Parent without nesting?

john green · Post by **john green** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:15 pm

Hi All,

Is there a way to parent one layer to another without nesting layers in folders? If I render as a PSD sequence the resulting layer structure consolidates all the child layers into a flattened group. Is there a script or painless workaround?

Cheers,
John

Vagabond · Post by **Vagabond** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:27 am

Are you sure you don't want them in the same folder? Like a bone folder. So you can have each layer parented to its own bone. Then both those bones parented to one bone. That way you can move both layers as one regardless of how many layers are in between them in the stacking order.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:35 am

Sorry, I don't know any easy solution for that. Only rendering each layer separately or duplicating the whole layers and on each duplicate make invisible all inside layers except one.

john green · Post by **john green** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:49 am

Thanks guys for your replies.

Are you sure you don't want them in the same folder? Like a bone folder. So you can have each layer parented to its own bone. Then both those bones parented to one bone. That way you can move both layers as one regardless of how many layers are in between them in the stacking order.

Unfortunately, even when exporting to a PSD sequence, the sublayers within a bone folder are baked into a single layer. So, if you created and rigged a palm tree in Anime Studio Pro you would have to manually render each leaf and the trunk if you wanted to manipulate the individual layers in another program. Moving the project into After Effects requires manually rendering each layer and additional setup when I import into After Effects. If I have a project without nesting, I can render once and my layer structure is already set up in AE.[/quote]

Only rendering each layer separately or duplicating the whole layers and on each duplicate make invisible all inside layers except one.

Thanks, I've been doing both of those things. They're both pretty painful if you have to edit the animation down the line.

Not that I am about to undertake writing one, but I'm curious if there is anything about how Anime Studio is structured that would prohibit the creation of a script where a layer's scale, translation and rotation could control another layer.