Ordering layers

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mangiok
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Ordering layers

Post by mangiok »

I am trying to changes layers and everything just scrambles, is this an issue to be fixed or am I missing something?
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jahnocli
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by jahnocli »

You have to put the layers you want to swap inside a Group layer.
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
mangiok
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by mangiok »

Go I create a group layer in Frame 0?
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Greenlaw
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by Greenlaw »

Check the position of the layers at frame 0. If they're not at 0, 0, 0, and you're changing the hierarchy of layers, child layers could jump around because the positioning is relative to the parent's position.

If you notice that the layers are not consistently being created at 0, 0, 0, check your preferences for an option called Auto Center New Layers. This option centers new layers relative to the camera's position, so if you've moved your camera, new layers will be created off from the default position. You may want to turn this 'feature' off--IMO, it's just annoying. This option is on by default and it made me nuts for the longest time until another user explained to me what was going on.

Re: moving layers only at 0, yes...normally anyway. If you have Enable Animated Layer Order switched on (in Layers Settings - Depth Sort), your layer order will be keyframed and will switch during the animation (or during an action if you set it up that way.) This is an incredibly useful feature but if you happen to have it on by mistake and are unaware of it, it can hose you're scene. Normally, this shouldn't be a problem because the feature is off by default but check the settings for your parent layer if you're not sure.

G.
steveryan2
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by steveryan2 »

In addition to putting your layers in a Group Layer (or Bone Layer), you must also double-click the group layer, select the Depth Sort tab, and check "Enable animated layer order".

I had some trouble with this myself. I was doing everything correct but it wasn't working. I got out of Anime Studio, and rebooted my machine and that cleared it up.
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braj
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by braj »

I'm not exactly sure but I think there is some weird display bug in 10.1, I have changed layer order in a smartbone action and had some of the layers display very tiny, so all of a sudden you basically don't see the head layer, or a foot, but rendering will display the whole character as expected, most of the time at least. Closing the app and relaunching seems to help. I don't know if this is what the OP is seeing too.
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heyvern
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by heyvern »

braj wrote:I'm not exactly sure but I think there is some weird display bug in 10.1, I have changed layer order in a smartbone action and had some of the layers display very tiny, so all of a sudden you basically don't see the head layer, or a foot, but rendering will display the whole character as expected, most of the time at least. Closing the app and relaunching seems to help. I don't know if this is what the OP is seeing too.
Are the layers image layers? I remember there was an issue with image layers and memory resources creating problems like that. Lots of big image layers would sometimes not display correctly.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by Greenlaw »

That seems to be the case when working on our latest project. I'm using bitmap textures as fills and lines on characters and props, and sometimes the OGL preview in high quality mode gets a bit flaky. When rendering, though, the image looks fine.

When animating, I now set the preview to lower quality so I don't see the OGL errors.

G.
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braj
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by braj »

@ heyvern, no, it was vector layers.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by Greenlaw »

Mine are vector layers too, I'm just using images as fill textures. Maybe it's a general memory issue, not specifically bitmap related? Just wondering but do you have a lot of points in the scene or maybe lots of transparency? Basically, anything that might demand more memory from the graphics card?

G.
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braj
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Re: Ordering layers

Post by braj »

Greenlaw wrote:Mine are vector layers too, I'm just using images as fill textures. Maybe it's a general memory issue, not specifically bitmap related? Just wondering but do you have a lot of points in the scene or maybe lots of transparency? Basically, anything that might demand more memory from the graphics card?

G.
That could be the issue, I have a cheap laptop, I am not sure if it happens on my desktop as I am using the laptop most of the time. The scenes aren't that complex I don't think, but definitely I could render some things to pngs just to be more efficient. My feeling is it stops resizing the layers at some point in the preview. It would make sense that restarting would help, as it would free up memory. I also need to start closing other apps religiously when working in AS, at least to avoid distractions if not dramatically improve performance.
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