Software:Moho

Short description: Vector-based animation software

Moho

Developer(s)	Lost Marble LLC
Stable release	Win: 14 / Mac: 14 / September 12, 2023 (2023-09-12)
Written in	C++, Lua
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Type	Animation software
License	Proprietary, Trialware
Website	mohoanimation.com

Moho (previously marketed as Anime Studio) is a proprietary vector-based 2D animation application distributed by Lost Marble LLC. It has two distinct packages: Moho Pro and Moho Debut. Moho Debut is similar to the pro version, but with restricted features.

History

The software was originally developed under the name "Moho" in 1999 by Mike Clifton at Lost Marble. The software was distributed by E Frontier until 2007, when it was acquired by Smith Micro and renamed Anime Studio.

In 2010, Smith Micro released Anime Studio 7, which added features such as Physics, 3D creation and an improved interface.

In 2011, Anime Studio 8 added features such as the Character Wizard, layered Photoshop import, and real-time media connection. Version 8.1 also supported the new Poser 9 SDK and integrated the Wacom multi-touch API, allowing it to work natively with Wacom's Bamboo and Intuos tablets.

In 2012, Smith Micro released Anime Studio 9, with new features including Smart Bones, Editable Motion Graphs, and Bézier handles, as well as enhancements to the timeline, key frames, and onionskins.

In 2014, Anime Studio 10 contained upgraded features and new mechanics to its predecessor.

In 2015, Anime Studio 11 added frame-by-frame animation, layer referencing, animated shape ordering, enhanced tools and brushes, JSON file format support, and other features.

In 2016, Anime Studio was rebranded as its original name Moho by Smith Micro Software to reflect the software's ability to create more animated content than anime.

In 2016, Moho 12 was released with Pin Bones, optimized Bézier handles, improved free hand tools, Smart Warp, real motion blur, and more. Moho Pro 12 was released in August 2016. In October 2016, Moho became available for the Microsoft Surface Studio. Smith Micro worked with Microsoft to develop Moho functionality for the Surface Dial peripheral. This feature set enabled users to create animations more quickly and easily through functions such as a new overlay timeline, rigged characters, rotating canvases and frame-by-frame animation.

In June 2019, Moho 13 introduced new bitmap tools, including bitmap frame to frame capabilities, and re-engineered 3D objects support.

On 22 December 2020, it was announced that the Moho 2D animation software had been acquired by Lost Marble LLC, a company founded by Mike Clifton, the original creator of Moho, and Victor Paredes, Supervisor of Moho animation at Cartoon Saloon and former Moho Product Manager.

On 26 April 2021, Lost Marble LLC released Moho 13.5, with new features including Vitruvian Bones, Wind Dynamics and Quad meshes, as well as a slightly refreshed User Interface.

On 12 September 2023, Lost Marble LLC released Moho 14, with new features including New Graphics Engine, Improved Drawing and Frame-by-frame Tools, Liquid Shapes, Curvers, New Freehand Styles, Smart Line Boil, Easier Follow Through and Overlapping with Dynamics, Delayed Constraints, Updated Scripting Interface, Better Timeline and Frame-by-frame animation, Improved SVG Import and Improvements to the User Interface.

