Masking advice for a novice please?

[MallowStudios]

Hello all,

I have just made the leap from rudimentary and very much amateurish stop/motion animation and have had my copy of AS Pro 10 less than a week. The online tutorials are amazing and I have learned so much in the last few days my brain is nearing overload status. I have an issue in particular which I just can't get my head around. Maybe someone here has some tips.

I have a character in a bone layer with all the vector layers etc inside and bones bound and ready to go. I have another layer, a simple desk, frontal view, in a group with a mask (vector) layer. And a third, a laptop on the desk, open, turned towards the character who is meant to stand behind the desk, facing the camera (me).

What I am trying to achieve is that the character clearly stands behind the desk - i.e. hips and most of the legs are behind the desk. However, the lower arms and hands should be 'in front of' the desk - visually speaking on top of the desk, maybe on either side of the laptop for some scenes.

To be honest, I am lost already when it comes to choosing the options inside the "Masking" tab or the bone or group layers, never mind what to select for either the desk or the character specifically. I do have a mask layer inside a group layer with the table. Should the mask be a shape on the desk where the hands should be seen, or around the rest of the table which is visible and in front of the character?

I am afraid I am now confusing myself trying to explain my issue. Hopefully someone is patient enough Thanks in advance!

[slowtiger]

Just put all desk elements inside a group layer and put this inside the character bone layer, between the arm layers and the body layer. Layer bind this to an additional root bone so it doesn't move with the character.

[MallowStudios]

Thank you so much! I have simply moved the desk group into the character bone layer between the arms and the body, and voila! it works. I did not go into any of the masking settings for any of the layers before moving them as you said, but it still works. I will keep this on file to copy for future reference. Thanks again, I am very grateful!

[MallowStudios]

Sooo, I am back again. I have added an additional bone to the character bone layer, this bone is neither child nor parent to another bone. I have taken the table group layer within the character and bound it to this single bone. However, whenever I move the character layer the desk moves with it.... Do I create this extra root bone within the character's bone layer, a separate desk bone layer (within the desk group layer or the desk group layer within a desk bone layer) or something else entirely? If anyone knows a source for very detailed instructions such as these, feel free to refer me there. I am a novice so apologise if my questions are too mundane

[synthsin75]

You cannot move the character's bone layer with this setup. Only move the character by its root bone.

[MallowStudios]

Okay, good to know. Thanks for your swift reply!