ptg Working with Layers Introduction To be successful with A d o be Phot osh op, you n e ed to be in control. You need to control color, to control elements of the design, and you even need to control the order of design ele- ments. If control is what you crave, then layers, more than any other feature, helps you achieve that control. Layers give you the ability to separate individual elements of your design, and then control how those elements appear. You can think of layers as a group of transparent sheets stacked on top of each other. Through the creative use of these electronic sheets, you can blend the elements of two or more layers, and create layers to adjust and control contrast, brightness, and color balance. You can even group layers together to help organize and manage your design. Layers are a digital designer's canvas, and they are just as real as a stretched canvas is to a natural media designer. The strokes you apply to a real canvas, using a brush, are equiva- lent to strokes in a Photoshop layer when you use any of the painting tools. The natural artist may use oils or watercolor in the design while the Photoshop artist uses electronic ink. The Layers panel allows you to view the image almost as if you were actually painting or designing with natural media. However, our canvas—the Layers panel—goes far beyond anything possible in the "real" world. In Photoshop, using multiple layers is the way to control the information within a document. There are times when you will create several layers; each layer will contain a sepa- rate aspect of the total design. Having multiple layers allows you to adjust and move each element independently. Eventually, multiple layers may no longer be necessary. However, you might not want to link them together, or even place them within the same folder. Instead, you might want to combine them into a single unit. Once again, Photoshop comes to the rescue by giving you several options for com- bining layers without flattening the entire document. 5 5 What You’ll Do Understand the Layers Panel Define Layer Designations and Attributes Create a New Layer Select Layers Create a Layer Group Create a Selection from a Layer Create a Layer from a Selection Convert a Background into a Layer Control Image Information Using the Layers Panel Move Layers Between Documents Use Merge Layer Options Link and Unlink Layers Work with Layer Blending Modes Set Layer Opacity Duplicate and Delete Layers Change Layer Properties Work with the Layer Comps Panel Export Layers as Files Set Layers Panel Options Use Smart Guides 103 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 104 Chapter 5 With the Layers panel, you can control ele- ments of a Photoshop design by assigning separate layers to each individual object. In addition, Layer effects control the application of everything from drop shadows to gradient overlays, and adjustment layers let you control color overlays and image corrections. To access the Layers panel, select the Layers panel or, if the Layers panel is not visible, click the Window menu, and then click Layers. Blending Modes. Select this option to change how two or more layers interact or "blend" together. Opacity. Select a value from 0% to 100% to change the opacity of the selected layers ( New!). Fill. Select a value from 0% to 100% to change the opacity of the active layer without chang- ing the opacity of any applied layer styles. Lock options. Click the Lock Transparent Pixels, Lock Image Pixels, Lock Position, or Lock All button. Link Layers. Hold down the Shift key and click to select two or more layers, and then click this button to link the layers. Add Layer Style. Click this button, and then select from the available layer styles. Add Layer Mask. Click this button to apply a layer mask to the active layer. Click this a second time to add a vector mask to the active layer. Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer. Click this button, and then select from the avail- able fill or adjustment layers. Create New Group. Click this button to cre- ate a new group. A group is a folder where you can drag, store, and organize layers. Create New Layer. Click this button to cre- ate a new layer in the active document. Delete Layer. Click this button to delete the active layer. Layers Options. Click this button to access a menu of layer-specific commands. Understanding the Layers Panel Lock options Blending Modes Opacity Fill Link Layers Add Layer Mask Delete Layer Create New Layer Create New Group Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer Layers Options Add Layer Style From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 5 Working with Layers 105 Defining Layer Designations and Attributes Not only does Photoshop give you the ability to generate layers, it allows you to generate layers with different designations. The desig- nation of a layer determines the type of infor- mation the layer contains. For example, a type layer holds editable text, and a mask layer holds image masks. The ability to control the designation of a layer helps to organize the different elements that typically make up a Photoshop image. Background. The Background is a unique type of layer element (technically, it's not called the Background layer, just the Background). Backgrounds are always positioned at the bot- tom of the layer stack and they cannot be moved. In addition, the Background does not support transparency. Layer. Clicking the Create New Layer button creates Photoshop layers. New layers are always inserted directly above the active layer. All of Photoshop's drawing and shape tools, as well as opacity and fill and blending mode options, are