How do I change the layer orders when rotating a character

[My 0wn Style]

Okay, so I have a humanoid character. Each of the 2 arms of this humanoid character are in their own respective layers (a Left Arm layer and a Right Arm Layer). Similar things with the 2 legs. I also have a Body layer for the body (chest, abdomen, groin, etc.). By default, the character is facing forward (neutral front facing pose). How do I make it so that when the character is turning to the right, the Right Arm and Right Leg layers are now below the Body layer (meaning that they won't appear on top of the body). Similar sort of question when the body is turning to the left (Left Arm and Left Leg layers being below the Body layer)?

[slowtiger]

To use animated layer order the layers have to be in another layer (bone or group), and in that layer "animated layer order" must be activated (last tab).

[My 0wn Style]

Okay, so have some layers in Group layers, and when I try moving them out of those Group layers, they expand in size. Similar thing if I move stuff into those layers (except they shrink in size instead of expand). Why is that happening and is there a way to turn that off?

[slowtiger]

It appears that one of your group layers is scaled, so if you put something in or out it will change size. Usually it's recommended to not scale any layers while building a character because, as you see, it will cause trouble if you want to change stuff. Always scale your artwork inside the layer instead.

You can reset any layer's scaling in the top of the project window while using the manipulate tool.

[Greenlaw]

To add to the above, in general I never scale group layers at frame zero. Scaling a group is useful during animation but as you've seen, it can mess things up during rigging or whenever you need to move things in and out of the group.

The one exception I will make to the above rule is for the top-most group layer of the character. The reason this group exists is to position and scale the rig as a whole. Assuming everything inside will always stay inside this layer, I might move and size this group as needed even at frame 0. (Tip: move the origin of this group to the base of the rig and you can scale the group vertically to add secondary 'squash and stretch' to the character. I do this all the time for runs, walks, jumps, etc. It's cheap but effective.)

As for non-group layers, you can usually scale these layers without trouble but it's still best to work with the layers at 100% scale as much as possible. If you need to scale the vector art during rigging, it's better to scale the vector art directly than the layer.

[My 0wn Style]

Okay, it looks like when I was adjusting sizes, I was doing it at the Layer level and not the Draw level. Ugh. I'll have to fix that. Thanks for the advice

[Greenlaw]

It comes with experience...sometimes you need to do it the wrong way first to understand why it's wrong. (Trust me, I've done a lot of things the wrong way.)

BTW, I used the word 'rule' above but really it's more of a guideline since there will always be exceptions.

[My 0wn Style]

That's basically my goal with this animation I'm working on. I'm not shooting to make it a masterpiece. I'm using this as a learning experience.