Video presented question about masking in FBF

[sargumphigaus]

Okay, this is really driving me nuts. So nuts, that I made a video to help show you what I'm dealing with. I asked this question earlier, but I can't help but feel that the technicality jargon is a little difficult to follow. So I'm just going to provide you with a video and show you what I'm dealing with.




The sooner I climb this mountain, the sooner I can animate. I have big plans fort his this feature. BIG plans....if I can get it to work that is...

[synthsin75]

You show creating a fill layer, but there is already one in the template. Is there anything on the existing fill layer?

[braj]

You are trying to shade on your new Fill layer, is that right? FRom what I can tell, you likely have that layer set to 'add to mask' not 'mask this layer'. The layer that you want to use as shading has to be set to 'mask this layer' the layers that define the mask need to be set to 'Add to mask'. I'm doing just about what you are doing and it works fine for me.

Regarding the weird square, the largest item that is in your 'add to mask' layers will define an invisible square that marks the boundary of your mask. I think you just need to make sure your layers are masked correctly is all. I don't think it is a bug, I'm not seeing that here.

[sargumphigaus]

You show creating a fill layer, but there is already one in the template. Is there anything on the existing fill layer?

From what I have gathered, I think he adds the brand new fill layer to establish a definitive shape for that fill. The fill beneath, the one that already exists serves as a fill for anything beneath that, should the image dictate the need.

You are trying to shade on your new Fill layer, is that right? FRom what I can tell, you likely have that layer set to 'add to mask' not 'mask this layer'. The layer that you want to use as shading has to be set to 'mask this layer' the layers that define the mask need to be set to 'Add to mask'. I'm doing just about what you are doing and it works fine for me.

Regarding the weird square, the largest item that is in your 'add to mask' layers will define an invisible square that marks the boundary of your mask. I think you just need to make sure your layers are masked correctly is all. I don't think it is a bug, I'm not seeing that here.

I'm trying to shade over the fill layer with a different layer. It is indeed set to mask this layer. The thing is, there are no large vectors in anything that are set to add to mask. those files are absolutely empty. There is nothing to define the mask except for what I provide in the fill...and yet this square still reigns supreme. It's a ghost. My copy of AS11 is haunted...and like I said in my stuttering rants and raves, I recreated the settings similarly. What i've gathered is that when you mask in fbf, there is a a definitive boundary that surrounds the vectors. If you make a long line, a rectangle appears around it. If you make a short, a square appears, if you coerce them, a square with a rectangle cutting through it appears. Its like an outline, but I don't want an outline, I want the vector itself to be the mask...It's a ghost. only explanation...or it has to be a setting in the preferences...it has to be something...

[sargumphigaus]

I swear to god, this program is trolling me...I created a new from scratch without using Chucky's template...and it worked...this time The Fill layer is the only layer set as "Add to mask" with everything else set to "Mask this layer" When I click on fill, the file that is established as the mask, all the other layers act accordingly...but when click on everything else, the square of doom comes back...dude, this has to be a bug. This is like working with a blindfold on.

edit: fixed incorrect terminology

[braj]

Your first line drawing is defining the mask area, no? It may be only a line, but it is added to the mask an defining the total masked area.

[braj]

I think that box also has something to do with a shape being selected, if I hit escape it disappears.

Edit: Now I'm confused and I don't know what the hell is going on myself!

[synthsin75]

I think that box also has something to do with a shape being selected, if I hit escape it disappears.

Edit: Now I'm confused and I don't know what the hell is going on myself!

If that is the case, try enabling the "Checker selection" checkbox in the style window and see if the selected shape still causes that.

[sargumphigaus]

So we have a solution. It was the GPU acceleration. It was messing with the system. Evidently AS11 doens't take too kindly to the radeon r9 290 series. Either way, I clicked on the bottom right tab down there and deactivated it and boom. Problem solved.

If that is the case, try enabling the "Checker selection" checkbox in the style window and see if the selected shape still causes that.

I am open to trying that...but unfortunately I'm having a hard time finding this "Checker selection" when i click on styles, I just get...styles....


anyways, solution: Kill the GPU accelerator, and you kill the ghost square of unparalleled terror.''

edit: Never mind I found it. As it turns out, checker selection does absolutely nothing to kill the ghost square. only disabling gpu acceleration will stop this from happening. And that's cool and all, but the problem now is when I use brushes without gpu acceleration, the software dies......

edit #2: I found out that If you go to preference and shut gpu function off entirely, then the brushes will work again, you just have to hit ctr+r to check the progress every once and awhile to see how the aesthetics are coming out. which is fine given this is how I've been doing it for years anyways. I can live with this. yeah, it's a bummer it has to work this way, but whatever. I'm so tired of getting my ass handed to me by the technicalities of this bug loaded software, I just want to animate. I'll settle for this....until I come across the next progress obliterating situation that ties me up for another couple of weeks...and if that happens, I'm rage quitting AS11 all together and switching to flash. That program at least...uh...functions as advertised.

edit #3: Sorry dude, i'm just frustrated. I've had a short fuse as of lately. the odds of me switching are extremely low.

[chucky]

Make sure the top of the group in the template is set to 'Hide all', not reveal all.
I have to say , radeons aren't really the card for this type of stuff, I looked yours up and as a game card it's better than my desktop's card (nvidia gtx 760) , but it seems to be operating in this context much like the onboard graphics in a five year old tablet that I have, not a desktop rigged for animation.
A newer gtx would be cheaper than flash surely, but first check out the drivers, maybe an update would do it.
Also if Smith Micro gets a bug report about this, a patch will no doubt be available for automatic download really soon, they just can't test every hardware and software configuration on the planet during beta testing.

[chucky]

Have you tried to render it ?
This looks like a display bug definitely, if you want to use brushes though go for the best and newest gtx you can afford.

I want to upgrade my card too, brushes are pretty demanding.

[synthsin75]

So we have a solution. It was the GPU acceleration. It was messing with the system. Evidently AS11 doens't take too kindly to the radeon r9 290 series. Either way, I clicked on the bottom right tab down there and deactivated it and boom. Problem solved.

I just ran into the same problem on my new laptop (Windows 8.1, i7 quad core, Geforce graphics, etc.). I just found that I can right-click the AS icon and select "Run with graphics processor", where integrated graphics is apparently set as default. I changed the default for AS and now the Masking used in Chucky's FBF template works great with the GPU enabled.

Might try that.