Skip to main content
P
pacol38509684
Inspiring
January 18, 2017
Question

Flatten vs Merge Vs Image link embed

  • January 18, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 790 views

hello fellow animators

My question is, I have many hands in my illustrator file for my puppet. Many hands that I want to swap in and out, some point some thumbs up some crossing fingers etc. However each of these hand layers has many clipping groups that don't show up in character animator, Also they have many many objects. What is the best way for the most efficient way to group all of this in one single image? I have a look long and hard but I can't seem to find anything addressing this specific issue please help.

    This topic is closed to new replies. Start a new post to keep the conversation going.

    3 replies

    oksamurai
    oksamurai
    Legend
    January 18, 2017

    So Illustrator can be weird.

    1. Not everything in Illustrator is currently supported if it's left as a vector. Select the puppet and on the right properties you'll see "Render as Vector" - try checking / unchecking this to see differences (like how transparent/blended layers get rendered).

    2. By default Illustrator names things like <group> and <path>, and CH doesn't render all of these as individual layers because it would get crazy long. But if you rename them, they'll show up. So any of those generic names, rename them to "artwork" or something and they should come through.

    I don't usually use clipping groups so I can't recall if they're supported or not...

    P
    pacol38509684Author
    Inspiring
    January 27, 2017

    Thanx. I love all your videos. But I would love to know if flatten or merge speeds up performance. I have an illustrator puppet inspired by Wilke with multiple head turn angles and a ton of objects. What is the most efficient workflow or setup to combine all objects? You often mention flatten but I'm still a bit confused about that.

    oksamurai
    oksamurai
    Legend
    January 27, 2017

    Flattening is only really relevant in PSD files. So a lot of times I might have 20+ layers for the background face - skin, shadows, highlights, hair, ears, etc - if I flattened all those to one layer instead of 20, that's going to make things easier for CH to run. Illustrator works differently, so it's probably best to leave all those default <path> <shape> etc layers as they are.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices