Using Layer Settings

Clicking the Layer Settings button at the top of the Layers palette or double-clicking a layer opens the Layer Settings dialog box shown in Figure 4.6. The Layer Settings dialog box includes several panels of options. The available panels depend on the type of layer that is accessed, but all layers include a General, Shadows, Motion Blur, and Masking panel. Enabling shadows is covered in Chapter 33, “Rendering the Final Scene,” motion blur is covered in Chapter 32, “Using Motion Blur and Depth of Field,” and masking is covered in more detail in Chapter 13, “Filling Shapes and Using Strokes.”

Setting Display Options

Directly under the Name field in the General panel are three options for controlling the display of the current layer. The Hide in Editing View option causes the layer to be hidden when it is not selected. This option is different from the Visibility icon in that the layer will still be rendered when the scene is output. This option is intended to simplify the working area while editing and helps keep content out of the way while you work on other objects. When this option is enabled, the layer name appears dimmed out and italicized, as shown in Figure 4.7.

The Don’t Render This Layer option causes the layer to be ignored when the file is output or rendered. For example, the Note layer has this option enabled by default. This option is useful for layers that are used to hold reference images. Layer names for layers with this option enabled are dimmed (but not italicized) in the Layers palette.

Both the Hide in Editing View and the Don’t Render This Layer options can also be found in the current layer pop-up menu.

The Allow Animated Layer Effects option provides a way to keep any applied layer effects from affecting layers that you don’t want it to affect. Using this option, you specifically must request that a layer effect is enabled in order for it to show up in the animation. Most of the layer effects are available in the Compositing Effects section of the Layer Settings dialog box, but a couple additional layer effects are located in the Scripts menu.

Specifying Compositing Effects

The Compositing Effects section of the General panel in the Layer Settings dialog box includes settings for controlling the layer’s visibility, blur radius, and opacity for the given frame. There are also settings for flipping the layer horizontally and vertically.

Using the Visible setting, you can have layers turn on and off during an animated sequence.

The Blur Radius value is a setting used to blur the entire layer. It is measured in pixels and the higher the value, the greater the blur. This is useful if you want to create a depth of field effect by blurring a background layer. This value can also be animated over several frames to simulate objects in the layer slowly coming into focus. You can learn more on blurring and depth of field effects in Chapter 32, “Using Motion Blur and Depth of Field.” The blurring effect can only be viewed if the project is rendered. Figure 4.8 shows four lines of text with varying degrees of blurriness. The Blur Radius value from the top to the bottom line of text is 0, 10, 20, and 40.

The Opacity setting determines how transparent the layer is. A value of 100 has no effect on the layer and a value of 0 makes the layer totally transparent. The Opacity settings can likewise be used to gradually have objects fade away over a set number of frames. More on animating attributes such as visibility and opacity is covered in Chapter 16, “Understanding Keyframes and Tweening.”

Transparency effects for vector layers can be viewed in the working area if the Transparency option in the Display Quality pop-up menu is enabled. Image layers don’t appear transparent until they are rendered. Figure 4.9 shows some semi-transparent text in the working area. Notice how you can see the image through the text.

You can also change the transparency of a layer’s objects by changing the Alpha value for the fill or outline color. The big difference is that the Opacity value in the Layer Settings dialog box changes the transparency for all objects in the layer.

The Auto Shading Radius value causes the objects drawn on the current layer to be shaded automatically when its value is set to a value other than 0. Larger radius values cause the objects to be shaded a greater distance from the edge. The shading color is always set to gray and cannot be changed. Figure 4.10 shows a simple collection of shapes with an Auto Shading Radius value of 50.

The Flip Horizontally and Flip Vertically options can be used to create a mirror image of the current layer. Sometimes, image layers are imported flipped, and this setting can correct them. These settings can also be animated, making it possible to simulate an object flipping back and forth like the lights at a railroad crossing.

Using General Layer Options

The final section in the General panel of the Layer Settings dialog box holds several miscellaneous options that are applied at a layer level.

These options include the following, but many of the details on several of these options are covered in later chapters:

• Rotate to Follow Path: This option causes the layer to be rotated to align to the transformation path direction. For example, if you have an arrow shape, this option will cause the arrow to automatically be oriented to follow the translation path instead of maintaining its current orientation. More on this option is covered in Chapter 17, “Working with the Timeline.”

• Rotate to Face Camera: This option is used to make the layer a sprite, which is an object that always faces the camera. This happens by rotating the layer about its vertical axis so that it is always perpendicular to the camera’s aiming axis. More on this option is covered in Chapter 25, “Changing the View with Cameras.”

• Use HSV Modifier Image: This option lets you specify an HSV modifier image that is used to distort the camera lens much like adding filters to the lens of a movie camera would do. Several default HSV images are included with the Anime Studio installation in the SamplesHSV Modifiers Images folder. More on using image layers and HSV modifiers is covered in Chapter 22, “Adding Image Layers.”

