Layers

Reference

Mode:

All Modes

Panel:

Object Data tab ‣ Layers

Shortcut:

Y

Layers List

Grease Pencil Layers panel.

Grease Pencil objects each have a list of 2D layers for grouping and arranging strokes in a List view. Any stroke can only belong to a single 2D layer. There is always only one active layer in the list (the selected one). When you draw, the new strokes are added to the active layer. By default the view order of the layers in the viewport is top to bottom.

Every layer correspond to a channel in the Dope Sheet editor (in Grease Pencil mode). See Dope Sheet for more information.

Layers can also be used together with Modifiers to only affects part of your drawing. See Modifiers for more information.

In Grease Pencil there are no special mask layers, any layer can act as a mask for other layers. The mask system is flexible enough to allow top-bottom and bottom-top masking.

Layers used as mask can use all the blend modes and different opacity values like any other layer.

Note

If you want to make a full transparent masking you will have to set the mask layer(s) opacity to 0.

By activating the mask toggle (mask icon) next to the layer name or using the checkbox on the masks panel header the layer becomes prepared to be masked by other layer(s).

Tip

Sometimes the layers you are not working on can be a distraction. Activate Fade Inactive Layers in overlays to control the opacity of the non-active layers. See Overlays for more information.

Next to the layer name there are four icons buttons that control common properties of the layer:

Use Mask (mask icon)

Toggle the affect of Masks on the layer.

Onion Skinning (onion skin icon)

Toggle using the layer for Onion Skinning.

Hide (eye icon)

Toggle layer visibility in the viewport and in render.

Lock (padlock icon)

Toggle layer from being editable.

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Layer Specials

Operators for working with layers.

Duplicate

Makes an exact copy of the selected layer appending a number to differentiate its name.

Duplicate Empty Keyframes

Makes a copy of the selected layer but with empty keyframes. Useful to easily have empty keyframes preset to work on the cleanup or filling process.

Show All

Turns on the visibility of every layer in the list.

Hide Others

Turns off the visibility of every layer in the list except the active one.

Lock All

Locks edition of all the layers in the list.

Unlock All

Unlocks edition of all the layers in the list.

Autolock Inactive Layer

Locks automatically the edition of every layer in the list except the active one. This way you avoid to make unwanted changes in other layers without the need to lock them every time.

Use Locked Materials Editing

Avoids editing locked materials in the layer. When disabled, any material can be edited even if they are locked in the material list.

Copy Layer to Selected

Copy the active layer to the selected Grease Pencil object.

Copy All Layers to Selected

Copy all layers to the selected Grease Pencil object.

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Below the layers list there are additional settings:

Blend Mode

The layer blending operation to perform. See Color Blend Modes.

Opacity

Used to set the opacity of the layer.

Lights

When enabled, the layer is affected by lights.

Masks

Masks list view.

The layer/s that will act as mask of the current layer could be added to the Mask list view.

In the Masks list next to the layers name there are two icons buttons that control common properties of the layer mask:

Invert (mask icon)

Inverts the mask.

Viewport/Render Visibility (eye icon)

Toggle layer visibility in the viewport and in render.

Mask (green circle) samples.

Original image (Blend: Regular, Opacity: 1).

Blend: Hard Light, Opacity: 1.

Blend: Regular, Opacity: 1.

Transform

Allows per-layer location, rotation and scale transformations.

Relations

Parent

Select a Parent object to manipulate the layer. The layer will inherit the transformations of the parent, this is especially useful when rigging for cut-out animation.

Pass Index

The layer index number can be used with some modifiers to restrict changes to only certain areas.

See Modifiers for more information.

View Layer

Defines the View Layer to use for the Grease Pencil layer. If empty, the layer will be included in all View Layers. This is useful to separate drawings parts for compositing.

Use Masks in Render

If disabled, no masks on the layer are included in the view layer render.