combine styles

[slowtiger]

In short: styles work as they should, but only if I'm really really careful while creating and applying, and obey the order of doing things very strictly. Do it in the wrong sequence, and it will not work.

(This is something to criticise: any feature in a software depending too much on a user's ability to remember and apply complex manoeuvres is a broken feature - it's not user friendly.)

[Nicohk92]

I didn't mean that the style function is defective, just that it is very complicated to me and leads in my case so far to lots of headaches.

I read the above post and still can't figure out how you'd copy and paste the settings of a style onto a shape without that shape taking the style (but only the settings). If you don't mind could you give me a quick step by step?

I'm a little slow today, that may be it.

[slowtiger]

You can't copy all the settings of a style at once. Instead, you need to open that style, write down (or memorize) all the valus, and apply these to another shape.

A more convenient way is to open one style and save it with a different name.

[Nicohk92]

That's unfortunate.


Here's the case I was pulling my hairs over.


I set a style for some bushes in my scene. At some point, one bush ends up being further away from the camera so I nedded to change its color (lighter/bluer).
So I thought I would create a new style just for that bush and change the colors of that style at that moment in time.

So I went to frame 0, made a circle (to be sure to start fresh), manually entered the same settings as the other style, and gave it another name.

Then I went back to the part in question, changed the bush's style to the new one, and tried to do the color change with the window in style mode. It didn't create new keyframes. after a few different tries, I finally found some shape effect keyframes but they were impossible to delete.
Overall it was just not working for me so I decided to not give that bush a style at all and just go manually.

But before I could do that I had the hardest time getting my item back to normal and I wasted time trying to figure out how to copy style settings (ended up doing it by hand)

Now that I'm writing this, I think maybe my mistake was to change the item's style on the timeline and not at 0.


In any case I agree that although the concept is great, style is not user friendly, opens the door to huge mistakes and doesn't reach the full potential of the idea. I hope I'll get to be as versed in it as some of us sometime soon.

[slowtiger]

So you're aiming to create an Aerial perspective to enhance depth in your background. Alright, I'd do that completely different (and much simpler):

I'd put several bushes within a group layer, along with a piece of ground. Within every group layer I'd create another vector layer with a blueish-white rectangle covering everything. I'd then use the artwork as mask like this:
- group layer (hide all)
- - white shape (mask this layer)
- - bush 1 (add to mask)
- - bush 2 (add to mask)
- - ground (add to mask)

or even better (and rendering faster):
- group layer (hide all)
- - white shape (mask this layer)
- - group layer (add to mask)
- - - bush 1
- - - bush 2
- - - ground

Now I'd experiment with opacity and layer transfer mode of that white layer in each level of background. You could even have a gradient there.

[Nicohk92]

not a bad idea.

Actually all was already set up. This was just a quick fix cause I changed my mind half way about about something. But I never thought of using masks, it's pretty cool.

I'll post a rough cut probably tomorrow so you can see

[heyvern]

Dale,

In your video the shape you are applying the style to with the paint bucket ALREADY HAS 2 STYLES APPLIED. There is already a "default style" ready to go from whatever the last shape selected was.

It is that default style with those two drop downs with "Style 2" and "Style 3" assigned to it that will be the new shape created with the paint bucket and NOT the selected style from the styles dropdown. In the video you made you can see this is happening.

Named styles are not used to create new shapes. However they are ASSIGNED to new shapes via the Style dropdowns. They are "named styles" that are saved and assigned to multiple shapes for easy editing.

The paint bucket and styles work correctly. They work just as they've done for years. They are doing exactly what they are suppose to. You are expecting something different to happen, which is fine. You can expect different behavior but if that expectation is wrong then is the feature broken or is this user error?

What kind of annoys me just a teeny tiny bit, is saying emphatically that "Styles are broken" simply because you don't know how to use them or they don't work the way you would like them to. I learned how styles work a loooooooooong time ago and since then have had no issues. As I said before, I have issues with inconsistent application of effects. I have issues with only 2 effects drop downs for one shape etc etc. But as far as making them work... uh... I never have issues... well... beyond my own "user error" moments. I too make mistakes when applying styles but I know what I did wrong and fix it.

I should probably ask Smith Micro to let me do a Webinar on styles. I can probably clear this up pretty quickly and also show you how freaking awesome styles really are.

[synthsin75]

I end up agreeing with Dale. Last night I found myself fighting with styles for a good hour. I had the hardest time taking off a style from an element, it seemed the style just didn't want to go away and had "corrupted" my shape. Also, I still can't figure out how to copy the settings of a style and past it into another shape WITHOUT pasting the style itself. extremely frustrating.

