Multiple fills - Are they necessary?

[Poptoogi]

I've seen this question a lot and I myself have had issues with this myself and was wondering, is there a reason a shape or strokes have the ability to be filled with more than one color? I'm not sure what the real purpose or benefit of this is. I only ask because I've seen many cases where this option often messes up rendering and causes the dreaded "white lines of doom" or slight glitches on how colors render. I mean, it's not horrible issue but I just wanted to know the function of this and is there a way to tell AS to not allow more than one color on individual shapes and fills. Any thoughts or just an explanation on why this is would be great!

[Greenlaw]

It's usefulness depends on how you want to set up and use your styles. For example, if the top style has transparent areas, the underlying style will be revealed through it. Imagine a style with a texture map made of scribbles, where the 'paper' is clear. The underlying style might be a paper texture. This allows you to change the 'paper' while preserving the 'scribbles' (or vice versa.) Naturally, if the top style is fully opaque, you won't see the underlying style, so using multiple styles in this situation may seem pointless. Another use might be to mix a style that only has a stroke with a style that only has a fill.

That's two I can think of off the top of my head. I"m sure there are other applications for multiple styles--typically, you'll figure it out a use when you need it.

Basically, having multiple Styles gives you another level for mixing style properties, beyond mixing within the individual styles. Most of the time you probably won't need this feature but if your scenes have very complex shading, you'll be glad to have this flexibility. (I know I'm glad for it with the project I'm on now.)

G.

[hayasidist]

and when (if) we get blend modes at the shape level rather than just the layer level ...

[Greenlaw]

I agree, that would be very useful.

G.