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Group

Intro​

Collect Layers to organise them and/or create a common transform.

Groups are useful to perform several tasks including:

  • Transform several Shapes together.
  • Organise the Layers in a Composition.
  • Pass Shape transforms through to the Duplicator (the Duplicator ignores transforms for Input Shapes by design but by grouping animating objects and then adding the Group as an Input Shape the duplicates will animate).

UI​

Common Attributes +

  • Blending and Opacity Mode - Determine how Shapes within the Group visually combine with each other:
    • Artboard - The Group's Blend Mode will only affect the Shapes within the Group – Opacity affects all Shapes as one.
    • Individual Shapes - The Group's Blend Mode will also affect Shapes outside the Group. Opacity affects each Shape individually.

Once a Group exists in the Composition, Layers can be dragged in to add them to the Group or dragged out to remove them.

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Use the Cmd/Ctrl + G shortcut to group selected Layers. Use Shift + Cmd/Ctrl + G to un-group.

Interacting with Groups in the Viewport​

  • Using the Select tool, click + drag any Shape within a Group to transform the entire contents of the Group.
  • Drill down to select Shapes within the Group's hierarchy by:
    • Double clicking a Shape within the Group.
    • Right clicking a Shape within the Group in the Viewport and choose Select Hierarchy. A list of parents within that Shape's hierarchy will be available to select.
    • S + click a Shape within a Group to select it directly, regardless of hierarchy level.
  • When a Group is selected, a bounding box, annotated with the Group's layer name will appear in the Viewport. Note that this does not apply where non-Group Layers (e.g. Shapes) are parents.
  • Non-drawables (e.g Behaviours) that form part of a hierarchy are ignored.
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Other Shapes at the same hierarchy level as the selected Shape can be selected with a single click.