Connections to value nodes are not sensibly preserved when copying layers. This is an issue I specifically encountered when trying to copy a group of layers that were used to follow a spline, though it may occur in other instances. To set up, replicate the steps of the “Brushes” tutorial in the wiki:
• Create a spline.
• Create a shape of any kind, then insert that shape into a group layer. The shape I chose was a star, so I’ll refer to that layer as “Star” from now on.
• Click the star’s origin handle.
• Right click on the spline, then select “Link to spline”.
• Above the Star layer, create a duplicate layer (under “New Layer” -> “Other”, do not just copy the layer).
• Click on the duplicate layer and expand the “Index” parameters. Change the parameters as follows: From=0, To=1, Step=0.05.
• Click the value node in the Library. It’s called Index 1, but I renamed it to “Old VBN” for easier reference.
• Click the Star layer. Under shape parameters, click “Origin” -> “Amount”, then right-click and select “Connect”.
• Group all layers. Call this top-level group layer “Original stars” or something similar for reference.
You now should have 20 copies of a star following the spline, neatly contained within one group layer. All of the above steps are fine and as far as I know don’t contribute to the issue. Things go wrong, however, when you select the “Original stars” layer and duplicate (copy) it. When this is done, a new value node is created but this node is not connected to anything. Click on the copy of the shape and under parameters, “Origin” -> “Amount” and you will see it is still connected to the old value node, “Old VBN”! The origin must then be manually connected to the new value node.
Although this is just a minor inconvenience for a simple example like this, it gets to be a major problem when many different splines are being followed within the group layer to be copied. I am working on a large project that involves four value nodes per object. Each time I duplicate the object, I must identify the new value nodes and connect them. I’m planning on creating over 100 such objects, so fixing this bug would be a huge time-saver for me!
I tried submitting this to the issue tracker, but I got an “{‘error’:null}” message when I attempted to file it. Do I need to make an account there? If anyone would like to copy the above text and submit it to the issue tracker, I’d much appreciate it.
