ptg 140 Chapter 8 You can delete a layer group and its layers or merely disband the group while preserving the layers. To delete or disband a layer group: On the Layers panel, do one of the following: Click a group to be deleted, click the Delete Layer button, then in the alert dialog, click Group Only or Group and Contents. Or to quickly delete a group and its contents, click the group, then press Backspace/Delete. Right-click a group and choose Delete Group from the context menu, then click either Group Only or Group and Contents. To disband a layer group without deleting the layers it contains, click the group, then press Ctrl-Shift-G/Cmd-Shift-G. e group icon disappears from the panel and the layer listings are no longer indented. Deleting individual layers To delete a layer: 1. Deselect (press Ctrl-D/Cmd-D). 2. Click the layer to be deleted, then press Backspace/Delete. ➤ Change your mind? Choose Edit > Undo or click the prior state on the History panel. ➤ Another way to delete a layer: Click the layer, click the Delete Layer button, then click Yes in the alert dialog; or to bypass the alert, simply Alt-click/Option-click the Delete Layer button. Hiding and showing layers By hiding the layers you’re not currently working on, you eliminate them as a visual distraction. Hidden layers don’t print. e instructions below apply to layers and the Background. To hide or show layers: On the Layers panel, do one of the following: To hide or show one layer or layer group, click in the visibility column. A–B e icon disappears. To hide or show multiple layers, drag upward or downward in the visibility column. To hide or show all layers and layer groups except one, Alt-click/Option-click the visibility column for the layer or layer group that you want to hide or show. B e t y p e l a y e r i s n o w h i d d e n . A Click in the visibility column to show or hide a layer. ptg Layer Basics 141 Moving layer content Follow these instructions to reposition a selected layer or group of layers with the Move tool. Note: To link layers rst so they will move as a unit, see page 307. To move layers manually: 1. On the Layers panel, do one of the following: Click a layer. Shift-click or Ctrl-click/Cmd-click multiple layers. Click a layer group. 2. Choose the Move tool or hold down V to spring-load the tool. 3. Drag in the document window. A–B If you move part of the layer or layers outside the canvas area, don’t worry — those pixels will save with the document and can be moved back into view at any time. (See “Working with pixels outside the canvas area” on page 235.) ➤ To nudge a selected layer by one pixel at a time, choose the Move tool, then press an arrow key. Or press Shift-arrow to move a layer by 10 screen pixels at a time. (Don’t press Alt-arrow/Option- arrow — unless your intention is to duplicate the layer.) ➤ For a more precise approach to repositioning layers, use the align buttons on the Options bar. See page 247. B e t y p e l a y e r w a s m o v e d d o w n w a r d . A e t y p e l a y e r i s b e i n g m o v e d w i t h t h e M o v e t o o l . USING SMART GUIDES TO ALIGN IMAGERY You can use Smart Guides to align the edge of a layer you’re moving with the edge or center of other layers. Turn on View > Show > Smart Guides, then with the Move tool, start moving a layer or layer group. Temporary magnetic guide lines will appear onscreen when the edge of the layer imagery you’re moving encounters the edge or center of nontransparent pixels, type, or a shape on another layer. To learn more about Smart Guides, see page 252. ptg 142 Chapter 8 Choosing Layers panel options You can dramatically change the appearance of a layer and the layers below it by using the blending mode and/or opacity controls. A e layer opacity control makes the layer content (e.g., imagery, brush strokes, type, shape, Smart Object, adjustments, layer eects) more or less opaque, whereas the blending mode aects how the layer content blends with underlying layers. Note: e following is a brief introduction to these two features. e blending modes are illus- trated fully on pages 192–196, and instructions for using them are given on pages 302–303. e Opacity and Fill options are compared on page 301. To change the blending mode or opacity of a layer or layer group: 1. Select one or more layers or a layer group. Note: In order to see the results of the next step, the contents of the selected layer must overlap some contents of the underlying layer. 2. Choose a blending mode from the menu in the upper left corner of the Layers panel and/or change the Opacity percentage (use the scrubby slider). e Lock Transparent Pixels button on the Layers panel prevents or allows the editing of transpar- ent pixels by any command or tool. In the follow- ing instructions, you’ll see how this option aects strokes that are applied with the Brush tool, but remember that this button also aects other edits. By default, transparent pixels on a layer are repre- sented by a gray and white checkerboard pattern. To limit edits by locking transparent pixels: 1. Click an image layer (not an editable type layer). 