3d layers, and layer order…??? Irritating…

[Steve Roberts]

Do you have any 2D layers between 3D layers? That can screw up things a bit.

If not, consider that layers stacking order is irrelevant with 3D layers. X,Y,Z-position is all that matters. Have you checked the Z-position of your layers?

[April Henderson]

Well this issue happens to me all the time. Even when all layers a switched 3d. I find myself pushing way way way back in Z space to make a layer appear behind another and I realize it’s just the comp order that is influencing it’s appearance.

In the one comp in question am doing now. I do have a one precomp somewhere in the middle which I also turned into a 3d layer.

No I don’t think I have any non 3d layers.

[Steve Roberts]

Can you switch off Open GL?

Other than that … it’s weird. Never seen it. Sorry I can’t help.

Anybody else?

[Darby Edelen]

Can you upload a picture with the timeline, position properties and comp preview visible?

The visibility of 3D layers should be determined strictly by their positions unless you have 2D layers that lie in between 3D layers in the timeline.

Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA

[Scott Geersen]

I’ve been having this same issue but only in CS3. Stacking order of 3d layers seems to be determined by order in the timeline, not z position. It’s frustrasting me!!! Any solutions?
I’ve been using AE for years and

[Frank Weber]

I think I’ve found the answer, or at least one answer:

Check if you have – Layer Styles – attached to the layer and delete them if you do. possibly brought in from Photoshop. This is a new ability in AE-CS3 and explains why it’s a new problem.
Having Layer Styles on a layer disables the depth sorting, I think.
Worked for me.

[April Henderson]

I’m glad someone knows what am talking about.
I haven’t really been importing from photoshop. But I have been making photoshop image sequences. Do they have “styles” attached to them? Where does one disable them.

I’ll wait till I get another one of these situtaions and then I am going to upload some screen shots.

[Scott Geersen]

I haven’t got any photoshop layers or layer styles, just solids and illustrator layers (also none of which have effects or styles).
i can reproduce the problem with two solids in an empty comp – nothing else, just create solid x 2, click 3d switch, select the topmost one in the stack, push it back in z, and… it shrinks, but stays on top of the other one. what the heck??? seriously. weird.

[April Henderson]

Well i’m glad am not the only one. We all know how it should be theoretically. So adobe should really fix that bug!
I hate when I got about 50 layers and it is critically important to get some other layer in exactly the right position. However, it seems even more complicated when there is a nested composition. The layers just won’t stick to their 3d location.

[Frank Weber]

Roll out the Layer properties on the left hand side.
You should have
-Transform
-Material Options
-Layer Style – Which you can delete

Also, make sure that the layers are not Smart Objects, AE can’t seem to sort their depth either.

So rasterise them in photoshop, but AE will retain the layer settings unless you re-import.

I’ve had “Layer Styles” on layers that didn’t have any “Styles” in photoshop… Weird.