export position data from MOHO

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martin_mrt
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export position data from MOHO

Post by martin_mrt »

One of the first things I searched for when starting MOHO was a way to export point information (in my case to AfterEffects)
This would be very helpful for compositing.
It could work like this:
- you can choose a specific bone or bones.
- for this bones the screenposition is exported, ideally also a rotation information. Maybe even scale channel. (x,y would already be awesome. z could be a next step.)
- the format can be imported into other programmes and displays as Null, Locator etc.

Theres propably the chance that this already exists in some way and I just didnt find out yet, or that someone made a script for it. In that case im happy to be informed and sorry for stating obvious thiings. If not, It would be a cool feature to have :)
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Greenlaw
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Re: export position data from MOHO

Post by Greenlaw »

SimplSam has a script for copying and pasting camera data from Moho to Ae...

SS - After Effects Camera Export

I imagine it can be modified to work with other items, probably as nulls in Ae. That's how a similar script for a 3D program I use transfers data to Ae: I select the item in the 3D program, and Ae generates a null at the location in its 3D environment.

Moho has some limited FBX support, so that's a potential solution...but I haven't tested it. I've used FBX to exchange items between 3D animation programs and compositing programs like Nuke and Fusion, so I assume I can do something like that between Moho and those programs. (TBD.) However, Ae doesn't natively support FBX, so I'm unsure how well that would work. When I have time, I should look into that. I know there's at least one third-party plugin available for FBX support in Ae.

When I created my first Moho short Scareplane 10 years ago, I exchanged data between Moho, LightWave, and Fusion, but I don't think that version of Moho (Anime Studio 9, actually,) officially supported that kind of exchange, so I probably hacked my way around it. There are probably better ways to do this now.

Eventually, it would be cool to see full support for Moho to Ae, maybe like the plugin for Cartoon Animator to Ae.

Sorry for the meandering reply, but I hope it has some helpful info. :D
Last edited by Greenlaw on Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:59 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Greenlaw
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Re: export position data from MOHO

Post by Greenlaw »

I looked into Ae's 3D exchange support since I know Adobe has been working on that recently. In Ae 2024, they updated support for .obj and, according to their FAQ page, they...
...intend to enable more 3D model formats once the core 3D model import and rendering features are complete.
Some formats mentioned are FBX, Alembic, and USDM. That's exciting news (well, to me, anyway,) and it's about time, too! :D

The third-party FBX plugin I mentioned is here:

FBX to AE Pro

Hmm...yeah, I'm definitely going to test this soon. The FBX file format is capable of supporting 3D camera, bones, objects, lights, materials, and keyframe data. As mentioned earlier, Moho's FBX is limited, but I'm curious to see what it does support.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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martin_mrt
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Re: export position data from MOHO

Post by martin_mrt »

Oh wow, exciting!
Please let me know how your tests are going. :)
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Greenlaw
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Re: export position data from MOHO

Post by Greenlaw »

Will do! I just purchased the FBX to Ae plugin. TBH, I was surprised I didn't already own this. :)
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Greenlaw
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Re: export position data from MOHO

Post by Greenlaw »

Shoot...that FBXtoAe plugin appears to be broken with Ae 2024 and Ae Beta. I'm waiting to hear from the developer.

In the meantime, I'm looking into other strategies for getting Moho FBX data to Ae. The idea I have now involves importing the Moho FBX to a 3D animation program that has a built-in data exchange link to Ae. But that might be impractical for ordinary production use.

I believe there are more direct solutions for this, though. I'll check my notes and let you know.
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Greenlaw
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Re: export position data from MOHO

Post by Greenlaw »

Oh, I just remembered: in addition to PonySmasher's Camera_to_Ae Moho script mentioned at the SS Camera Export script description page at the link I posted earlier, there is a companion Moho script called Layer_to_Ae. This should give you another piece of the puzzle.

You can download PonySmasher's Moho tools from his website: https://dauid.com/

Click on the Other link for the Moho Scripts download.

I'm unaware of anything for bones or nulls at bone locations, though. That could be super useful for tracking effects to imported Moho renders in Ae.
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