Show Paths Globally

[JoelMayer]

I think the "Show Paths" layer setting is very handy when building rigs especially for things like seeing where one arm overlaps the other and whatnot.

I'd love to see an easy button that turns on "Show Path" for all layers in either a document or in a hierarchy. That way it would save us time digging through layers and turning a checkmark on and off and quickly see the vector points in a rig.

[Maestral]

+1
Initially, I thought Show Curves would do that. Alas...
IF possible, such an additional button for Show Paths next to it would greatly help.

[Hoptoad]

I've never used Show Paths, and I'm not sure what it does.

I didn't find any information in the User Manual.

Would you suggest a simple experiment, so that I might try using it for its essential purpose?

Thanks.

[Greenlaw]

I've never used Show Paths, and I'm not sure what it does.

It displays the motion path of the select item, with knots for the keyframes. To see an example of this option in action, make a box in the center of a layer, enable Show Paths, and then move the layer on a few frames of the timeline to create keyframes. The path should be obvious...



It's useful for visualizing the path and velocity of the selected item. I don't use it very often, but glad to have it when I need it.

[Greenlaw]

@JoelMayer, did you mean Show Curves? I just want to be sure we're talking about the same thing. (Ah! Never mind, I see where my confusion lies. Seen my next post.)

[Greenlaw]

Oh! I think the terminology in the Quick Settings may be incorrect. It does say Path, but I think it should say Curves.

@HopToad, when you open Quick Settings for a layer, the Path option will display the curve for that layer while you are on a different layer. Like Show Path, it's super helpful when I need it.

@JoelMayer, when you select multiple layers, you can use Quick Settings to enable Path for all of the layers at once. If this is something you need to to repeatedly, you can add a tag for each layer so you can select the layers more easily. I know that's not a perfect system, but it's faster and more efficient than editing everything individually.

A global switch sounds useful, but I wonder if that could slow things down too much to be practical. I'm just guessing, though.

[Hoptoad]

It displays the motion path of the select item, with knots for the keyframes. To see an example of this option in action, make a box in the center of a layer, enable Show Paths, and then move the layer on a few frames of the timeline to create keyframes. The path should be obvious...

Oh, I use that feature a lot. I often drag a keyframe until I like the spacing of the dots in the workspace.

Oh! I think the terminology in the Quick Settings may be incorrect. It does say Path, but I think it should say Curves.


@HopToad, when you open Quick Settings for a layer, the Path option will display the curve for that layer while you are on a different layer. Like Show Path, it's super helpful when I need it.

Ah, that's what I didn't know. I've never used this feature.

I didn't realize something unique and useful appears in Quick Settings. I mostly use the Quick Settings to change a layer color.

Thanks for the info.