Order of layers/levels of animation

General Discussions
1

Ok, so, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been on this discussion board, but I’m just wondering, when I put, say, three rough drawing levels/layers along with the background sketch in front of the camera, should I put the first level that I would label “A” above the camera layer or under it? The level/layer order should go something like this: A, B, C, and the background.

Prior to when computers came around, you had up to five drawing or cel levels with the background, so the background had to be at the bottom whereas, say, layer E, which is the fifth drawing or cel level, had to be placed on top of the background and levels D, C, B, would go on top of level E. Level A would go on the top facing the camera lens.

Hopefully someone can help me with this minor problem. Thank you. :slightly_smiling_face:

2

The position of the camera layer has no effect on the rendering or anything else so you may put it wherever you like. Personally I usually keep it at the bottom because that is the most out of the way position, but the top is probably the most intuitive place for it.

As for the ordering of layers, if you want to think of it like traditional cels, the top cel layer should be the top non-camera layer in Pencil2D as the opaque parts of that layer will block all layers below it. The second layer should go just below that, and so forth, with the bottommost layer in Pencil2D typically being a background layer.

I hope this answers your question, if not feel free to elaborate.

1 Like
3

Thank you very much.