Version	Release Date	Publisher	Improvements/features
1.0	1999	LostMarble	Initial release
5.6	2006	LostMarble	Introduction of lip-synching; Flash output; improved text, Illustrator import, vector drawing tools
6.0	June 9th, 2009	Smith Micro	Built-in lip-syncing and sequencer; improved interface
6.1	September 22nd, 2009	Smith Micro	Upload to Facebook; French and German versions; ability to enter non-English characters in text fields.
7.0	June 9th 2010	Smith Micro	Improvements to physics, 3D creation, and interface
7.1	October 13th 2010	Smith Micro	Contains several fixes including switch layer fix
8.0	June 8th, 2011	Smith Micro	Character wizard, layered Photoshop import, and real-time media connection; support for Poser 9 SDK; integrated Wacom Multi-touch API
8.1	July 7th, 2011	Smith Micro	Fixes to the Library window, mouse focus, window-location memory, stroke construction when welding curves closed, some layer masking issues, auto-save issues that cause bone rigs to occasionally reset themselves
9.0	September 10th, 2012	Smith Micro	Features include smart bones, editable motion graphs, Bézier handles, enhancements to the timeline, key frames, and onionskins
9.1	October 22nd, 2012	Smith Micro	Fixed a problem where deleting a style could sometimes lead to a crash; fixed issue related to specifying a user-content location on first launch; rendered RLE AVI now imports properly into AS; revamped script management
9.2	January 9th, 2013	Smith Micro	Updated the English manuals for both Debut and Pro; changes can be applied to multiple layers; added buttons to reveal source images and audio; fixed Lua DLL module loading
9.5	August 12th, 2013	Smith Micro	Smart Bones enhancements; nested Layer controls with more hierarchical control over rigs; flexi-binding isolate tshe influence of bones; depth shifting helps preserve the size of objects; viewing of real-time changes on the canvas; switch layer enhancements
10.0	March 6th, 2014	Smith Micro	Updated content library with free characters, props, scenes, enhanced drawing tools, multiple document support, combined bone tools, combined point tools, point hiding, edit multiple Layers simultaneously, and automatic updates
10.1	July 25th, 2014	Smith Micro	The application now runs in English, German, or Spanish; fixed over 200 bugs; layers can be copied and pasted between documents; added an image layer cropping tool
10.2	October 13th, 2014	Smith Micro	Several bug fixes (no blog post to specify exact features or fixes)
10.3	March 25th, 2014	Smith Micro	Several bug fixes (no blog post to specify exact features or fixes)
11.0	June 3rd, 2015	Smith Micro	Vector-based draw, paint and fill tools, bone rigging, animation timeline, audio recording, sound effects, and improved lip-syncing
11.1	July 15th, 2015	Smith Micro	Several bug fixes (no blog post to specify exact features or fixes)
11.2	January 4th, 2016	Smith Micro	Added a tool to sketch bones; added additive cycles; many bug fixes
12.0	August 4th, 2016	Smith Micro	Bone-rigging, timeline, enhanced drawing tools, improved audio recording, sound effects, automatic lip-synching, beginner's mode, character wizard, automatic image tracing, path tool, motion tracking, multi-touch support, multiple document support
12.1	October 18th, 2016	Smith Micro	New 4K ultra HD and 4K digital cinema dimension presets; improved smoothing for freehand strokes; many bug fixes
12.2	November 15th, 2016	Smith Micro	Added support for Microsoft Surface Studio and Surface Dial, new Layer Comps window, fixed bug where sometimes PSD layers were lost, fixed bug where a duplicated vector layers didn’t show Bezier handles
12.3	September 10th, 2017	Smith Micro	Ability to paste images from the clipboard to create new image layers, new document preferences and bug fixes
12.4	November 23rd, 2017	Smith Micro	Switch layer interpolation now works on nested layers (group and switch); re-sync all channels; triangulated mesh layers now have a distinct layer icon for easy distinction; several bug fixes
12.5	October 4th, 2018	Smith Micro	Many bug fixes (no blog post to specify exact features or fixes)
12.5.1	November 14th, 2018	Smith Micro	Bug fix release for Mac only to support changes in macOS 10.10 and above
13.0	June 25th, 2019	Smith Micro	Introduced improved bitmap tools including bitmap brushes and frame by frame support, as well as improved handling of 3D objects
13.0.1	August 20th, 2019	Smith Micro	Multiple bug fixes
13.0.2	September 26th, 2019	Smith Micro	Bug fixes and usability improvements
13.5	April 26th, 2021	Lost Marble LLC	Introduced Vitruvian Bones, Wind Dynamics, Quad meshes, UI refresh, bug fixes and usability improvements. The 13.5 release was based on an upgrade from Moho 12.5, and thus regressed some of the new incomplete features (Bitmap tools, enhanced Actions, new 3D object engine) introduced in the earlier Moho 13 release.
13.5.1	June 25th, 2021	Lost Marble LLC	New options to create masks. New Blending modes “Soft Light" and "Color Dodge" to improve the compatibility with Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and other graphic software. Bug fixes.
13.5.2	November 9th, 2021	Lost Marble LLC	Improved Photoshop PSD file handling - faster, more stable, and more flexible than ever with support for layer masks. Enhanced video and audio media import and export. Live Mesh creation and Auto-triangulation. Deep Frame Copy/Paste. New 13.5 Characters added to the Library. Bug fixes and other usability improvements.
14.0	September 12th, 2023	Lost Marble LLC	Introduced New Graphics Engine, Improved Drawing and Frame-by-frame Tools, Liquid Shapes, Curvers, New Freehand Styles, Smart Line Boil, Easier Follow Through and Overlapping with Dynamics, Delayed Constraints, Updated Scripting Interface, Better Timeline and Frame-by-frame animation, Improved SVG Import and Improvements to the User Interface.

Notable uses

Feature films

• Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss (Phil Nibbelink Productions) - 2006
• To the Top of the World (Cine-Clube de Avanca)
• The Secret of Kells (Cartoon Saloon) - 2009
• Technotise: Edit & I (Yodi Movie Craftsman; Black, White & Green studio) - 2009
• Song of the Sea (Cartoon Saloon) - 2014
• The Breadwinner (Cartoon Saloon) - 2017
• Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon) - 2020
• My Father's Dragon (Cartoon Saloon) - 2022

Short films, TV and Web series

• Club Baboo (Frame Order)
• Puffin Rock (Cartoon Saloon) - 2015
• Pete the Cat (Amazon Studios) - 2018
• Jay’s Life on YouTube (Kartoon Management)
• Barry Tales on YouTube (Kartoon Management)
• Lil’ Ron Ron on YouTube (Cartoon Connect)
• Phungus & Mowld on Amazon Prime Video (Pixelblast Animation) - 2020

See also

• List of 2D animation software
• Manga Studio

External links

• Moho (Anime Studio) - Official Page
• Lost Marble LLC - Official Page
• Moho (Anime Studio) Forum - Official Page
• Moho (Anime Studio) Tutorials
• Moho Scripting - Scripting Documentation