Parenting relative to playhead?

[snazzyjer13]

I feel like something changed - in the past, if Layer A had 2 keyframes scaling from 100% down to 0 , then I added Layer B (which is defaulted at 100% scale), placed the playhead AFTER the scaling keyframes (so Layer A is gone, scaled to 0) then I parented B to A, the result would be that B would scale in tandem with A, but since the playhead was positioned after the scaling, if I went back to the first keyfram position Layer B would now start at 200% and scale down to 100 by looking at the keyframes on Layer A.

This is no longer working. As soon as I parent Layer B to A, it's immediately absorbing the keyframe info and B disappears.

This parenting used to depend on where the playhead was, which I found very useful. 

Am I missing something? I feel like this is a new issue for me. As soon as I parent anything to a layer with existing keyframes, it's taking on the current properties regardless of playhead position

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi,

Thanks for the question. See if this post answers your question: https://adobe.ly/41DEQgZ. Let us know!

Thanks,
Kevin

[snazzyjer13]

Thanks for the response!

No, this post doesn't address it. I'm not using shift+parent, just pickwhipping one layer to the other without touching the keys. Seems specific to scale - if the keyframes of the parent are position keyframes, the behavior is normal. But if the parent layer has scale keyframes, it's causing strange behavior to the child IF the playhead is after the keyframes when the layers are parented. 

Added a screen recording - when playhead is at the beginning of the scale keyframes, the two layers interact normally once parented. But if the playhead is after the keyframes, suddenly the child position is thrown off even though neither of the layer's properties change.

I feel like it used to be that if I did this same parenting with the playhead after the scale keyframes, the child would remain in position, but would scale from 200% down to 100% following the parent layer's keyframes, etc. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi,

The product team asks if you are parenting to a layer with a scale of 0. They are wondering if scaling it to .1 and then parenting will still exhibit the issue. Let them know.

I hope we can get to the bottom of this issue shortly.

Thanks,
Kevin

[snazzyjer13]

Thank you - unfortunately, changing the scale to .1 instead of 0 reveals another issue (though I'm assuming related somehow). See screen recording below - if playhead is after the scale keyframes on the parent layer when I apply the parenting, the child layer's scale properties jump to 100000% even though the shape doesn't visibly change (I was unaware you could even scale that high??). But now when I move the playhead back, you can see the shape basically disappear because its scale is in the hundred-thousands and it flies off the screen... When I try a different scale amnt, like .5%, then it changes the child properties to a different % as if it's adding some strange math into the process.

Position on child layer is also changing to match the parent layer's anchor point, even though it doesn't move (just the numbers are changing). 

I'm DM-ing you a project file, if it's helpful. Using the latest version of Ae I believe (25.4.0). On a Mac Studio, OS Sonoma 14.5 - that is not the latest update, so obvs that's a great place to start, regardless - but I'd be curious if my project file reveals anything on your end. 

[snazzyjer13]

One thing to add: (again, Parent layer has only 2 scale keyframes from 100% to 0% and the issue is happening when I bring the playhead to the last/2nd keyframe or after...) I've discovered that if i back the playhead up even one frame before that second keyframe before parenting the layer, all works normally. If I have the playhead anywhere between those keyframes at the time I parent the layer, it works normally. It's only if playhead is on or after that second scale keyframe that it either throws the position of the child layer off or, if scale on parent goes to .1% for example, it changes the child scale to 100000% inexplicably.

[snazzyjer13]

Apologies for the quick double-post...

I take it back - it's still behaving strangely... let me know if you see anything from the project file that is useful in this regard. Thanks for attempting to investigate!