Shy Shapes??

[striker2311]

Hey guys,
I have a question that is there a way to hide shapes just like shy bones and shy points (from an external script). Anything from which we can hide a particular shape from many within a layer only.
If anyone knows any tricks, please tell me. Dealing with many shapes within the same layer is making my workflow quite confusing.


This pic is just as an example- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DL35_V ... sp=sharing

[Greenlaw]

Unfortunatley, Hide Shape and Show All Shapes isn't keyframeable, plus I don't think it keeps track of which shapes have it assigned like Shy Bone does for bones.

So i used a Smart Bone Action to toggle shape visibility. Inside the Action, just keyframe the selected shape's Style>Color>Alpha to go to 0. If you want it to toggle on/off, set the Style's keyframe interpolation to Step.

[striker2311]

Unfortunatley, Hide Shape and Show All Shapes isn't keyframeable, plus I don't think it keeps track of which shapes have it assigned like Shy Bone does for bones.

So i used a Smart Bone Action to toggle shape visibility. Inside the Action, just keyframe the selected shape's Style>Color>Alpha to go to 0. If you want it to toggle on/off, set the Style's keyframe interpolation to Step.

Yeah, Greenlaw, currently I guess there is nothing that keeps track of which shapes were assigned like you said Shy Bones.
There was actually a script which hides points, (its author is Stan)

I dont want shy shapes to animate the shapes but i want it so that i can hide the shape and bind the points to the bones efficiently and fast.

[SimplSam]

There was a script that provided an update to the Select Shape tool features that allows you to show/hide shapes more easily (last updated 2021). I believe it also uses Alpha (as previously discussed).

https://mohoscripts.com/script/ae_select_shape

[striker2311]

There was a script that provided an update to the Select Shape tool features that allows you to show/hide shapes more easily (last updated 2021). I believe it also uses Alpha (as previously discussed).

https://mohoscripts.com/script/ae_select_shape

Thanks SimplSam, this script is awesome like i had wanted, it is hiding the shapes within the same layer, however it isn't working for the shapes for which the styles is created like in those Style 1 and Style 2 option.
is there a way to fix that? It would be great to know if there will be anything.

[Daxel]

Thanks SimplSam, this script is awesome like i had wanted, it is hiding the shapes within the same layer, however it isn't working for the shapes for which the styles is created like in those Style 1 and Style 2 option.
is there a way to fix that? It would be great to know if there will be anything.

That script is one of my favourites, totally necesary. Select all, select from points, and the on/off... everything should be native.

And yeah the limitation you mentioned about changing shape visibility using alpha bites my ass every day and I don't have any workarround. I just force the colors using the checkmark at the right of the colors in the style panel, so I lose the saved style functionality, so if later on I want to change or animate the saved style I have to manually do it for every shape with forced colors.

To solve this, I would love if we had a shape visibility channel independent of the style. I thought I wrote a proposal for that, but I can't find it so I guess I didn't.

Now that I read your posts again, I see you are not actually looking for visibility animation but more like how shy bones work. The closest I can think of is to use the hide shape feature along with the groups of points feature: select the points of the shapes you want to make shy, then save those points as a "shy shapes hair" group for example. When you want to turn them on/off, now you only have to use the group to select all those points, then go to the select shapes script tool to click on select by points, and then you can use the shortkey for hide shapes. Not perfect, but is the closest I can think of.

[striker2311]

Now that I read your posts again, I see you are not actually looking for visibility animation but more like how shy bones work. The closest I can think of is to use the hide shape feature along with the groups of points feature: select the points of the shapes you want to make shy, then save those points as a "shy shapes hair" group for example. When you want to turn them on/off, now you only have to use the group to select all those points, then go to the select shapes script tool to click on select by points, and then you can use the shortkey for hide shapes. Not perfect, but is the closest I can think of.

Thanks Daxel, That sounds like it could work out however, I dont know where is this hide shape feature, can u please guide me on that? It will be a great help

[Daxel]

Thanks Daxel, That sounds like it could work out however, I dont know where is this hide shape feature, can u please guide me on that? It will be a great help

Yes, Hide shape and show all shapes are options you can find on Drawing, at the bar at the top, next to Archive and Edit.

I have custom shortcuts for Hide shape (Alt+U) and Show all shapes (Ctrl+U).

[Greenlaw]

Ooo! I was completely unaware of this tool. I will have to check this out.

Thanks for the tip SimplSam!

[striker2311]

Thanks Daxel, That sounds like it could work out however, I dont know where is this hide shape feature, can u please guide me on that? It will be a great help

Yes, Hide shape and show all shapes are options you can find on Drawing, at the bar at the top, next to Archive and Edit.

I have custom shortcuts for Hide shape (Alt+U) and Show all shapes (Ctrl+U).

Wooowww, this is great you know i didnt know anything about that tool. This works perfectly. Thanks Daxel

[Greenlaw]

Now that I read your posts again, I see you are not actually looking for visibility animation but more like how shy bones work.

Thanks for clarifying this Daxel. I re-read my earlier post and it appears to suggest that Shy Bones is keyframeable, which it isn't of course. Sorry for any confusion that might have caused anyone.

I'll try out your suggestion for 'shy-ing' Shapes. I never used the commands with the Groups options, and it sounds like will do the trick.

(Which reminds me: I would still like to see Bone Groups and the ability to keyframe bone visibility (single and group.) I love Vitruvian Bones because it addresses some of the reasons I wanted these features but not all of them. Just another item for the wishlist.)