• Embedded Script File: Enabling this option automatically opens a file dialog box where you can select a script file to run on the current layer. More on creating and using scripts is covered in Chapter 37, “Using Scripts and Lua.”

• Scale Compensation: When a layer is scaled with this option selected, its lines are automatically made thinner or thicker based on the scale amount. This helps keep the layer objects in check. More on this option is covered in Chapter 13, “Filling Shapes and Using Strokes.”

• Immune to Camera Movements: This option causes all objects on the layer to remain constant regardless of how the camera is moved. This is helpful when used on title screens or logos that are positioned in the corner of the project. General camera movements are covered in Chapter 25, “Changing the View with Cameras.”

• Immune to Depth of Field: A depth of field effect causes one specific area to be in focus and the rest of the layers to be blurry. By enabling this effect, you can exclude a layer from this effect, such as a logo or title that remains clear even though the other layers are blurred. Using a depth of field effect is covered in Chapter 32, “Using Motion Blur and Depth of Field.”

• Layer Blending Mode: The blending mode drop-down list lets you select how different semi-transparent layers are combined. The options include ways to combine the colors together, subtract one color from another, and create a color based on the luminosity value. The various blending modes are examined in the next section.

Using Blending Modes

Blending modes are only used when two layers are overlapped and the top layer is at least semi-transparent. By changing between the various blending modes, you can change the shading effect of the various layers that are blended. The available blending modes include the following:

• Normal: The default blending mode. This mode simply replaces the color on the lower layer with the color on the upper layer. The results are what you’d expect when combining the colors of two layers together.

• Multiply: This blending mode multiplies the colors on both layers together resulting in a darker final color. Using this blending mode with black results in black regardless of the other color and using this mode with white leaves the other color the same. This happens because black has a value of 0, and 0 times any color value is still 0. White has a color value of 1, and 1 times any color value yields the same color value. This blending mode is useful if you are using an image that is too light and the details are washed out.

• Screen: This blending mode multiplies the inverse of the lower layer colors with the upper layer colors resulting in a result that is the opposite of the Multiply blending mode, thereby causing the colors to get lighter. This blending mode is used to lighten a layer that is too dark.

• Overlay: This blending mode is based on the lower layer colors. If the color is darker than 50%, then the layers are multiplied together, but if the lower layer color is lighter than 50%, the layers are screened together. This blending mode increases the layer’s contrast causing the dark layers to become darker and the light colors to become lighter.

• Add: This blend mode simply adds the two colors together resulting in a brighter color. It works by lightening each lower layer pixel by the brightness of the upper layer pixel up to white. Darker pixels on the upper layer result in objects being less visible. The Add blending mode works like the Screen blending mode, but it is more extreme.

  Note

  Photoshop doesn’t include a blending mode called Add, but the Add blending mode in Anime Studio works exactly like the Linear Dodge blending mode in Photoshop.

  
  

• Difference: This blend mode simply subtracts the two colors from each other resulting in a darker color. This results in changing the luminance of the upper layer pixels based on the difference between the two colors, so black and white will appear white, black on black will appear black, and white on white will appear white. One useful use of the Difference blending mode is to create an inverted relief look by offsetting the upper layer from a duplicate of the lower layer by a few pixels. This highlights all the edges in the images, as shown in Figure 4.11.

  Figure 4.11. Edges are highlighted by offsetting and Difference blending a duplicate layer.

  [View full size image]

  

• Hue: This blending mode combines the hue of the upper layer color with the saturation and luminance of the lower layer color. It is used to change the color of specific objects like the color of a cat’s eyes in a background image.

• Saturation: This blending mode combines the luminance and hue of the lower layer color with the saturation of the upper layer color. This mode is used to pump up the color saturation of the lower layer. It can also be used to reduce the lower layer’s saturation if the upper layer has a low saturation value.

• Color: This blending mode combines the luminance of the lower layer color with the hue and saturation of the upper layer color. This is used to colorized black and white images. It is also used to apply a colored tint to the layer.

  Tip

  To make your output black and white, simply cover the entire project with a black rectangle and set its Layer blending mode to the color option and render.

  
  

• Luminosity: This blending mode only uses the luminosity of the upper layer color. It is used to convert the upper layer of a grayscale image.

Figure 4.12 shows the various blending modes available in the Layer Settings dialog box. The lower layer contains the blue accent symbols and the upper layer contains the various gradient colored rectangular bars.

