Everything in one layer or multiple layers?
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:38 pm
Hello,
While examining the file of the beautiful animation provided in this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=12974
I found that everything in this file was drawn on one single layer. I've seen this in more examples from other AS animators, but I wonder what the advantages are of this method?
It seems to me that the use of multiple layers would provide al lot of advantages. For example, you can animate parts of your drawing from behind to front (by animating the layer order). Besides that, I think it's much easier to select and manipulate detailed parts of the drawing. You can name your layers and find your different parts easily by the layer name. You can give every layer it's own keyframes and easing, etcetera.
But I'm afraid I'm overlooking the advantages of drawing everything into one single layer. I can not think of any advantage of this method, except for the part "it looks clean to have your complete character in one single layer". That doesn't make sense to me. One other advantage could be that you can use the "magnet tool" to manipulate the whole drawing at once. But how important could that be...?
Please, can somebody here tell me (a beginner) about the "big secret", and tell me about the advantages and disadvantages of both methods, and maybe explain to me why so many professionals prefer to use the "one single layer" method?
Thank you very much in advance!
While examining the file of the beautiful animation provided in this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=12974
I found that everything in this file was drawn on one single layer. I've seen this in more examples from other AS animators, but I wonder what the advantages are of this method?
It seems to me that the use of multiple layers would provide al lot of advantages. For example, you can animate parts of your drawing from behind to front (by animating the layer order). Besides that, I think it's much easier to select and manipulate detailed parts of the drawing. You can name your layers and find your different parts easily by the layer name. You can give every layer it's own keyframes and easing, etcetera.
But I'm afraid I'm overlooking the advantages of drawing everything into one single layer. I can not think of any advantage of this method, except for the part "it looks clean to have your complete character in one single layer". That doesn't make sense to me. One other advantage could be that you can use the "magnet tool" to manipulate the whole drawing at once. But how important could that be...?
Please, can somebody here tell me (a beginner) about the "big secret", and tell me about the advantages and disadvantages of both methods, and maybe explain to me why so many professionals prefer to use the "one single layer" method?
Thank you very much in advance!