I have a fairly simple model set up. Basically a "snout" with a tongue. The tongue should be covered up by the upper and lower "jaws" when closed but I wanted to be able to have the tongue "stick out" sometimes when the mouth is closed.
I really needed a way to order shapes. I didn't want to use a script and was wracking my brain for a solution. I tried all kinds of complicated masking tricks and just wasn't getting anywhere.
What I found "by accident" through all the experimenting was this trick:
Setting shapes to 0 opacity using a step key in a smart bone. Works like a charm and can be used for lots of other purposes.
The trick is to set the smart bone rotation on a frame further down the time line, but set the shape opacity on frame 1 with a step. This causes the shape to "disappear" instantly when the smart bone first starts to rotate.
In the sample the left and right sides of the "blue jaw" shapes become invisible when the turn smart bone is rotated. There is another layer with a filled black shape behind the left and right blue shapes and the jaw.
The tongue is just a stroke shape.
The "tip" of the tongue is on top of everything, but masked so only the tip shows. The mask has a key for stroke exposure so the tongue tip disappears inside the mouth as it scales down.
I will post a simpler sample file with specific shape hiding smart bone set up later.
