Moho Forum

I have recently started using Anime Studio 5 with my 8 year old son and with the help of the Kelly Murdoch official guide have been learning lots of stuff and generally having fun.

However we keep coming up against various frustrations most of which would appear to be much easier to solve in the Pro version due to limitations in the non-pro version so I think an upgrade will not be far away. I'm assuming that most people on this forum would suggest I do that straight away.

A particular problem we have at the moment is switching layers on and off as we are animating.

We have a character where we have created a front view and extra layers to transform the character into a rear view. As we can't use switch layers we have all the layers contained within (below) a bone layer as advised in the book. As we animate, at a certain point on the timeline we want to switch some layers off and turn on others. The changes are visible as we go forwards on the timeline but when played back we realise that the change we have made at a certain frame is also visible before, so we don't seem able to change the layers in any way whilst animating.

Can anyone tell us if there is an easy way around this as I have tried several options and nothing works, including duplicating the layers and trying to have 2 different versions of the character and trying to switch them with layer visibility.

Is this something we really need switch layers for or am I missing something.

Many thanks

Mike Ellis

Try double clicking on the layer you want to hide, then use the 'visible' box to hide/unhide the layer. That should work.

Welcome to the forum

Can't use switch layers?! Check the Product Comparision in the Help. It says switch layers are available in AS Standard.

Is it the vector lines (construction curves) that are remaining visible or the shape fills/outlines? Like Redeye mentioned, if you are using the 'eyes' checkbox in the layers window, this only effects visibility for the whole timeline. You can use the layer visibility checkbox within the layer settings ('...' button in the layer window), or just click the layer visibility animation channel on the timeline.

If you're having these sorts of problems I'd strongly suggest doing the Help tutorials first. Just reference that Product Comparision when in doubt of Pro only features.

Quick question, "Did you brake the first rule of using AS, and was drawing on some other frame than Zero?"

Dale

It is hard to tell exactly from the description how you want to turn layers on and off. Keep in mind the "eyeball" icon next to the layer is not an animated attribute. The visibility attribute is an animated property.

Switch layers DO work in the standard version. If you have a complete character with different views put them into a single switch layer. However you indicate that the character "transforms" from one view to another... not clear on how you want that to happen. A switch will "switch" one layer for another but you would need multiple switches if you want multiple elements to change.

To keep it simple just have one entire "view" of a character as a unit, in a bone layer. Put each bone layer inside a switch layer. You right click on the SWITCH layer to select which layer is visible.

------------

I can say from personal experience that the differences between "Standard" and "Pro" are small and would not effect your current problem. Some of the "big" missing features can be worked around.

The biggest things missing from the standard version:
No brushes
No group layer type (just use bone layers instead)
No menu scripts (just make them buttons in the tool scripts folder)

Other features missing are onion skin and the render option (must use Export Animation... in standard.) I think there is also a limit on the length of animations in standard.

-vern

Actually, the biggest thing missing from the standard edition is Actions. I can't live without them.

I upgraded to pro and found myself
enjoying the actions feature.

The scripting feature is interesting but I
lack the sophistication to really use much
of this stuff!

Oops! Actions! Forgot about actions. That is a big one. I don't use them as much as I should... or could.

-vern

One of the things missing from standard that I thought was pretty big was the colour pallette.

D.K