Moho Animation Forum

hello,
sorry for asking such probably basic questions, but i´m new to masking and its driving me completely mad that i just can´t find out how to do this... i would be very grateful for any help.

i have a flying creature which is built like this:

bone layer creature
_>bone layer wing1
__>image layer wing1
_>bone layer wing2
__>image layer wing2
_>image layer body
_>bone layer wing3
__>image layer wing3
_>bone layer wing4
__>image layer wing4

i made a separate bone layer for every wing, because i like to animate the body parts separately.
the creature should fly out of a trumpet which is also an image layer.
i made two trumpet layers, one with the part of the trumpet that is in front of the creature when it comes out and one with the part that is behind the creature.

my question is:
whats the best way to mask the parts of the creature that are still inside the trumpet while its flying out?
...and actually i would like to copy the creature after i solved this problem and do the same thing for a whole group of them.

is it possible that i´m having problems because i´m not using vector layers or because i would like to mask a bone layer which has other bone layers inside?
i created a mask, but its just not working how i want to and it only made the body image layer disappear, but not the rest of the creature.
maybe i just made the mask completely wrong...

thanks.
katz

No problem at all. Do something like this:

- group (or bone) layer, set to "hide all"
- - bone layer creature, set to "mask this layer"
- - (bone layer creature as above, as many as you like)
- - vector mask layer set to "add to mask, but keep invisible"

The mask should have one line in common with the trumpet's outlet and then extend to whatever part of the sky the creatures should fly through. You can bind the top layer of this arrangement to the same bone as the trumpet.

The nice thing about masking and other layer effects is that AS makes good use of nested structures, so some effect on the top layer includes all layers inside.

thanks so much for your fast answer!! it works well!
and i´m happy to see that i wasn´t that far away from doing the right thing...
the only problem is that i created my mask in the shape of the part where the creature should be invisible. so now its invisible where it should be visible and the other way round. can i somehow switch that or do i have to make a new mask?

nevermind, when i think about it thats quite a stupid thought. i´ll just make a new mask.
what about an anime studio pro workshop in berlin?

Ach, ein Berliner??

Workshop: jederzeit gerne, aber das mach ich dann nicht umsonst. Wenn man vielleicht eine kleine Gruppe zusammenkriegte? (zB über http://www.flipbook-online.de)

ich werd mich mal umhören, ob noch mehr leute interesse hätten! danke noch mal für die schnelle hilfe!