Color change issue and style editing bug?????

[Poptoogi]

I've come across a couple of issues today which make me want to pull my hair out.

1. I accidentally changed my characters hair color within the timeline by change the style color while not on frame zero.

While that makes for great animated color changes I CAN NOT delete this change!! I'm thinking there is probably a way to do this but it isn't obvious. I cleared all animation and it from the scene and it still does it. What the FRENCH....TOAST!?! If any one knows how to fix this or has come across this problem, any help would be appreciated.

2. The second problem also deals with styles and it is a BIG problem for me. I made a character with many layers and parts, all that have styles applied to them. In order to make the character more efficient I deleted the fills and strokes by selecting them select shape tool and hitting delete. I did this because before I knew about styles I would sometime fill a shape twice without knowing it. (Which is f#$king ridiculous that AS even allows this! I mean what is the point?) Anyway I tried creating the shapes again but when I apply the style it WILL NOT WORK!! Is this a bug or is this something I'm missing??

On that same subject. If anyone who works on AS is reading this. PLEASE, make applying styles easier would you? Allow to select multiple layers and say apply styles to all layers. And make a function that prohibits shapes from being filled multiple times.

Also, it is a nice feature that you can move strokes above and below shapes but this is way to confusing to the average user. You should really also think about a function in which you can place strokes on shapes as photoshop does. Giving you the option to place them outside the stoke, centered on the stroke or inside the stroke. I just don't see the point or need to have stokes to have the ability to be placed underneath a shape. Isn't it the same as having no stoke at all????????

Sorry I'm bitching but I've been working on this character for 3 hours and now its all F'd in the A! You guys now I loves the Anime studio!!! Just hate it's little quirks.

[AmigaMan]

1. If you select the Layer with your character's hair on then in the Timeline it should show a key on the 'Fill Colour' channel. Just delete the key. I tried this several times and each time I 'Cleared All Animation From Document' it did exactly that and removed all animation so I don't know what's happening in your case?

2. If you've used the Select Shape Tool and hit delete then you've deleted all the shapes so the Styles colours will be removed from your character because you don't have shapes to fill. You will have to select the points and make them shapes again.

You do know you can easily copy and paste styles from one shape to another? Pick a shape fill on your character and in the Styles Menu select COPY. On your character select the shape you want to fill with that same colour and then hit PASTE in the Styles menu.

It's very frustrating if things don't go as you expect especially when you've worked a long time on something. However in this case, if I've understood you correctly, I think it might just be lack of experience with the software.

[jonbo]

Maybe look at this tutorial from the other forum. It might help on some of your issues.

http://www.viddler.com/v/d16c78ea

[neeters_guy]

1. I accidentally changed my characters hair color within the timeline by change the style color while not on frame zero.
While that makes for great animated color changes I CAN NOT delete this change!! I'm thinking there is probably a way to do this but it isn't obvious. I cleared all animation and it from the scene and it still does it. What the FRENCH....TOAST!?! If any one knows how to fix this or has come across this problem, any help would be appreciated.

Clearing the animation won't clear any keys in the styles. Make sure you are in style editing mode with the style selected in the pulldown menu. If there are any keys, they will show on timeline and you should be able to delete them. If the shape is selected (shape editing mode), the keys won't show on the timeline. (Also make sure consolidate timeline channel is unchecked in Preferences.)

Hope that helps.

[Poptoogi]

Thank you for the replies guys! With learning anything, frustration just sets in when you know what you want to do but not how to execute it. I mainly use photoshop for doing freelance design work but even after 10 years of using it, I still sometimes come across a new trick or technique. But what I love most about it is that I know every aspect of that program and have gotten to a point to where I can see a solution to a problem instantly without barley thinking about it. I hope I can get to that point with Anime Studio someday because I think it is the best animation software available.


I think what I love about this program is that it has a really good community backing up as well. Receiving answers to problems in this forum is always so fast and helpful. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction and thanks for the link to the video jonbo!

[SpaceBoy64]

I also have problems with styles. It's very confusing. First of all creating styles, and applying them, second editing styles to change object colors overall. It seems each shape can have style overrides. This makes it very difficult to make global changes, as changing the style doesn't always affect all of the shapes. If I want to add a stroke to all my shapes that have a style applied, I still have to go back and edit each shape individually.

It should be easier to understand. I don't see the point of being able to assign a style, and then override it entirely. It's obtuse.

[neeters_guy]

Everyone has a different working style, so to speak. If you plan well, styles shouldn't need to be overridden. But sometimes you may not want to create a unique style for a one-off shape or maybe you want to override just one attribute (eg., variable strokes). Styles are quite powerful once you understand how they work. Synth's video in jonbo's post is an excellent overview.

To me, what I found useful is how the check boxes (to the right of the color swatch) change function depending on the mode.
--In New Style mode, they indicated what attributes are defined.
--In Shape mode, they indicate overrides (if the selected shape has a style).

When you think about it, styles are overrides themselves, overriding the base styles. If you override a style, that adds another level of override. So shapes can have attributes which are:
1) Base only
2) Base with Style
3) Base with Style with Override

Once you keep this straight, styles make more sense. In SpaceBoy64 example, you would define separate styles for stroke and fill (remember the check boxes?). Then apply these to the shape (you can apply up to two style per shape).