Layer parenting flipped symbols bug

[Robert293087251n1a]

Hi there.

I have the latest version of Animate, but I am forced to use version 2021.0.9 because that is the last version that does not have this bug. I believe it is a side effect of the "scale, skew and flip propagation" added to layer parenting. (And no, ticking/unticking that option has no effect)

When I create the parts for a character, I have them all as different frames in the one symbol. If the characters are symmetrical, as they often are, I don't create separate images for, say, the right and left hands. I draw the left hand, and then I copy that symbol and flip it (-100% x scale) to use it as the right hand. I'm sure a lot of animators do the same. I animate with layer parenting and Motion Tweens, with the body parts on separate layers, and have never had an issue with this.

But if I open any of my projects with Animate version 2022 or later, any layer parenting structure that utilises flipped symbols is destroyed - the flipped symbols are suddenly at the wrong angle. And with the amount of keyframing they've undergone, it's an impossible task to correct it - I would have to essentially reanimate it all to fix every keyframe. And it seems that combining layer parenting and Motion Tweens suddenly doesn't work at all, even if I try and redo it from scratch - if it's a child layer, the symbol changes angle on the second frame of the Motion Tween, regardless of whether it's flipped or not, and even when no keyframes have been added.

I keep updating to the latest version of Animate and opening one of my projects with it to see if this has been corrected, but it still hasn't. I can't imagine that other users don't have this problem as well, but I've searched and haven't found it addressed anywhere.

Can anyone reproduce this? I have dozens of projects that open with the animation fully intact in v2019 and if you open the same project in any later version, the animation is wrecked.

Any help or information is greatly appreciated.

[kglad]

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[Mario_CR]

The devs have done a lot of tweaks to the parenting feature in recent releases so older files that used parenting from previous builds will never be 100% compatible with newer versions. I would try to use classic tweens only, I reported the motion tween bug some time ago. In the meantime, I know you already said this isn't an option, but if you start a project from scratch and stick to classic tweens you can mostly avoid these rotation issues.

[Robert293087251n1a]

I'm sure they have done a lot of tweaks to layer parenting - I'm sure it's even better in other ways, which is the real disappointment. But ever since these tweaks, Motion Tweens no longer work with layer parenting and this is a serious bug. I can't be the only one using Motion Tweens to animate characters - they are far more versatile and quicker to animate with than Classic Tweens. I've submitted another bug report - I guess that's all we can do - and I'll just keep checking the latest release for any improvement.

Thanks for letting me know it's not just me 🙂

[n. tilcheff]

Hi mate,

I'm sorry about all the trouble.

Obviously, if a program offers a feature it is supposed to work as expected.

I think that the reason such a serious bug with Motion Tweens could be neglected for so long is the fact that nearly no one touches them at all. You must be a part of a tiny minority of users, who have found some practical application of Motion Tweens.

What you said about Classic Tween gives me the impression that you may have not explored them properly, or maybe your use cases are very specific. Classic Tweens have been used in the production of broadcast animation for a very long time and they are easy to apply and versatile, because of the way keyframes work there.

Since you already have a lot of animation done with Motion Tweens, I don't have any suggestions how you could convert those FLAs to the newer format.

In recent years Animate has had a lot of problems, and by looking at how things go it seems that corners are being cut, with the result of nearly non-existent QA.

Going forward, it may be worth giving Classic Tweens a second chance.

Good luck!

[arvind_bv]

We could not reproduce the issue at our end. Can you please share the FLA file with us? We will investigate the same. Thanks!

[arvind_bv]

please mail the FLA to abv@adobe.com 

[Robert293087251n1a]

OK, I've sent an example FLA to that address. (I tried to attach it here also, but it wouldn't let me)

If you open the same project in Animate 2021 (or earlier) and any later version, there's a difference:

Animate 2021 - no issue

Later Animate - the right arm and leg flip position on the second frame, despite there being no keyframes added to the Motion Tweens.

Thank you for investigating this issue!

[kglad]

(fla's can't be attached here.)

[Robert293087251n1a]

I guess not. I thought that was odd, given that it's listed as one of the "valid file types":

The file type (.zip) is not supported. Valid file types are: 8bf, abf, abr, act, aep, afm, ai, arw, as, ase, avi, bmp, book, cel, cfc, chproj, cptx, cr2, cr3, crf, crw, css, csv, dn, dng, doc, docx, eps, epub, exif, fbx, fla, flac, flv, fm, gif, icma, icml, ico, ics, idml, indd, jpeg, jpg, jsfl, json, log, loss, lrcat, lrtemplate, m4a, mif, mov, mp3, mp4, mpg, nef, nrw, obj, odt, orf, otc, otf, pdf, pfb, pfm, pmd, png, ppj, ppt, pptx, prc, prel, prproj, ps, psb, psd, raf, raw, rtf, sbs, sbsar, sbsm, scc, ses, sesx, skp, sol, srt, srw, ssa, stl, svg, swf, tif, ttc, ttf, txt, wav, wmv, x3f, xd, xls, xlsx, xml, xmp.

Maybe that list needs an update.