Stop motion effect using Moho 13.5

[Meshy3]

Hi, I’m wanting to create a hand animated stop motion look using Moho 13.5. I’ll be creating my rigs using hand painted images scanned in and cut up into layers. Then using smart bones and mesh warps I’ll be animating my scene. But I want the final output to have a stop motion (on 2s) style. I’d also like to work on 24fps.
So….what is the best way to initially set up my Moho 13.5 project so I can preview and render out in 2s?

[synthsin75]

Above the timeline, there's an interval dropdown (next to the default interpolation) that allows you to select how the keyframes interpolate (on 1's, 2's, etc.). This will work with any interpolation except Copy Previous Key. And you can also set this for any selected keyframes in the Keyframe window. This will display in the workspace and renders.

[Meshy3]

When I do this it seems to work strange. For example, different parts of the rig move out of sync. They are all independently on 2s but not at the same time. The arms move and freeze but the body moves and freezes at the next frame so it’s effectively back on 1s.

[Meshy3]

Although I just noticed if I tick box Auto-freeze keys then it works better. What are the disadvantages of having that permanently enabled?

[synthsin75]

Yeah, interval interpolation is from the last keyframe. So if you have a key on frame 3 and a key on frame 4, on 2's will be out of sync. You'll want to keyframe only on either even or odd frames to animate on 2's.

Auto-freeze can make it harder for secondary/offset motions to follow through naturally. IMO, it's better for blocking out the broad strokes of an animation that you intend to make more passes on to refine without auto-freeze.

[Meshy3]

Ah cool, ok thanks for all your help!

[Greenlaw]

I don't normally use this feature but I just noticed something that might be helpful: If you use Use Previous Key as your Default Interpolation mode, you need to switch to another mode first before you can change the Interval frames number. After you change the Interval number, you can switch the Default back to Use Previous Key.

Maybe you already knew that but it was new to me.

[synthsin75]

I mentioned that above, but until I checked to answer this thread, I hadn't noticed it either. Like you, I don't really use intervals.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, shoot...you certainly did. Sorry, I skimmed the thread and missed that.