Masks not working as expected in Animate

[janit20251950]

I am trying to mask a layer with another, but for some reason it works properly in one frame and then in next it does not. The one that is not working seems to have the mask layer downscaled if compared to the original. But if I view the mask layer it is exactly the same as the original. So I have three layers. 1. mask layer, 2. layer with highlights, 3. fill layer that is the same as mask layer.

                            Mask is downscaled or something odd

[Nicktendo28]

See if this tutorial helps you. https://youtu.be/8GHoAFeTYQc

[janit20251950]

Thanks.

I am aware of how to create a mask. So this is not really helpful. Normally it works just fine for me. But in this case it just stops working as expected in the middle of a scene/sequence. Maybe it`s a brush thing or some other setting that I have accidentally switched on. 

I have to admit that I don`t like how the masking works in general in Animate... Why on earth does it lock the layers? And why can`t I see the result without layers being locked? It`s a pain in the ass to adjust anything... Maybe I am just missing something, but it sure ain`t very intuitive or fluent to use. 

[anapixie]

I have the same issue ! it masks one thing perfectly, and in next keyframe, it just makes the thing itself disappear !. how did you solve it?

[kglad]

this is too late to help @janit20251950 , but layers lock because any changes you make to the mask or masked layers after setting the mask, may mess up.  ie, if you unlock (and that's the only way to make changes), you're risking failure.

to remedy, create your mask layer (with all its keyframes and tweens), do the same with the masked layer(s), then convert your layers to mask and masked.