Day 11 / 38 – Moho
Good morning, afternoon, or evening—whatever time of day this post finds you! 😊
Day 11 puts us in tail-wagging territory. My little ducky didn’t have a visible tail, so simple kitty (with a tail) to the rescue to help me practice curvers.
Things to Know:
✔ Curvers
This also meant revisiting all the previous steps I learned to get a character rigged. Will call it a Day 10 refresher or, in instructional design terms, independent practice: working through a new (or similar task) task to reinforce understanding and retention.
Steps Before Moho
- Create character parts in Procreate
- Save file as a .psd
- Bring .psd into Photoshop and relabel/organize all parts
(Had to refresh this—definitely need a cheat sheet.) - Also thought about how I want my switch layers to work, and organizing in such a way that I can add more expressions later.
- Open .psd in moho
Also, I cheated (again) and used an outside resource to lower the “influence” of each bone, ends up it was a very easy tool. The Bone Strength Tool, to learn more 👀 Watch this video HERE. Life changing.
In Moho
Mastery
✅ can open a file for a new character
✅ can organize and understand group layers
✅ can convert a character to a bone layer
✅ can make all changes on frame 0
✅ can add bones to a character
✅ can select a bone (command B)
✅ can add a bone (command A)
✅ can demonstrate understanding of bone hierarchy
✅ can convert a layer to a switch layer
✅ can use a switch layer effectively
✅ can save a new Moho file
✅ can bind head elements to the head bone
✅ can unbind bones successfully
✅ can select time/frames on the timeline
✅ can apply phone physics to ears
Not Yet:
🛑 do not yet fully understand how and why to bind bones in situations with multiple bones (e.g., leg bones) – an important gap
🛑 cannot consistently bind pupils to new bones without reference
🛑 cannot reliably use command T (transform bone)
🛑 cannot consistently link bones correctly (must be on the actual layer, not the character layer)
🛑 need additional practice with smooth joint pair
🛑 sometimes grab the manipulate bones tool when transform is needed, and vice versa
🛑 need additional practice targeting bones for the paws (bone constraints)
Well, I successfully got simple kitty into Moho and realized something: even though I’ve learned a lot, there’s still plenty I’m not quite master of. some things came easily. others, like bone binding, moving joints, had me digging through files or rewatching videos.
I want to get to the point where I can rig simple characters without looking anything up. the “not yets” are the things that matter most, they’re the skills I need to really start rigging effectively. So I started making my own scaffolding to guide me through the next bone-rigging process, until it feels natural. One step at a time, until I don’t need the steps at all. Stay tuned, I will post that workflow checklist after I rig a couple of other characters (somewhat) successfully, as you can see for now I will keep working out the kinks .
” A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.”
— Phyllis Diller
Setting up & binding the Tail
- go to frame_0
- in the layers panel: click on the tail layer
- bind the tail to the pelvis bone
- in the draw tools panel: click on create a curve layer
- use the add point tool
- use the transform tool to adjust points so they follow the tail shape
- in the fill tool panel:
Animating the Tail
- go to frame_1+
- in the layers panel: select the tail (warp) layer
- begin animation:
- add points along the timeline to create tail movement
- in the fill tool panel:
- use the line width tool to make the tail wider or thinner as needed
- in the draw tools panel:
- use the bezier handles tool to adjust and refine the curve
- playback the animation
Day 11 — Afterthoughts
The tail ended up feeling a bit more snake-ish than whip cat-ish—not quite the motion I had in mind, but hey it’s moving. At a certain point, I just choose to move forward, “Done, not perfect.” I did spend some time experimenting with Actions (around the 7:20 mark, note to future me). Watching other Moho projects, it seems like this is a fundamental, often used skill. Will call this a first pass. The tail’s shape definitely added a special challenge with its curve, I often felt that I lost control of the animation. It makes me wonder if drawing a straighter tail would have led to a better result ??
Something to come back to, until then…
stay curvy. 🎬 nik
