Index mode and ordering

Let's take a look at what the Instancer actually does when we instantiate a Template. The Instancer constitutes a stack in which the sources are stacked on top of each other, just like if you were stacking dozens of elements yourself. So it’s the same notion of layer order that you manage in the Timeline stack.

Picture

Layers are defined by their index, so it’s only logical to have access to an Index Mode option. The principle is still to overlay graphic sources, but the question is in which order?

  • Forward: starts with the first instance and then adds the next one on top, and so on
  • Backward: draws the last instance of the list first, then moves it up
  • Shuffle: draws the instances in a pseudo-random order defined by its Seed.

This last option is very useful if you need to simulate a very random distribution of a deck of cards on a table: