Animation layer stack

 
 
 

Animation layers are stacked in the Animation Layer Editor in the order that you create them. By default, layers are stacked bottom-to-top, meaning new layers are added at the top of the layer pane, and existing layers are pushed down.

If you prefer, you can change the stack to display layers top-to-bottom, with new layers being added at the bottom of the layer pane. (See Change the animation layer stack display.)

Important

In this documentation, the default stack display is assumed.

No matter which way you choose to display the stack, the animation layers are always effectively stacked on top of the BaseAnimation.

Order of evaluation

You can reorganize layers by changing the order of individual layers in the stack (see Reorder and parent animation layers), although it’s important to first understand the ways this can affect your result animation.

Changing the order of layers in the stack changes the order in which Maya calculates the result animation. If none of your layers share the same attributes, the order of evaluation does not matter, and re-ordering layers does not change the result.

If you have keyframed the same attributes on more than one layer, the following layer modes can affect your result animation when you re-order the layers:

In addition, re-ordering layers that share attributes can affect which layer receives keyframes. In all three layer keying modes, the order of layers in the stack can influence the order in which Maya considers them for receiving keyframes. For more information on each keying mode and how Maya manages which layers receive keyframes, see Key in Selected Layer(s), Key in Last Active Layer(s), and Hybrid in the Options menu.

Animation layer hierarchy

You can parent and unparent animation layers to create a hierarchy in the stack, letting you organize and group your animation layers logically. See Parent and unparent animation layers.

If you organize your layers into hierarchies, it is important to note that the state of the parent layer can affect the child layer in the following ways: