Translate Points
Press the T key to activate the Translate Points tool.
Once you've been using Moho for a while, you'll probably want to find ways to speed up certain operations. Luckily, Moho provides several shortcuts for common operations, such as activating tools, navigating the workspace, and entering data.
Many tools and features in Moho can be accessed quickly by pressing a single key. These shortcuts make working with Moho much faster than the regular method of moving the mouse to a toolbar and clicking a button, and are worth learning to reduce your drawing and animation time. However, all these features are also available through standard user interface elements (buttons and menus), so learning these shortcuts isn't a requirement to using Moho.
Note: these shortcuts are not the same as "menu shortcuts". Many of Moho's menu commands can be accessed through the keyboard - for example, <Ctrl>+S will save the current document. Those types of shortcuts are listed next to the menu item they apply to: just run the program and look at a menu to find the shortcut.
Press the T key to activate the Translate Points tool.
Many of the keyboard shortcuts in Moho are used to activate a tool in a toolbar. If you want to know whether a tool has a shortcut, hold the mouse over the tool, and watch the tooltip that appears. If the tooltip has a single letter at the end (ex: "Translate Points (T)"), then that key can be used as a shortcut to activate the tool. These keyboard shortcuts are not listed here - just look at the tooltips in Moho if you want to learn them.
Some keyboard shortcuts work all the time, and some only apply in while using certain tools in Moho: the tables below lists all the shortcuts and when they can be used.
Alt+Backspace, Alt+C, Alt+V - delete, copy, paste keyframes
Can be used any time |
|
Key |
Action |
| Escape | Automatically adjust the view to see everything in the active layer - hold the shift key to zoom in on the currently selected points |
| Home | Reset the view to see the overall project |
| Enter/Return | De-select all points |
| Tab | Select all points that are connected to the current selection |
| Left Arrow | Step back one frame in the timeline - hold shift to rewind |
| Right Arrow | Step forward one frame in the timeline - hold shift to advance to end of animation |
Working with a Vector layer |
|
Key |
Action |
| Delete/Backspace | Delete the currently selected points |
| Spacebar | Weld two points together - usually used with the Translate or Add Point tools |
Working with Fill tools |
|
Key |
Action |
| Delete/Backspace | Delete the selected shape |
| Spacebar | Define a shape based on current selection |
| Up Arrow | Raise selected shape up one level - hold shift to raise to top |
| Down Arrow | Lower selected shape down one level - hold shift to lower to bottom |
Working with Bone tools |
|
Key |
Action |
| Delete/Backspace | Delete the selected bone (and any child bones) |
| Spacebar | Bind points to selected bone |
| Up Arrow | Select parent of current bone |
| Down Arrow | Select child of current bone (only works if current bone has just one child) |
Working with the Timeline window |
|
Key |
Action |
| Alt+Backspace | Delete the selected keyframe(s) |
| Alt+C | Copy the selected keyframe(s) |
| Alt+V | Paste the previously copied keyframe(s) |
| Spacebar | Play/stop the animation |
| Page Up | When in graph mode, zoom in on the timeline - hold shift to move the graph up |
| Page Down | When in graph mode, zoom out from the timeline - hold shift to move the graph down |
| End | Auto-zoom the timeline, based on the active animation channel (when in graph mode) |
There are a few shortcuts that take advantage of the mouse, making work in Moho more convenient once you learn them.
The right mouse button can be used to navigate the main Moho workspace. Click and drag with the right mouse button to pan around the workspace. Hold the shift key while dragging with the right mouse button to zoom the workspace. Finally, if you hold down the control key while dragging with the right mouse button, you can rotate the workspace.
You can also zoom the workspace by rolling the mouse wheel back and forth over the workspace.
To scrub the timeline in small increments, hold the mouse over the timeline and roll the mouse wheel back and forth.
An easy way to make small adjustments in numeric text fields and angle knobs is to hold the mouse over the control and spin the mouse wheel back and forth. Of course, you can still enter values into a text field by typing them, but this method lets you make small adjustments and view the changes immediately.
When using the mouse wheel to modify the value in a text field, holding the <Ctrl> key halves the increment, holding <Shift> doubles the increment.
This feature may seem cute but unimportant. However, it's actually very useful when working with the tool info panels in Moho. By using the mouse wheel, you can see your changes take effect immediately. If you enter the number by hand, the change won't take effect until you press tab or enter. An especially helpful place to use this feature is when setting bone angle constraints - these numbers can be tricky to figure out, but spinning the mouse wheel you can see exactly what's happening.
Finally, you can adjust the value of a text field by dragging in it side-to-side with the right mouse button. With a regular mouse, the mouse wheel is probably more convenient, but this feature was added specifically for animators working with tablets. A drawing pen usually has no mouse wheel, so right-dragging allows you to adjust the value of a text field without having to switch back to the keyboard.