Masking layers inside another masking layer

[MatyMartel]

Hey there,

I have a question about masking layers and the order in which things get masked. In the example below, I'd like to mask the visor with the helmet, but I'd also like to have a sheen travel along the visor, which would obviously be masked by the visor, and the helmet. I assumed that I would be able to have the visor, and the sheen inside a layer group with it's own masking set, and then have that rest inside the helmet group with it's own masking. However it doesn't seem to work the way I would think, and the visor loses its masking of the helmet.

I've attached an example what what I'd like to happen, what is happening, and my layer order in the layer window.

I'm assuming this is possible, but I mustn't have the layer order, or masking properties set up correctly. Any insight would be great.

This is what is currently happening in my layer order:


This is my layer order:


This is the result I'm looking to get (this is photoshopped to look the way I want):

[Greenlaw]

Press Ctrl-R to see how it looks rendered. If it looks fine, you may want to just move on. The display preview for a masked group that contains a nested group that has its own masking enabled isn't going to display accurately but the setup typically renders just fine.

When I see this error, I ignore it. To see an example, look at my old Puss In Boots rig here....

https://vimeo.com/269815494?share=copy

In the demo segment at the beginning, notice that the eyes will drift outside the head region. This is because the eyes are masked within their own group, and Moho's display preview can't resolve this. Since this was only a display error that didn't affect my ability to animate the character or the final render results, I just ignored it.

BTW, Lost Marble is aware of this display error so hopefully we'll see a fix in the future.

[MatyMartel]

Press Ctrl-R to see how it looks rendered. If it looks fine, you may want to just move on. The display preview for a masked group that contains a nested group that has its own masking enabled isn't going to display accurately but the setup typically renders just fine.

Yep! It indeed renders fine. Thanks for that. In my brain I was doing the correct thing so it's good to know I wasn't wrong. Thanks!

[Greenlaw]

Glad that helped...or at least cleared up a mystery for you.

BTW, there are workarounds for getting a display preview to look the same as the rendering but, IMO, they're usually not worth the hassle.

For example, you can try breaking out the masking setups into multiple groups by duplicating or referencing masks to each group. You're basically simplifying the masking by making more 'self-contained' masks. This usually means adding a lot more layers and groups though.

Another approach is to make a reference rig of your entire character and change the layer settings in one of the rigs, so one rig looks correct for the display preview and the other rig is used for final rendering. In all the years I've been using Moho, I only had to take this approach onece, and it was because in this case the incorrect display preview did make it difficult to animate the character. But this was a very rare situation and I haven't had to do that since.