Day 12 / 38 – Moho
Here we are, Day 12 of 38. Took a little longer to get here.
Spring break happened.
The good kind, a few days off the grid with the guys, some sun on the skin, collected sand dollars like they were bit coin, and time stretched out just enough to forget the clock. Also, can you believe the last shot is of the moon !? This location is about 3 hours from my house, Sweet Home California. ☀️
Anyway, we’re about a third of the way in now. 32%, if you’re counting (I am). Starting to feel (a bit) more confident, maybe 25% competent at this point. Not quite comfortable, but definitely making progress. Today I took a small step back to move forward, revisiting Day 11 around the 7:20 mark to refresh how to create a new Action. It helped. I got a tail moving with a dial, which felt like a small win. More dials all around. Let’s dig in.
Things to Know:
✔ Basic Smart Bones
✔ Creating an Action
It made sense to me to teach this in three parts: first you get the bone ready, then you get the Action ready, then you animate. So the steps below are divided that way to make the process easier to follow. Hopefully you find it helpful.
1. Get the bone ready for action
- Go to frame_0
- Select the head bone
- Add a new bone (parented to the head bone)
- Name it head u-d (up/down)
- Switch to the Select bone tool
- Check on the Show Label (so you can see the bone names)
- Open Bone Constraints , check on Angle Constraints and set them to -90 to 90
2. Set up the new Action
- Select the bone you just created
- Open the Actions panel and click New Action
- Name the Action the same as the bone
- Click OK (the timeline will turn blue)
- In the timeline, when setting up an action give yourself more frames than you think you need to keep the motion smooth
- At frame_0, make sure the bone strength isn’t affecting other parts of the character
- Note: you should still be on the main character layer in the Layers panel Go to frame 96 (the Smart Bone duration) to begin setting up the second part of the Action
3. Animate the action
ANIMATE THE DOWN POSITION:
- Go to the Head Warp layer in the Layers panel
- Go to frame 96
- Move the control bone to the down position
- Use the Magnet Tool to adjust the cheeks down along with the bone
- Click and drag, repeating until the cheeks are in a down position you like
ANIMATE THE UP POSITION:
- Double-click Mainline in the Actions panel to exit the Action
- Go back to frame_0
- Go to your character layer
- Select the head control bone again
- Create a New Action
- Name it head u-d 2 (timeline turns blue)
- Go to frame 96
- Go to the Head Warp layer (in your layers panel)
- Use the Magnet Tool to move the cheeks up
- Click and drag, repeating until the cheeks are in an up position you like
TEST
- Double-click Mainline in the Actions panel to exit the Action
- Go to the Bone Layer (your main character layer)
- Move to frame_1+ or later
- Move the head control bone and watch the cheeks move up and down
- Test the motion to make sure the Smart Bone works as expected
You can also animate Actions for Switch Layers, though that’s something I’m still getting the hang of. Today, I stayed in my comfort zone and didn’t experiment with it, but I’m noting the time, 6:33, again for my future self when I’m ready to tackle it.
You can animate a Switch Layer using an Action in Moho.
Day 12 — Afterthoughts
I’m loving the little levers, more levers please! There’s something satisfying about moving that small control and getting some big results. The big takeaway this time is that Moho is really all about where you are in the timeline and the Layers panel.
Timeline: Depending on what you’re doing, you’ll either be on frame_0 OR frame_1+.
Layers Panel: you’ll either be on the bone layer (main character), on a regular layer in the layers panel, OR on a mesh layer further down.
It’s still not completely clear in my own head when you need to switch, but I’m realizing that’s the key, and probably what trips up most beginners: understanding the relationship between frames, layers, and what/where you can actually manipulate. The takeaway is simple: paying attention to your frame and layer context will save a lot of frustration as you build Smart Bones and Actions.
bend and snap.✨ nik
P.S.
I’m almost done with the cheat sheet up to this point.
It’s been so helpful.
Stay tuned.