To use the Add blending mode, follow these steps:

1.	Open the Beachfront.anme file from the Chapter 4 folder on the included CD. This file includes a single image layer with a loaded image of a beach.
2.	Click the New Layer button in the Layers palette and select the Image option in the pop-up menu. In the File dialog box that opens, select the Rendered sun.jpg file. This image is of a fiery sun set on a black background.
3.	Select the Scale Layer tool (2) and drag in the working area to reduce the size of the new image layer. Then use the Translate Layer tool (1) to position the sun layer in the upper-left corner of the working area, as shown in Figure 4.13. Figure 4.13. Overlapping image layers. [View full size image]
4.	Double-click the top layer in the Layers palette to open the Layer Settings dialog box. Then select the Add option as the Layer blending mode.
5.	Select the File, Preview menu command (Ctrl/Cmd+R) to render the project. The Add blending mode removes the black background and blends the sun into the sky, as shown in Figure 4.14.

To see more of the sun details, you can use the Screen blending mode instead of the Add blending mode. Double-click the sun layer to open the Layer Settings dialog box again and switch to the Screen blending mode. The rendered results are subtler, as shown in Figure 4.15.

Using Layer Masks

A layer mask is a layer that is used to define the visible region of the project. It can also be used to hide all objects on layers underneath it. These masks are used, for example, to only display objects within a specific area or to hide and slowly reveal objects. They also work to introduce a character in the middle of the scene during an animation. All layer masking options are available in the Masking panel in the Layer Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.16.

Objects on a layer mask either can be visible or invisible. When a simple mask is applied, its results are displayed in the working area. However, if the mask sublayer is selected, then the results will not be correct since all the sublayer objects are visible when the layer is selected. More on masking is presented in Chapter 23, “Organizing Layers into Groups.”

The following options are available in the Masking panel:

• Mask This Layer: The default option. This option causes the current layer to be masked by a mask layer if a mask layer is available.

• Don’t Mask This Layer: This option causes the current layer to ignore the layer mask resulting in all layer objects being visible.

• + Add to Mask: This option adds all objects to the mask so that they hide all layers underneath them.

• + Add to Mask, but Keep Invisible: This option also adds the current layer objects to the mask, but makes all objects invisible.

• - Subtract from Mask (This Layer Will Be Invisible): This option removes the objects on the current layer from the layer, thereby making objects underneath this layer’s object visible.

• + Clear the Mask, Then Add This Layer to It: This option uses the transparency of the current value as the mask.

For Group and Bone layers, some additional options are available:

• No Masking in This Group: This option is only available for Group and Bone layers. It causes the current group of layers not to be masked.

• Reveal All: This option is only available for Group and Bone layers. This option enables masking and makes all sublayers for this group visible.

• Hide All: This option is only available for Group and Bone layers. This option enables masking and makes all sublayers for this group invisible.

Layer masks only work with object transparency. You can think of it as a black-and-white filter for the project. All black areas of the mask mark those areas that are completely hidden, white areas are fully visible, and any gray areas are partially hidden.

Masks will only work when placed within a group or bone layer. If you’re using Anime Studio Debut, which doesn’t have group layers, you can use a bone layer as a group layer. The order of the sublayers is also important with the mask sublayer placed below the object that is masking.

When the Reveal All group option is selected, then the entire mask is set to white, which makes all sublayers visible. You can hide overlapping areas by setting a sublayer that you want to remove to Subtract from Mask. Figure 4.17 shows a background layer with a key shape that has been removed using the Subtract from Mask option.

When the Hide All group option is selected, then the entire mask is set to black and sublayers can be made visible with the Add to Mask option. Figure 4.18 shows a key where the entire mask has been set to Hide All and then striped portions of the key are made visible with the Add to Mask option.

Using the Clear the Mask option sets the entire mask to black, which is the same as the Hide All option.

To create a framed picture using masks, follow these steps:

1.	Open the Picture frame mask.anme file from the Chapter Chapter 4 folder on the included CD. This file includes an image layer with a picture of a flower and three vector layers used to create a frame.
2.	Click the New Layer button in the Layers palette and select the Group option in the pop-up menu. Double-click the new group layer and name it picture. Then drag and drop the matte layer and the Flower.jpg layer on the picture group layer.
3.	Double-click the picture layer and select the Masking panel in the Layer Settings dialog box; then enable the Hide All option. This makes the entire mask black hiding all layers in this group. Double-click the matte sublayer and select the Add to Mask option in the Masking panel. This makes the picture layer visible where the matte rectangle is located.
4.	Click the New Layer button in the Layers palette and select the Group option again in the pop-up menu. Double-click the new group layer and name it frame. Then drag and drop the circle’s layer and the frame mask layer on the frame group layer. Then drag the entire frame group layer below the picture layer.
5.	Double-click the frame layer and select the Masking panel in the Layer Settings dialog box; then enable the Reveal All option. This makes the entire mask white and all layers in this group visible. Double-click the circles sublayer and select the Subtract from Mask option in the Masking panel. This removes the circle objects from the frame mask layer, resulting in a unique frame, as shown in Figure 4.19.