Layer Order Question

[Greenlaw]

Hi,

A couple of nights ago I ran into a problem I hadn't seen before. I don't think this is a bug but I'm trying to understand what's happening.

I have a rigged character that uses SmartBones for a 180 degree turnaround and, for the scene I was working on, I inserted a prop layer within the character's layers for the character to hold. Part way through the animation, I needed to change the prop's layer order for proper body occlusion but ASP would not let me move the layer. As a test, I threw together a simple test rig and I was able to move an inserted layer and keyframe the order as normal--so the feature was working but I just couldn't do this within the actual character rig.

And before anybody asks, yes I do have Enable Animated Layer Order enabled in the character's rig group.

I haven't had time to get back to this issue for further testing but here's what I suspect: some of the character's SmartBones actions may be preventing me from using Animated Layer Order outside of the Actions because some the SmartBones Actions have layer order animations as part of their animations. In other words, I'm guessing that that ASP prevents the user from changing the Layer order so as not to disrupt the Layer Order animations built into a SmartBones Action.

Does this sound right? Thanks for any helpful insight on this issue.

BTW, I solved the problem by duplicating the character layers and simply placed the prop where I needed it to move in the duplicate; then I keyframed the visibility of the layers and toggled the 'fake' layer order change between them. Not the most elegant solution but it got the job done.

Anyway, I hope to take another look at the problem tonight.

G.

[synthsin75]

Yes, anything keyed in an active smart bone action will override any regular keyframes. This goes for layer order too.

[Greenlaw]

Thanks for confirming and for the additional explanation! Mystery solved.

G.