add shapes in the middle of animation

Discuss ideas for new features with other users. To submit feature requests to Smith Micro, please visit support.smithmicro.com

Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger

Post Reply
jonathan.reaux
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:27 pm

add shapes in the middle of animation

Post by jonathan.reaux »

It would be a game changer to be able to add new shapes while animating. Sometimes, while we are working on a shot, we want to throw in a new hand pose, just for that shot on a certain movement. It's really time consuming to have to go back to frame 0 and create the shape, without being able to create that shape based on the action pose in the middle of the animation. To work around it, we've had to take a screen shot of the action pose, then import that screen shot so we can use it as a reference on frame 0. A very slow process.
User avatar
hayasidist
Posts: 3700
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 8:12 pm
Location: Kent, England

Re: add shapes in the middle of animation

Post by hayasidist »

?? which version are you on?? 13.5.5 draws on frame 0 wherever you are in the timeline.
User avatar
SimplSam
Posts: 1174
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:09 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: add shapes in the middle of animation

Post by SimplSam »

I think you just need to disable/uncheck "Enable drawing tools only on frame 0" (as below) - then you can draw at any frame.

Image
Moho 14.2 » Win 11 Pro 64GB » NVIDIA GTX 1080ti 11GB
Moho 14.1 » Mac mini 2012 8GB » macOS 10.15 Catalina
Tube: SimplSam


Sam
User avatar
Greenlaw
Posts: 9880
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:45 pm
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Re: add shapes in the middle of animation

Post by Greenlaw »

I think the main difference in 13.5.5 when the Draw Only In Frame 0 option is disabled is that the shapes are visible from frame 0 up to the frame you're drawing into. In previous versions of Moho, the shape styles are transparent at frame 0 and become visible only at the frame your are drawing into.

In earlier versions, this has has always been a little weird to me and I always wound up copying the style keys from the later frame to frame 0, and then using Layer visibility if I needed to, but these extra steps are no longer necessary in 13.5.5.

Also, I think in 13.5.5 this option is disabled by default so you can draw on any frame (I'm not 100% sure about this.)

Note: Traditionally, I kept this option enabled until I really needed to draw into a later frame, and then I disabled it when I was done...but maybe this isn't so critical now? Hmm. I'll have to think about that.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Wed May 17, 2023 3:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jonathan.reaux
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:27 pm

Re: add shapes in the middle of animation

Post by jonathan.reaux »

what?? That is awesome! I had no idea about that option in the tools menu. That will help so much! Thanks.
User avatar
Greenlaw
Posts: 9880
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:45 pm
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Re: add shapes in the middle of animation

Post by Greenlaw »

I should mention one more thing: Even though the drawing is created at both frame 0 and the later frame, any edits you make to the shapes in the later frame will only occur in that frame, so you will see animation from frame 0 to your later frame. But if you draw a new shape in that same layer at the later frame, the same shape will appear in frame 0 along with the previously drawn shapes. In other words, it's only additional keyframe changes you make at the later frame that don't get sent to frame 0.

Just something to be aware of.
Post Reply