I am building a "paper doll" type figure that you can dress with appropriate clothing and gear for various work scenarios. The man is on the base layer, and each piece of clothing or equipment is on its own layer. I have visual representations of the gear activated by sliders and radio buttons. When I trigger to show layers I want to add multiple pieces onto to the base object. However, it is just showing the new layer and blanking out everything on the base layer. Help!
Looks like the file that you shared was missing the triggers that you were referring to:
Would you mind sharing an updated copy of your project file that contains the 'Show Layer' triggers that you've setup so we can take a look a why they aren't working as expected?
You have two problems; The layers have a filled background, which hides the other layers and the base, and the base (in a separate manner) is hidden to the layers.
There is an easy solution to the filled background on the layers - you go to the master and change it. I tried that, and couldn't find the master you are using. The first master says it is being used by three slides, (even though there is only one slide) but none of the layouts say they are being used. I think that may be a left-over artifact from taking this slide out of the project. If it isn't, you have a huge corruption problem. Assuming that those things are all right in your original, you can change the background by going to the Feedback Master (push f5), select the Background Styles drop down and choose Format background. Set it to No fill, and apply to all. That should change all the layers that use that layout. (Sometimes changing the Master doesn't change layers that are already created. In that case, you right-click on each layer, apply a different layout to it, then re-apply the layout you want.)
The problem with the base not showing is easier to fix.
Open any layer, and in the lower right corner, click the visibility icon of the base layer to make base objects visible. They will then be visible to all the layers.
I hope to goodness you need all those masters, because there are so many of them that making any change is very slow. In the past, I have seen projects crash under the weight of a lot of masters.
SL file with triggers is attached. Sorry about that! I was able to make the layers transparent by changing the master per Walt Hamilton. Thank you! Still having a couple of challenges though. On the checkboxes, I need to be able to hide the layer if the box is unchecked. Can't quite figure that out though. I've tried states, conditions, triggers...doesn't work. Once the layer is shown, it stays on no matter what. Similar issue with my sliders. Once I select an option it stays on. I need my option one to hide if option two is selected. Help! Thank you.
ALSO... I thought that the order of the layers would hold up in the final display. For example, the shirts need to be "tucked in" the jeans, so the jeans layer is on top of the shirts layer. HOWEVER, what's happening is that whatever option is clicked supercedes the previous one. HELP!
Two principles will help you here: It doesn't hurt to hide a layer that isn't showing. So I changed the triggers on the shirt slider. If it is one, it shows one shirt, if it is three, it shows the other, and if it is two, it hides them both. You can make those same changes to the other sliders.
The other principle is what you stated - The last chosen layer shows on top. So I gave the shirt layers some extra triggers to show the pants again, if the pants are already showing. That moves them to the top. You will have to do something similar with any of the layers you want to be on top. Decide what is supposed to cover what and under what conditions, and you can go from there.
For the checkboxes, I created a variable for each one, but I wrote the triggers only for the hardhat.
Thank you so much for the assistance. You were truly a lifesaver here. I've attached my "final" file in case you would like to see the results. I definitely learned a LOT working on this project. The only strange thing that remains is that I have to click the submit button twice to get the slide to reload and reset the selections. Again, I am eternally grateful.
It really looks good. I don't know what the deal with the restart is. It seems to work the first time, but not after that. I set it to restart the slide, rather than the course. Restarting resets all the variables in the course, while restarting the slide doesn't reset any of them. To offset that, I had to build triggers to reset those connected with this slide.
FWIW, I would create a Reset button, rather than use Submit, which has other meaning in quiz slides. It carries the idea of "Check my work". I built one, but it had the same problem restarting the course.
10 Replies
It is likely that the layer has a colored background, even if you didn't put it there.
Also layer properties default to hide other layers, and you will want to change that.
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Hi Tal,
Looks like the file that you shared was missing the triggers that you were referring to:
Would you mind sharing an updated copy of your project file that contains the 'Show Layer' triggers that you've setup so we can take a look a why they aren't working as expected?
You have two problems; The layers have a filled background, which hides the other layers and the base, and the base (in a separate manner) is hidden to the layers.
There is an easy solution to the filled background on the layers - you go to the master and change it. I tried that, and couldn't find the master you are using. The first master says it is being used by three slides, (even though there is only one slide) but none of the layouts say they are being used. I think that may be a left-over artifact from taking this slide out of the project. If it isn't, you have a huge corruption problem. Assuming that those things are all right in your original, you can change the background by going to the Feedback Master (push f5), select the Background Styles drop down and choose Format background. Set it to No fill, and apply to all. That should change all the layers that use that layout. (Sometimes changing the Master doesn't change layers that are already created. In that case, you right-click on each layer, apply a different layout to it, then re-apply the layout you want.)
The problem with the base not showing is easier to fix.
Open any layer, and in the lower right corner, click the visibility icon of the base layer to make base objects visible. They will then be visible to all the layers.
I hope to goodness you need all those masters, because there are so many of them that making any change is very slow. In the past, I have seen projects crash under the weight of a lot of masters.
SL file with triggers is attached. Sorry about that! I was able to make the layers transparent by changing the master per Walt Hamilton. Thank you! Still having a couple of challenges though. On the checkboxes, I need to be able to hide the layer if the box is unchecked. Can't quite figure that out though. I've tried states, conditions, triggers...doesn't work. Once the layer is shown, it stays on no matter what. Similar issue with my sliders. Once I select an option it stays on. I need my option one to hide if option two is selected. Help! Thank you.
Done! Thanks!
ALSO... I thought that the order of the layers would hold up in the final display. For example, the shirts need to be "tucked in" the jeans, so the jeans layer is on top of the shirts layer. HOWEVER, what's happening is that whatever option is clicked supercedes the previous one. HELP!
Two principles will help you here: It doesn't hurt to hide a layer that isn't showing. So I changed the triggers on the shirt slider. If it is one, it shows one shirt, if it is three, it shows the other, and if it is two, it hides them both. You can make those same changes to the other sliders.
The other principle is what you stated - The last chosen layer shows on top. So I gave the shirt layers some extra triggers to show the pants again, if the pants are already showing. That moves them to the top. You will have to do something similar with any of the layers you want to be on top. Decide what is supposed to cover what and under what conditions, and you can go from there.
For the checkboxes, I created a variable for each one, but I wrote the triggers only for the hardhat.
Thank you so much for the assistance. You were truly a lifesaver here. I've attached my "final" file in case you would like to see the results. I definitely learned a LOT working on this project. The only strange thing that remains is that I have to click the submit button twice to get the slide to reload and reset the selections. Again, I am eternally grateful.
Tal,
It really looks good. I don't know what the deal with the restart is. It seems to work the first time, but not after that. I set it to restart the slide, rather than the course. Restarting resets all the variables in the course, while restarting the slide doesn't reset any of them. To offset that, I had to build triggers to reset those connected with this slide.
FWIW, I would create a Reset button, rather than use Submit, which has other meaning in quiz slides. It carries the idea of "Check my work". I built one, but it had the same problem restarting the course.
it seem to be a storyline bug with the "Initial position" of slider* and "Reset to initial state" of the slide
no problems with Check Boxes
so this works:
* but they are not fired on restart