object Z-orders on screen

[superp]

I am writing 2d game.
In my scene, at the bottom, i have NGUI panel depth 1 and have a few buttons.
On top of that i have Unity's game object with animator that plays animation. it is in NGUI's panel with depth 2.
On top of that, i have NGUI's panel depth 3 that sometimes serve as pop up. It shows a sprite with message.

The problem i am having is that the panel's depth doesn't seem to apply to the animator object. it is always shown on the top of other panels.

Is there a way to make Unity game object to follow the panel depth order?
thanks

[ArenMook]

Which camera is it seen with? For depth to function they must all be drawn using the same camera.

[superp]

there is only one camera and all objects are at the same layer

[ArenMook]

Make sure the event type is of UI type, like 3D UI. if it's 3D World then it's not going to be based on Depth.