2. Choose the Brush tool (B or Shift-B). To change the brush diameter, press [ or ]. 3. Show the Swatches panel, then click a color. 4. On the Layers panel, click the Lock Transparent Pixels but ton, then draw brush strokes in the document. B Only nontransparent pixels can be recolored. 5. To deactivate the Lock Transparent Pixels button, click again or press /. 6. Paint on the layer again. Notice that now all the layer pixels are fair game for editing, whether they’re transparent or not. C CUSTOMIZING THE CHECKERBOARD In the Transparency Settings area of Edit/Photoshop > Preferences > Transparency & Gamut, you can change the size or color of the checkerboard pattern that rep- resents transparent pixels (or you can hide it from view by choosing None from the Grid Size menu). C With the Lock Transparent Pixels option o, brush strokes can be applied anywhere on the layer. A We chose Color Burn mode for the type layer and lowered the Opacity of the “cheese” layer to 40% (compare this image with the one on the preceding page). B With the Lock Transparent Pixels option on, our brush strokes are aecting only nontransparent pixels. ptg Layer Basics 143 Use the lock options for layers to prevent inadvertent edits as you work on other layers. To lock a layer or layer group: 1. Click a layer or layer group. 2. Click any of the following: e Lock Image Pixels button to prevent all layer pixels from being edited. You can still move the layer, as well as choose options for it, such as a blending mode, opacity level, layer eects, etc. e Lock Position button to lock only the location of the layer. e layer content (e.g., pixels, type characters, or styling) can be edited as usual. e Lock All button to prevent the layer from being moved or edited (both of the above). Unlike the other lock options, this button is also available for layer groups. When a lock button is activated for a layer, a padlock icon displays next to the layer name. A To choose thumbnail options for the Layers panel: Right-click a layer thumbnail and choose any of the following: Small umbnails, Medium umbnails, or Large umbnails. Note: Turning o thumb- nails by choosing No umbnails can help boost Photoshop’s performance, but frankly, we nd it pretty darn hard to work without them. Clip umbnails to Layer Bounds to show, in the panel thumbnails, only the area that encom- passes the opaque pixels on the layer (a useful option if your layers contain many silhouetted shapes or pixels outside the canvas area), B or Clip umbnails to Document Bounds to dis- play the whole layer in the thumbnails, includ- ing any surrounding transparent pixels that lie within the canvas area. You can assign a color to the area behind the visibil- ity icon on each layer to help categorize them, make them easier to identify — and make the panel look pretty, too! To color-code a layer: Click a layer, then right-click the visibility column and choose a color label. C B For this Layers panel, we chose the Large u m b n a i l s a n d Clip umbnails to Layer Bounds options. A When the Lock All button option is acti- vated for a layer, the padlock icon is black. C Click a layer, then from the con- text menu for the visibility column, choose a color. ptg 144 Chapter 8 Merging layers e merge commands — Merge Down, Merge Layers, and Merge Visible — merge two or more selected layers into one layer (the bottommost of the selected layers). You can apply any of these commands peri- odically during the editing process to reduce the le size of your document or to reduce unnecessary clutter on the Layers panel. Note: e Flatten Image command, which is dis- cussed on page 146, is normally applied to a copy of a le as a step before nal output. To merge selected layers: 1. Do one of the following: Click the upper layer of two layers to be merged. A e bottom one must be an image layer or the Background, and cannot be a group. Ctrl-click/Cmd-click nonconsecutive layers. e layers can be solo, within a group, or a combina- tion thereof. Click a group. (All the layers in the group will be merged — but just with one another.) Note: You can merge an adjustment layer into an image layer, but you can’t merge adjustment layers into one another. You can also merge an editable type layer downward, but be aware that it will become rasterized. 2. Do either of the following: Right-click the selected layer and choose Merge Down, or choose Merge Layers if multiple layers are selected, or choose Merge Group if you selected a group. Press Ctrl-E/Cmd-E. B If the underlying layer contains a layer mask, an alert dialog will appear. Click Preserve to keep the mask editable, or click Apply to apply the mask eect to the newly merged layer and delete the mask. If you merged the layers in a group, the group icon will disappear from the panel. ➤ If you want to merge layers while preserving access to a copy of the original, separate layers, see “To copy and merge layers” on the next page. ➤ e Merge Down command won’t be accessible if the Lock All button is enabled for the currently selected layer. A We clicked the “cheese” layer. B We chose the Merge Down command, which merged the “cheese” layer into the “left