Heyvern's experience leaves me hopeful tho and there are good tips in this thread so i'm sure i'll come back to it.

1. Select the shape
2. Make sure both Style 1 and Style 2 dropdowns say "<None>"

Done

[synthsin75]

You can't copy all the settings of a style at once. Instead, you need to open that style, write down (or memorize) all the valus, and apply these to another shape.

A more convenient way is to open one style and save it with a different name.

Wrong.

There is absolutely no need to memorize or write down anything. Open a style for editing, hit the copy button, then hit paste in either a new style, shape, or the default style.

[synthsin75]

I didn't mean that the style function is defective, just that it is very complicated to me and leads in my case so far to lots of headaches.

I read the above post and still can't figure out how you'd copy and paste the settings of a style onto a shape without that shape taking the style (but only the settings). If you don't mind could you give me a quick step by step?

I'm a little slow today, that may be it.

Select the style for editing, in the style dropdown. Hit the copy button. Now either make a new style, select None in the style dropdown (to return to DEFAULT mode), or select a shape (to enter SHAPE mode), depending on if you want those style settings in a new style, for new shapes, or an existing shape. Now simply hit paste. Those settings will be applied without applying the saved style.

[Nicohk92]

Gee... I could have sworn I tried it already but just tested again on a clean document and you're right!. I must have gotten mixed up somehow before. Thanks a lot!

[dueyftw]

OK. For years I didn't get it and I still don't get it. As with some of AS the normal expectations is not how the program works. Very frustrating and it just leads to people not using the features.

Dale

[dueyftw]

I didn't mean that the style function is defective, just that it is very complicated to me and leads in my case so far to lots of headaches.

I read the above post and still can't figure out how you'd copy and paste the settings of a style onto a shape without that shape taking the style (but only the settings). If you don't mind could you give me a quick step by step?

I'm a little slow today, that may be it.

Select the style for editing, in the style dropdown. Hit the copy button. Now either make a new style, select None in the style dropdown (to return to DEFAULT mode), or select a shape (to enter SHAPE mode), depending on if you want those style settings in a new style, for new shapes, or an existing shape. Now simply hit paste. Those settings will be applied without applying the saved style.

OK, I think I get it now. You have to clear the style on a shape to apply a new one. That would mean that if I'm trying to apply a style to a shape that has another style assigned I would need to assign none first then apply the new style. BUT if you have a shape that has no style assigned and only has the original color and line setting, you can toggle through the style settings to select a different style. So if you change the style and want to change it a again you have to clear the last one by assigning 'none' first and then chose the next style to be applied.

Is that right?

Dale

[synthsin75]

OK, I think I get it now. You have to clear the style on a shape to apply a new one. That would mean that if I'm trying to apply a style to a shape that has another style assigned I would need to assign none first then apply the new style. BUT if you have a shape that has no style assigned and only has the original color and line setting, you can toggle through the style settings to select a different style. So if you change the style and want to change it a again you have to clear the last one by assigning 'none' first and then chose the next style to be applied.

Is that right?

I'm trying to follow what you're saying here, so bear with me.

I assume you are talking about assigning none in the Style 1 or 2 dropdowns (not the Styles dropdown at the top). If so, there's no need to assign none first, just change from one assigned style to another. Keep in mind that Style 2 is the second one applied and will be the one "on top", so if its line width and stroke/fill colors cover Style 1, you will not see Style 1 changes.

[Nicohk92]

I didn't mean that the style function is defective, just that it is very complicated to me and leads in my case so far to lots of headaches.

I read the above post and still can't figure out how you'd copy and paste the settings of a style onto a shape without that shape taking the style (but only the settings). If you don't mind could you give me a quick step by step?

I'm a little slow today, that may be it.

Select the style for editing, in the style dropdown. Hit the copy button. Now either make a new style, select None in the style dropdown (to return to DEFAULT mode), or select a shape (to enter SHAPE mode), depending on if you want those style settings in a new style, for new shapes, or an existing shape. Now simply hit paste. Those settings will be applied without applying the saved style.

OK, I think I get it now. You have to clear the style on a shape to apply a new one. That would mean that if I'm trying to apply a style to a shape that has another style assigned I would need to assign none first then apply the new style. BUT if you have a shape that has no style assigned and only has the original color and line setting, you can toggle through the style settings to select a different style. So if you change the style and want to change it a again you have to clear the last one by assigning 'none' first and then chose the next style to be applied.

Is that right?

Dale

I think that's it. And on some occasions, the style becomes your default, which drove me nuts when it kept assigning styles I didn't call for. Then there is also the override thing that is another part to grasp. I wish my brain was wired so that it was immediately clear.