Day 28 / 38 – Moho
Interestingly, this lesson focuses on the Timeline, an interesting choice considering we’ve already been using it for much of the course.
Instead of throwing us straight into the technical weeds, the course teaches the Timeline through use first: repetition, experimentation, and a few (or a bit more than a few) mistakes. By the time the “official” Timeline lesson arrives, you already have quite a bit of experience with the tool.
It’s very much a learn-by-doing approach, and honestly, nearing the three-quarter mark of the Moho lessons, I’m not sure I would’ve stuck with the course if we’d started deep in Timeline from day one. Three cheers for scaffolding, experiential learning, and cognitive apprenticeship!
Things to Know:
✔ Timeline Navigation
Sadly, even though I spent loads of time in Moho, I do not have much to show this week. I had the classic moment of thinking, “He made a car, so why can’t I make a car?” Of course, I also made the equally classic mistake of not making it easy on myself. I went full messy-vector-style with it, and, unsurprisingly, it became… well… a mess. The smoke was fun though (see Youtube tutorial below).
Timeline
Intervals
It tells Moho exactly how long a drawing should stay still before it changes.
- Interval of 1: The drawing changes on every single frame. This makes the movement look super smooth, like a modern 3D movie.
- Interval of 2: The drawing holds still for two frames before changing. This creates a slightly snappy, “crunchy” look, like anime or classic Disney cartoons.
- Interval of 3: The drawing holds still for three frames. The animation looks even more retro and stylized.
“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”
― Mark Twain
Smoke in Moho
This was a bit of fun and very easy to follow.
Day 28— Afterthoughts
Going with the theme of messy projects teach valuable lessons. I spent way way too much time on this, getting nowhere. Mostly learned, moving parts is infinitely easier when elements live on separate layers , I learned the hard way with the lines, paint, and license plate. However, I really wish I had approached the bumper the same way.
At a certain point, I just quit messing with it and decided to move on. I could have kept tweaking forever, and I’ll be honest: the perfectionist part of me wanted to start all over and try to perfect it. However, I am still trying to learn perhaps the biggest lesson of all: sometimes you just need to let go to get anywhere.
Finished-ish 🙂
Nik
