How to simulated handwriting text

[Greenlaw]

Somebody wrote a script recently that lets you re-define the starting point on a path. It's something I can use from time to time, like the 'H' problem described above, but I just now remembered it. (D'oh!) I'll have to look it up because I don't remember what it was called, but it should be searchable in this forum.

This is probably small help for a very complex drawing like the one you posted, but just thought I'd mention it.

For something this complex, I'd probably just use Procreate to draw it. The app records all your strokes, and it can re-play and export the session as a movie file.

[SimplSam]

Somebody wrote a script recently that lets you re-define the starting point on a path. It's something I can use from time to time, like the 'H' problem described above, but I just now remembered it. (D'oh!) I'll have to look it up because I don't remember what it was called, but it should be searchable in this forum...

https://mohoscripts.com/script/ss_curve_exposure - "Allows the Anchor Point on an exposure curve to be set to any Point of the curve". p.s. It has to be a closed path.

[Greenlaw]

That's it! Thank you SimplSam for the reminder and for having created this. I forgot that this tool is only useful on a closed path. That's fine though...it's how I would normally want to use it.

Does anybody know if there's a way to flip the point order of a selected path, open or closed? This something I do often in 3D animation and also in compositing programs like After Effects, and I think it could be useful in Moho too, especially when working with Stroke Exposure.

[synthsin75]

Does anybody know if there's a way to flip the point order of a selected path, open or closed? This something I do often in 3D animation and also in compositing programs like After Effects, and I think it could be useful in Moho too, especially when working with Stroke Exposure.

That would be possible to script, but it might be simpler to just script inverting the stroke exposure keyframe values...or add a "Reverse" checkbox on the menu script.

[synthsin75]

But I don't think we can use the follow path tool for the pencil and hand as apart from very simple examples, svg images can have hundreds of paths. Creating our own custom path to follow all that doesn't seem practical.

I wonder if there is a way to combine all the paths in the svg to one path so that we can use follow path tool (without changing the ordering of the points being drawn - for example, here it would be a shame to loose the boys eye being drawn first). The other way would be adjusting the existing animate stroke script to include drawing a follow path object as it reveals the path.. I don't know if this is even possible as it is using curve exposure to accomplish its task.

Usually, speed drawing doesn't include the hand/pen...unless it's one of those explainer-type videos. But if needed, I'd just make a new stroke, on another layer, that follows the stroke exposure. Probably won't be exact, but at that speed, it really doesn't need to be. And it beats trying to connect strokes, or worse, duplicate the hand and switch between them for every individual stroke.

[ggoblin]

This approach makes sense for a one off animation, keep it simple.

I was thinking more generally. Perhaps a possible solution might be a python script that could join the paths in a svg file in to a single path and save a new svg file. Then both svg files could be imported into Moho, one used for correctly displaying the image using Animated Strokes script and the other 'single path' svg used by Follow Path to get the pencil to follow the animated strokes..

It was an interesting thread, thank you.

[synthsin75]

I was thinking more generally. Perhaps a possible solution might be a python script that could join the paths in a svg file in to a single path and save a new svg file. Then both svg files could be imported into Moho, one used for correctly displaying the image using Animated Strokes script and the other 'single path' svg used by Follow Path to get the pencil to follow the animated strokes..

A Moho script could duplicate the layer and connect all the curves.

[ggoblin]

Wow, even better! Such a script could open up Moho to an entire new market - whiteboard explainer animations.

[synthsin75]

Wow, even better! Such a script could open up Moho to an entire new market - whiteboard explainer animations.

Don't know if I'll find the time for it soon, but it'd just have to connect any end points, in point order, if any other scripter gets around to it first.

[ggoblin]

If you or another scripter gets a chance, that would be amazing!