side” layer. SMART OBJECT INSTEAD OF MERGE OR FLATTEN Instead of merging or fl attening layers, consider group- ing them into a Smart Object layer instead. You’ll achieve the same reduction of layers, plus you’ll gain the ability to edit the original layers individually by double-clicking the Smart Object layer thumbnail. See the fi rst task on page 308. ptg Layer Basics 145 e Merge Visible command merges all the currently visible layers while preserving any hidden layers as separate layers. By hiding the layers you don’t want to merge before choosing this command, you can control which ones will be merged. To merge all visible layers: 1. Make sure only the layers you want to merge are visible (have eye icons), and hide any layers (including the Back ground, if desired) that you don’t want to merge. 2. Right-click one of the visible layers (not a type layer) and choose Merge Visible (Ctrl-Shift-E/ Cmd-Shift-E). A–B Note: is sort of goes without saying, but if you merge an editable type layer or adjustment layer, the specic features of that kind of layer (such as the settings from an adjustment layer) will no longer be editable. e commands in the following instructions will copy and merge (“stamp”) two or more selected layers into a new layer in a single easy step, while preserving the original, separate layers. is might come in handy, say, if you want to test some edits (such as lters or transformations) on multiple layers. You would use one of these commands rst, then apply your edits to the new layer. Note: For an alternative to using these commands, see the sidebar on the preceding page. To copy and merge layers: Do either of the following: Ctrl-click/Cmd-click the layers (not the Background) to be copied or merged into a new layer, then press Ctrl-Alt-E/Cmd-Option-E. To copy and merge all the currently visible layers into a new layer, including the Background (if visible), click any visible layer, then press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E/Cmd-Option-Shift-E. ➤ If layers and the Background are selected when you use the rst shortcut listed above, content from the selected layers will be stamped into the Background, and no new layer will be created. A In this document, we hid the Background because we don’t want our layers to merge into it. B e M e r g e V i s i b l e c o m m a n d m e r g e d a l l t h e layers except the Background, which remains hidden. ptg 146 Chapter 8 Flattening layers Two reasons to atten all the layers in a le are to conserve storage space or to prepare it for output or export. At the present time, the only le formats that support multiple layers are Photoshop PDF, Photoshop, Large Document Format, and TIFF. If the application to which you’re planning to export your le can’t read or accept layered les, you’ll have to either atten it or save a attened copy of it by using File > Save As. e latter method (which is the one we normally use) preserves the layered version so you can overwork it to death at a later time. To save a flattened copy of a file: 1. Choose File > Save As (Ctrl-Shift-S/Cmd- Shift-S).e Save As dialog opens. 2. Do all of the following: Change the le name. Choose a location. Uncheck Layers (the As a Copy option becomes checked automatically; keep it that way). Choose a le format from the Format menu. Click Save. Note: e layered version remains open; the attened version is saved to disk. If you’re condent that your image is totally com- plete, n i s , you can use the Flatten Image command instead of saving a attened copy. is com- mand merges the currently visible layers into the bottommost visible layer — but be aware that it also discards hidden layers! To flatten the layers in a document: 1. Make sure all the layers and layer groups you intend to atten are visible (have eye icons). It doesn’t matter which layer is selected. 2. Right-click any layer name (not a type layer) and choose Flatten Image. If the le contains any hidden layers, an alert dialog will appear; click OK. Any formerly transparent areas in the bottommost layer are now white. e Layers panel shown in gure A contains a type layer, layer styles, image layers, layer masks, and an adjustment layer. e Flatten Image com- mand will rasterize all of the above, apply the masks, and atten all the layers. B B e F l a t t e n I m a g e c o m m a n d a t t e n e d a l l t h e visible layers into the Background and discarded the hidden layer (“left side”). A When you choose the Flatten Image command, it doesn’t matter which layer is selected. In this docu- ment, the “left side” layer is hidden. . or export. At the present time, the only le formats that support multiple layers are Photoshop PDF, Photoshop, Large Document Format, and TIFF. If the application to which you’re planning. they’re transparent or not. C CUSTOMIZING THE CHECKERBOARD In the Transparency Settings area of Edit /Photoshop > Preferences > Transparency & Gamut, you can change the size or color of. umbnails, or Large umbnails. Note: Turning o thumb- nails by choosing No umbnails can help boost Photoshop s performance, but frankly, we nd it pretty darn hard to work without them. Clip umbnails