Master layers......outline preview....

**morphonius_821** · 24 March 2009, 07:39 AM

Often when doing complicated work it happens that we (i do anyway) end up with many layers...
And sometimes it can get tricky and complicated juggling between them...whilst also tracing raster art for example and perhaps also needing to see how much work has been done on another layer (so as not to double up, when switching this layer on can obscure what your looking at also)....

So to make working with layers easier i would like to see a new icon in the layer palette (perhaps on the Right hand side) that would be like a "ghost preview".

That is that you could apply this ghost mode to any layer and what it would do would be take the outlines only for all the objects on this layer and have them always superimposed on top with a ghost water mark type effect....

I think this would be very handy whist working with layers... as you could work on one layer and have other layers previewed but not interfereing with your current work....
Also i think if you previewed more than one layer in this way each layer would be previewed in a different colour.....

i.E this preview would not display any of the colours of the actual outlines of the objects on the layers that were being previewed but would just be a ghost representation to show where objects on this layer were situated...

having the ability to preview other layers whilst working on another...

**Albacore** · 24 March 2009, 10:01 AM

David do you mean something like this. This was a snapshot of an Illustrator file showing the Layers Palette for the drawing. Many times members have asked for improvements in the Layers Gallery and including nested layers. If you asked for an improvement in the layers gallery you would certainly have my agreement it is now old and really not fit for purpose in modern graphic design.

**MarkMyWords** · 24 March 2009, 01:40 PM

Not exactly sure what you mean, but anything that gives us better layers will get my vote.

**morphonius_821** · 24 March 2009, 02:22 PM

ok.. i will try to explain it better...
Its not exactly a general update of the layers palette that im proposing...
Although this would be nice too obviously...

What im proposing is a new way to view the contents of a layer...

When enabled... this view would:
1) show all the objects on this layer as outlines only (regardless of weather or not they had outline applied).
2) all fill, stroke settings and colour would be totally ignored for all the objects on this layer in this view....just a skeleton outline of every object would be rendered in the same one pixel thin hair line.
3) this view would render this skeleton outline always ontop of the display and in a faint water mark appearance... so as to be visible but unobtrusive.
4) this would be in addition to its normal display status not instead of it! in that it would be an independent thing. a separate render!

So you could preview (with respect to only where objects were etc.) the contents of any layer without changing the current view status of your current layers....

This would aid greatly when creating very complex designs as it can get very confusing and often you end up with perhaps one colour being on two layers for example with some overlays ETC and doubling up can occur ETc...
Being able to essentially see the skeleton of another layer superimposed over the top of where you are working would mean you could quickly preview were you were at....when working straddled across many layers.

**handrawn** · 24 March 2009, 03:43 PM

the general idea reminds me of a virtual light table in animation programs - where you can order the way you view the frames [layers] independent to the order in which they are actually stacked

that combined with view quality tickable on a layer basis, in the same way visibility and editability are now, would be close?

often, in the light table scenario, different frames are tinted different colors as you suggest

**morphonius_821** · 24 March 2009, 10:15 PM

I'm not exactly familiar with the example your referring to but it sounds like there is similar ideas out there...
Also the idea of having individual layers have individual and separate transparency options would be nice...

Even a tick box that blanket makes this layer transparent by a fixed amount would be useful and appreciated. but if they were visiting this it would be a shame no to go the extra inch and allow permanent modifiers for transparency of individual layers by %age perhaps (why not).

Not so much to compete with the transparency settings proper but when working with many layers the ability to see through a layer temporarily whist working would have its uses...

**steve.ledger** · 24 March 2009, 10:40 PM

Or even something like a ghost view (85% transparent) overlay of inactive layers?
That could be useful.

**pauland** · 24 March 2009, 10:58 PM

Flash allows users to display objects as outlines, which I think is what you are asking for.
It's possible to do this for a layer, or groups of nested layers.

In the attached example, the top layer has outlines on. Each layer has a different outline colour. In reality there are two overlapping grey rectangles.

**morphonius_821** · 25 March 2009, 01:59 AM

Yes this would suffice but the wire frame render would have to be..
1) a seperate render (independent to weather or not this layer was visible)
&
2) always on top

As the whole idea is to have this function be kind of a quick preview of an individual layer...

The ability to make a whole layer transparent for a similar reason would also be handy but not as a replacement to this feature, as in this case the transparent layer would not necessarily be on top and even if it were in the case of very complicated designs this would often not make things any clearer...
But it would be a very useful feature anyway...

Both improvements would be welcome however.... for different reasons...

**pauland** · 25 March 2009, 07:17 AM

What do you mean by "render" in this context? The wire rame representation I mentioned for flash is only available in the edit environment, not final "render".

I don't see why a wire view would always have to be on top. I would say that they should not always be on top - being able to see the visual effect of layering is important - to know hether something is above or below is important.

You also mention a preview. Is the editing environment not sufficient as a preview?

I've worked with a lot of layers with flash and a fairly basic wireframe view works well. Many Xara users don't even use layers.. :-/