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Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 08:18
by ryberg
I reckon this isn't possible, but I would love it if you could save an instance of your layers' on and off settings for rendering.

Say, you have a project with 20 layers: Notes, Line, Basecolor, Shading, Background etc. and you need to output three different renders of certain layers switched on and off.
It's sort of a hassle to go through all layers making sure the right ones are on or off for each render and you'll probably miss one and waste time on making faulty renders.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 09:06
by malcooning
ryberg wrote:I reckon this isn't possible, but I would love it if you could save an instance of your layers' on and off settings for rendering.

Say, you have a project with 20 layers: Notes, Line, Basecolor, Shading, Background etc. and you need to output three different renders of certain layers switched on and off.
It's sort of a hassle to go through all layers making sure the right ones are on or off for each render and you'll probably miss one and waste time on making faulty renders.
You mean something like photoshop's layer comps?
a panel which allows you to add snapshots of the layer's visibilty.
it's a good idea. you should put this in the feature requests.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 09:19
by ryberg
Yeah, exactly like layer comps. That's it.
And if you could even implement it in the render tab, so you could automatically set it to render out the three different Layer Comps without having to manually start each new one.

I'll post it in the feature requests if it proves no one knows a proper way of doing this, that I haven't discovered yet.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 09:53
by Elodie
Could you show examples ?

(Im going to move the topic in the Feature requests)

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 09:58
by malcooning
ryberg wrote:Yeah, exactly like layer comps. That's it.
And if you could even implement it in the render tab, so you could automatically set it to render out the three different Layer Comps without having to manually start each new one.

I'll post it in the feature requests if it proves no one knows a proper way of doing this, that I haven't discovered yet.
You can duplicate your clip 3 times, and in each clip set the visibility for the respective layers. This way you can export each clip individually.
And if you happen to update some layers in any of the clips, you can copy the altered specific layers and paste them into the corresponding layers, to replace them (select layers + paste will paste instead of selected layers).
It's not a comfortable solution, but as long as you don't have much to alter between the clips, it might work quite well for you.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 10:17
by slowtiger
I think this would perfectly go along with a "group" feature for layers.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 10:32
by ryberg
Layer Comps and groups would be great.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 13:27
by Peter Wassink
great idea i would love to have this

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 13:30
by Elodie
Elodie wrote:Could you show examples ?
¬_¬

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 20 May 2011, 15:05
by malcooning
Elodie wrote:
Elodie wrote:Could you show examples ?
¬_¬
Elodie, there's nothing much to show.
The idea of this feature is layer-state snaphot.
you some layers on and some off. you make a snapshot - an entry "snapshot 1" added to the snaphot panel.
you then turn off some layers, and some you turn on. Make another snapshot - "snaphot 2".
now, if you click on "snapshot 1", all the layers that were captured in that snapshot will be turned off/on.
the advantage: you don't have to manually turn layers on/off everytime - it is automated by your captured snaphots.

This explains Layer comps in Photoshop, which is the core of the idea:


Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 23 May 2011, 06:45
by Elodie
Thanks for the video Asaf, now I understand what you want. (Don't forget : what is obvious for you, is not obvious for us necessarily. And our English is not perfect, we don't always understand the undercurrents. For me, "layer comp" didn't have any sense :mrgreen: )

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 23 May 2011, 07:14
by Peter Wassink
in the same vein, it would also be handy to be able to snapshot the mask settings of layers.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 23 May 2011, 07:40
by slowtiger
Mask settings?? Please not. As long as masks from different layers don't add up in any useful way, I don't see sense in saving mask settings - after all it's always only one stencil active.

Re: Layer settings for output

Posted: 23 May 2011, 18:05
by malcooning
slowtiger wrote:after all it's always only one stencil active.
What do you mean?
I use multiple layer stencils all the time.