Masking to individual layer WITHIN a group?

[Poptoogi]

I use masking A LOT with character designs and I've gotten pretty good at it but there is one thing that I can't figure out about it and that is to mask one individual layer to ONLY the layer directly under it but still be within a group of multiple layers but not subject to the very bottom layer of the group. It's hard to explain but I'll try. I have a character (a bear) with a head shape which is on the bottom of the group and needs to be on the bottom so the other components of the face are above it. I then have a muzzle (shape layer) which is basically the shape of the mouth area. It is independent of the head layer so it can move for head rotation purposes. I then have a switch mouth layer on top of the muzzle which is also independent because for the head rotation and tilting to look correctly they will have to be offset. So what I want to do is make the make the switch layer only appear on the muzzle and no where else because I want to deform them when rotating the head but the way the mouths are constructed, when they are moved to the side of the muzzle the edges overlap it. I can't combine layers because I need (or rather want) to use switch layers for the mouth. So the question is, can you mask individual layers be masked to a specific layer without having to use the very bottom layer as the mask? I know it sounds crazy as masking in anime studio it tricky already so this question might only be for uber users! LOL! If no one responds I might make a video so you guys can see what I mean! Any help is appreciated!!!

[slowtiger]

Of course you can!

The "bottom layer is mask" is just a convenient way to save you some settings because most basic masking doesn't need more. That's why this is applied automatically once you click masking on in the parent layer.

However, you can change masking settings of each and every layer in the group individually, and the mask doesn't have to be the bottom layer - it just has to be under the layer you want to mask.

All you have to do is to select "Don't mask this layer" in all layers which you don't want to mask.

[Poptoogi]

Freakin awesome slowtiger!

I got it to work just how I need it to!!! Thank you!