Issues with Liquid shapes not working

[Mattyj]

Im having some real issues with Liquid Shapes not working at times. It seems it does not matter if I use the create shape tool or use points or the draw shape tool to create my shapes, sometimes liquid shapes just doesnt seem to want to work. I have noticed when it isnt working that the shape I have selected to blend remains in that checkerboard state visually. It is really weird, I have followed a few tutorials on this now and at times it just does not seem to want to blend or clip or cut away at all. It is definitely still working in my software as I am building a rig atm that is similar to the one Victor built recently in the head turn with liquid shapes tutorial, and it is working fine, but yeah, any info or suggestions would be great.

[Greenlaw]

Hi MattyJ,

Can you post a file to demonstrate this issue? I don't think I've seen this issue, but I'm curious to learn what causes it.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe one or more of the shapes might not be constructed cleanly, or the shape order is incorrect. If it's shape order-related, try Rai's Shape Window...I use this tool all the time when working with Liquid Shapes.

If I can't figure it out, I'm sure someone else here can, and having an example file will make it easier. Otherwise, it's just guessing.

[synthsin75]

Shape order would be my guess as well.

[Mattyj]

Awesome cheers for the reply. I actually managed to get it to work, using the create shape tool on a shape I had drawn using the draw shape tool, without any fill. Ill keep a look out for the issue in the future and look into shape ordering.

[gumpyanimator]

I just discovered one cause of liquid shapes not working that matches the symptoms mentioned here. (Well, better late than never!) If you accidentally apply one of the Boolean options (add, subtract, intersect, etc.) to one of the shapes below the top shape in the stack, applying one of these options to the top shape won't work. The solution is to select the lower shapes using the select shape tool and make sure they are all set to normal before trying to set an option for the top shape. This can easily happen if you select all of the shapes in the stack at once and them try to apply one of the options to all the selected shapes at once. Easy mistake to make, since it seems like you should have to select which shapes you are applying the effect to.