What format do you folks export your projects in?

[Sonny]

Kind of clueless about this- trying to get the best possible quality as I can. 4k and whatnot. I find that AVI is the best looking but of course it takes up enourmous space. What do you guys and gals recommend?

[Lukas]

We always render 1080p or 4K .png image sequences from Moho. Final export is usually from Adobe Premiere (can't recommend it unless you're already in Adobe's system), and we use the 1080p or 4K Adobe Premiere Preset for YouTube. (H264 .mp4) But that's because YouTube is the destination. The highest qualities we've needed to provide are either ProRes or DCP. But for exporting from Moho, just stick with .PNG and composit/edit in a package that can export to anything you need. (This advice goes for all animation software btw, not just Moho)

[Greenlaw]

From Moho, I typically render 1920 x 1080 PNG image sequence, and then I import the sequence to a compositing program and compile a movie file from there. At home, I use the MagicYUV codec which is a high performing codec that works great in any video editor; at work we use DNxHR for final output which is not lossless but it's pretty decent.

For my personal uploads to YouTube or Vimeo, I like to use H265 (HEVC) as my final format. I normally export this from my video editor but I believe Moho does this now.

The only time I render 4k is for marketing and other print material.

[MrMiracle77]

I'm a youtube hobbyist, so I export at 720p to a png image sequence, then hand off re-assembly to Hitfilm Express to add post-effects, foley, and music. I export from that in .mp4 with a video bitrate of 6500 kbps, which is what youtube recommends for a 720p video. While this is relatively low resolution these days, my figures are mostly 2-shade (base and shade tone) rigs, and already have fairly long render times. Higher resolutions aren't going to make them any prettier. And while you can upload to youtube at higher qualities and less lossy formats, doing so only lengthens the upload and processing time. I also have Hitfilm make a lossless copy for compilation videos later on.

You probably won't get a lot of recommendations for direct .mp4 export from Moho because Moho doesn't offer bitrate targets the way that a proper editing program does. Although .mp4 is not a lossless editing format, its widespread usage means that most video editors do support its import, and support it surprisingly well.

If youtube is your target, bear in mind that your work is going to go through youtube's own compression processing, which may obscure details in ways you didn't intend. And your audience is going to be watching on a mix of devices, many of which aren't going play back the 4k version of your video.

[Greenlaw]

Nothing wrong with 720p. I rendered Scareplane at 720p because I didn't have the horsepower at the time to render and comp at higher res, and re-rendering it at 1080p on better equipment now probably isn't going to make it look 'better'.

FYI, HLF was the next 'Moho' project I did and it was rendered in 1080p. Compared to Scareplane, HLF was a nightmare to composite on the gear I had at the time. Scareplane exported quickly and efficiently from Moho, and compositing in Fusion went pretty smoothly too, but rendering HLF kept crashing Moho and After Effects, especially when I tried to use Pixel Motion Blur in Ae. But my computer at the time only had 4GB of RAM so not too surprising. Luckily, the money I made from that project helped me buy a better computer.

Rendering at 1080 can be more practical nowadays but depending on the animation style, it's not necessarily going to make it look better. Just my opinion.

[Sonny]

Wow so you guys export a PNG image sequence and then take those 100's of frames and reassemble them in your video software? Wow! I don't know if I have the time for that!

[alanthebox]

Wow so you guys export a PNG image sequence and then take those 100's of frames and reassemble them in your video software? Wow! I don't know if I have the time for that!

Every piece of software I've used has an 'import as image sequence' import option. Just one click and the sequence comes in as a single clip.

[Greenlaw]

Wow so you guys export a PNG image sequence and then take those 100's of frames and reassemble them in your video software? Wow! I don't know if I have the time for that!

FWIW, that's standard practice at almost any animation studio. There are many technical advantages in doing it this way and, TBH, it hardly takes any time (or computer resources) to compile pre-rendered frames into a movie file.

In my case, I like to render my Layer Comps from Moho using Moho Exporter, composite and finish the animation in After Effects and output a lossless movie from there. That movie file is then imported to my video editor to overcut my animatic, and my FINAL movie file is exported from there. This is more or less the same workflow at the studios where I've worked but using different codecs.

[Sonny]

Interesting- thanks for the info guys, really appreciate it. I'll look into it!

[Greenlaw]

One more thing: a lot of programs--anim, comp, or video editing--will let you batch process render tasks. Back when I mainly worked on a small laptop, I would animate, comp and edit my projects at different points during the day (early morning, lunchtime, and breaks,) and then batch render the projects that were ready for rendering over the evening. If you find your renders take too long, batch rendering overnight can be a big timesaver.

In Moho, it's Moho Exporter that does this.

[lazerslab]

I concur with the others on here - 1080 .png sequence and import into compositing software (I use and highly recommend After Effects if you can swing it) As long as you save each sequence in a seperate folder, it's easy to stay pretty organized, and from my experience most compositing software gives a one-click "import image sequence" option. Disclaimer: with Adobe software, sometimes .png sequences import at a default framerate (usually 30fps) I almost always use 24fps for animation (sometimes 12 when integrating with cel) so if you are using a different framerate, one added step may be to interpret footage. This is very easy to do in the aforementioned Adobe programs.

[Greenlaw]

As long as you save each sequence in a seperate folder, it's easy to stay pretty organized...

Just wanted to add that when you use Moho Exporter's Split command, it automatically saves each layer from your Layer Comps to a separate folder. Very handy for compositing artists. The regular Export Animation command does not do this.

Tip: Don't include a version number in your 'master' project name. This prevents Moho Exporter from successfully overwriting previous renders. What I do is work on versioned files in a WIP (work-in-progress) folder, and when I'm ready to render I overwrite the unnumbered 'master' file sitting outside the WIP folder. This is the version I open in Moho Exporter and batch using the Split button. If you want to save some steps, save a Profile you can reuse each time you re-render the Layer Comps.

Also, remove any Layer Comps you don't need to render. That might seem obvious but though it was worth mentioning. I usually just save a profile that only includes the Layer Comps I want to render, and modify this when I need to.

...I almost always use 24fps for animation (sometimes 12 when integrating with cel) so if you are using a different framerate, one added step may be to interpret footage. This is very easy to do in the aforementioned Adobe programs.

Me too. 24 fps is still standard for animation, and I agree that when it needs to comp with FBF rendered at a lower frame interval (i.e., on twos), it's often best to match that. FYI, when I'm animating FBF, my intervals may be as low as on fours because I feel when the key poses are strong, I can get away with fewer in-between. (That purely a matter of taste though.)

[Greenlaw]

Re: compositing programs...

...I use and highly recommend After Effects if you can swing it.)

For 2D, I mostly use After Effects too. It's very easy to work in and a natural for composting cartoon anim.

For 3D and live action, I still prefer Fusion. I did use it for my first Moho short 'Scareplane' and it worked great for that, but in that short I used Fusion's 3D environment for a lot, which is more advanced than what we have in Moho. I think Ae's 3D environment is stronger too but 3D navigation in Ae is awkward in its own way.

The above is my personal 'indie artist' preferences. At my workplace I sometimes use After Effects and Nuke together, but mainly Ae for 2D and Nuke for 3D compositing.

[lazerslab]

Just wanted to add that when you use Moho Exporter's Split command, it automatically saves each layer from your Layer Comps to a separate folder. Very handy for compositing artists. The regular Export Animation command does not do this.

That's new to me - thanks for sharing - Definetely some situations where that would be very useful!

when I'm animating FBF, my intervals may be as low as on fours because I feel when the key poses are strong, I can get away with fewer in-between.

When it works, it works!