smart bone for controlling layer order

[Hamedss]

hi.
I recently rigged a character to have the arms in front or behind the body. So I activated the layer order for the bone layer, so I was able to animate that. Now I want the layer order of each arm to be controlled by a smart bone. The actions were also prepared and worked well in action timeline, but when I want both bones to work together in animation timeline, only one works ( the first one) and causes the arm layer order change , and the other one stops working. Did I make a mistake or did I not understand the layer order well?
This problem also exist when i try do the same with vector shape animated order.

[slowtiger]

I suppose it's not working because there's only 1 timeline slot for layer order, but you have 2 different layer order animation actions.

Try this: put all your layer order combinations into 1 action, like
- 2 arms in back
- left arm in front, right arm in back
- right arm in front, left arm in back
- 2 arms in front.

This way there's no conflict between 2 actions.

[Hamedss]

Thanks Tiger it really confused me . one time line per action per layer. so the layer order is something like snapshot of layers sorting. I think another way is is real depth sort. putting layer in tiny z distance but this gets somehow complicated needs a table to specify each layer distance.

[slowtiger]

Actually sorting by Z depth works pretty straightforward and is easily animateable. You could test this by creating a setup of several layers within one group, all with different Z values, and then animate the Z values of one of them: it smoothly shows exactly in front or behind where it should.

You just have to decide whether you use Z layer ordering or animated layer order, as you can't have both in the same group without conflict, I believe. Just remember to check the correct option in the group layer - this layer is also the one where the animated layer keys will show up in the timeline.

[Hamedss]

Yes this sounds good setup for the professionals. The most problematic are the forearms and hands. They should go almost between every layer.
And sorting in z position solve the problem.

[Greenlaw]

Instead of using Animated Layer Order or physically moving layers in Z-space, I prefer to duplicate or reference the layers, and control their visibility with a Smart Bone. This setup is fully compatible with Smart Bone Actions and doesn't risk the sorting conflict like Animated Layer Order can or create the slight visual offset that animating in Z-space can. Also, this setup doesn't preclude me from manually keyframing Animated Layer Order in addition to the Smart Bone-controlled visibility when I need it. So, best of both worlds.

Hope this helps.