Animating multiple layer at the same time

[mystd]

I have my art on different layers but since every layer has it's own timeline I kind of have to animate everything separately. The upper lip and lower lip of a mouth have to be animated together but they each have their own timeline. Is it possible to animate them together in sync?

If the only option is putting everything on the same layer I've tried select all and copy but when I select the other layer the paste option is grayed out.
I can copy it into a new file though...

[Greenlaw]

I typically do one of two things:

1. Group items in a logical hierarchy. For example, put all mouth objects, including switch layers in a mouth group, eyes in an eyes group, and both groups in a face group. This way, you can animate any of groups to move them independently or all together.

2. Parent items to bones. For example, for pupils, I typically use three bones, one for each pupil and a parent 'pupils' bone to move both pupil together.

If you're using bones, remember than you can't have the items nested in a group that's bound directly to a bone because it will override the ability to bind items inside that group. In this case, it's better to not bind the group but to bind the contained items instead. For the items inside, you can use any binding method--I typically use Use Selected Bones for Flexi-binding but if you don't need to add more bone deformations, you can probably just bind the layers to a bone too. If you need to animate the individual items (layers or points), you can still do so directly--the motion will be additive to the bones animation.

Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

BTW, this might too sound obvious but it is also possible to multiselect layers and animate them together. The drawback is that each item will get its own keyframe, and you can only view the keyframes for each layer individually, not all selected layers at once.

Any of these methods are valid but the one you go with really depends on how you want to organize your keyframing for a given animation. IMO, being able to do it hierarchically, as described in the previous post, will keep it simpler for most situations.

[mystd]

I already have grouped them in a folder.
If I select all of the layers I can only animate the points of the first selected layer.
If I select the folder I can just move the layers around as a group.

I've made a test file: http://imgur.com/a/HX7Yg
I've encountered that I couldn't make bone layers (bottom picture) had to create a new file where it then worked (top picture)

Is this workflow normal? I just opened up a new doc and drew some points and bone and other layers were disabled.

[synthsin75]

Use one layer with everything on it as a control layer (where you do the animating). Create as many references as you need, and delete the shapes and hide (not delete) the points that are not needed in each reference.

If you have drawing tools only enabled on frame zero, you will only be able to create most layers on frame zero.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, I see what you mean. Sorry, I was talking about multiple layers, not points. Generally speaking, points can be directly animated only on a single layer at a time.

To answer your question, no, what you're trying to do really isn't the 'normal' workflow for Anime Studio. While you can technically animate points in every layer to create an animation, as you've discovered it's not the most efficient use of the program. Maybe in a future version but for now that's not what it's designed to do. I think a program designed specifically for FBF, like CACANi for example, might be able to do that but I'm really just guessing about that.

If you wish to animate the points within multiple shapes together at the same time, they really should exist in the same layer--you may then use something like the Magnet tool to move groups of points in different shapes. Note that in the current version of ASP you may also animate the stacking order for shapes within the same layer.

You can use bones to animate points across different layers--in fact, that is the 'normal' way to animate in this program. Bones can affect points across many layers or you can use Smart Bones to drive other methods of deformation and animate them together. If your goal is to achieve a more fluid look, you can do that by adding point animation or layer transforms on top of the bones animation--I sometimes do this to simulate things like hair or cloth dynamics. In brief, bones and layer transforms is generally the primary method for deforming artwork in Anime Studio and other methods are meant to enhance that.

Alternatively, I sometimes use the Frame By Frame layer to make 'fluid' elements, like for fire and water fx, but that's a whole other technique that doesn't typically involve point deformations or morphing. (It doesn't exclude it though.)

That's probably not the answer you want to hear but I hope this info helps. IMO, if you're going to use ASP, you may want to rethink how you wish to animate your project and take advantage of the program's strengths. Of course there are no rules dictating how you should animate but you may find there are easier ways to achieve your goal.