How do I unapply an FX stack?

[sharonkatz]

How do I unapply an FX stack? I searched the manual for "delete FX stack", "disable FX stack", "unapply FX stack" etc. but can't find the answer.
I've got an anim layer with some painted frames. I choose an FX from the Menu Bar > Effects, say Historgram, and make the adjustment. The preview looks good so I Apply FX Stack to the frames. I save the Project.

Now say I've changed my mind and don't want that FX applied to those same frames anymore. Is it possible to get the FX Stack effect off those frames?

I've tried a number of things like unchecking the FX, resetting or deleting it (FX Options), but can't seem to get it off the frames.

Thanks for your help!
Sharon

[ZigOtto]

Hello Sharon,

during a WIP, when working with the FX-stack, I always appy FXs on a duplicated animLayer, (hiding the original one),
so I keep track of all my steps, and can recover my animlayer in its "without FX" previous state,
imo, it's a good habit to take, allowing the artist any repentance at any time ...

[Paul Fierlinger]

I practice the same precautions on all levels of production when working with TVP. Just think of what you are trying to do; it's as if you animated 5 seconds of a character, closed tvp, opened it the next day and wondered why you can't undo everything. Another simple precaution to take is to just duplicate the whole clip in the Project Tab -- it's easy and fast to make a duplicate there and you always have the virgin form to revert to. I go further than that: I have subscribed to Carbonite -- for $60 a year you never have to loose anything and to retrieve it is as simple as opening another HD in your computer.

[malcooning]

Apart from online backup, I also take the above mentioned precautions.
Always duplicating a layer before applying FX, and always duplicating a clip before merging some layers together.
When the magic of non-destructive bitmap technology hits the streets I'll happily forego those habits.

[sharonkatz]

Thanks for the info folks. I'll save versions and do backups before applying FX !

[Paul Fierlinger]

At one point I had my TVP automated backups set to 99 and it came in handy a few times. Now, with Carbonite I have it set to only 10 automated backups because by the time I get circled from # 10 to # 1 again, Carbonite has #1 safely in the cloud. But not just that; every TVP automated backup gets an original name because it includes in the name the date, hour, minute and second. By the time I'm finished with the project there may be 100 backups forever saved in the cloud.

This too has paid off when I once stupidly renamed an entire project consisting of about twelve clips (weeks of animating) with a name of an already existing project. This means I wiped that whole project out with one click and I found this out days after it had happened. I went by the dates backward and found the backup in Carbonite. It's a fantastic convenience and it happens automatically while you work -- you never have to think about it.