other script you have installed.

You'd have to test them one-by-one to figure out if that's the culprit.

[Hoptoad]

I recently deleted all my scripts and have only been adding them as I find myself needing them, so I only have 4 right now: Reset Layer origin, Adjust Line Width, Shapes Window, and MR Guides 1.3. None of them seem to have any overlap in functionality with Lock Frame Zero.

Hopefully the script works for everybody else and my experience was an anomaly.

The button design for Lock Frame Zero, I like it.

[synthsin75]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... eoxp0&dl=0

Very small change. Don't know if it would make a difference.

But yeah, I can't see any conflicts with those scripts.

[Hoptoad]

Downloaded and swapped and tried again. It's still closing Moho.

Here is a snippet of the cryptic crash report.

Code: Select all

Crashed Thread:        0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes:       KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00000000000001bc
Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000001, 0x00000000000001bc

Termination Reason:    Namespace SIGNAL, Code 11 Segmentation fault: 11
Terminating Process:   exc handler [26252]

Thanks for tinkering with the code. I appreciate the effort.

[synthsin75]

May be an issue specific to Mac. If so, I won't be much help solving that.

[Hoptoad]

Now that you mention it, I think you're right about it being a Mac problem. The error message said something about a report being automatically sent to Apple. I don't remember seeing a message like that before.

Oh well, maybe Apple will fix the Lua script issue next update.