available to use on layers created with this method, except for type. These "traditional" layers can be moved up and down in the layer stack by dragging them where you want them. Type. To creat e a Typ e layer, select o ne of Photoshop's Type tools, click in the active doc- ument and begin typing. Photoshop automati- cally creates the Type layer directly above the active layer in the Layers panel. Mask. Masks are applied to a layer by clicking the Add Layer Mask button on the Layers panel. Masks serve a function; they create transparent areas in the visible image. Use masks to remove elements of an image with- out physically erasing them. Shape. Shape layers control vector data by the use of a vector mask. You can create a shape layer in one of several ways: select the Pen tool from the toolbox, click the Shape Layer button (located on the Options bar) and begin drawing, or select any of Photoshop's shape tools using the Shape layer option. Adjustment. Adjustment layers let you control everything from contrast to color. To create an Adjustment layer, click the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer button, and then select from the available options. The adjustment layer is placed directly above the active layer and controls the information in all the under- lying layers. You can also choose from one of the 15 icons in the Adjustments panel. Layer Background Type Mask Shape Adjustment From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 106 Chapter 5 Layers give you control over the design elements of your document, so Adobe Photoshop makes sure you have plenty of layers available to you (up to 8,000). While that may be more layers than you would ever use in a single document, that flexibility guarantees that you have the creative options to carry your designs to any level you desire. To create a new layer, you must first have an open document. A new image in Photoshop has a single layer. If you have more than one document open, make sure the active image is the one to which you want to add a layer. You can quickly add a layer using a menu or button, or add a layer and select options using a dialog box. You can select options to name the layer, designate it as a clipping group, or even change its color Blending mode, and Opacity. If you want to add the contents of a file to a document as a new layer, you can drag it directly from the Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (Win) to the active document in Photoshop (New!). 1 2 Create New Layer button Active layer New layer Creating a New Layer Add Layers to an Active Document Select the Layers panel. Click the Layers Options button, and then click New Layer. TIMESAVER Click the Create New Layer button on the Layers panel to quickly add a layer. The new layer is inserted directly above the active layer. 2 1 Did You Know? You can drag and drop a file to create a new layer. Drag a file from the Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (Win) onto an open Photoshop document (New!). You can move a layer in the stacking order. Press the Ctrl (Win) or A (Mac) key, and then use the Left/Right Bracket keys ([ ]). The Left Bracket key moves the layer down and the Right Bracket moves the layer up. You can hide all layers except the clipping mask layer and the layer to which it is clipped. Press the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key, and then click the layer’s visibility icon. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 5 Working with Layers 107 Add Layers and Select Options Select the Layers panel. Hold down the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key, and then click the Create New Layer button to open the New Layer dialog box. Select the layer options you want: ◆ Name. Enter the name of the layer into the Name box. ◆ Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask. Select this check box to use the image information in the previous layer to mask the elements of the new layer. ◆ Color. This option lets you color-code your layers. Click the Color list arrow, and then select from the available colors. ◆ Mode. Click the Mode list arrow, and then select from the available blending modes. ◆ Opacity. This option controls the visibility of the new layer. Select a value from 0% to 100%. Click OK. 4 3 2 1 3 1 2 4 Did You Know? You can control to which layers the adjustment is applied. To co nfine t he effects of an adjustment layer to the layer immediately below, hold down the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key, and then click on the visible line separating the adjustment layer from the next lower layer. Selecting Layer Options When you create a new blank layer in Photoshop, the size of the file does not increase. It's only when you begin painting, or adding infor- mation to the layer that the size of the Photoshop document will begin to grow. For example, creating a blank layer in a document with a file size of 10 MB does nothing to increase the size of the file. However, opening a 10 MB file, and creating a copy of the original document layer, will create a file size of 20 MB. Layers are great cre- ative tools, but you only want to use them when you need them. Remember, performance is directly related to the size of the active document file, and the bigger the file size, the slower Photoshop per- forms. For Your Information From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 108 Chapter 5 Photoshop lets you select multiple layers either in the Layers panel, or directly in the document window, using the Move tool. Say, for exam- ple, you want to quickly move two or more layers but you don't want to spend the time linking, and then unlinking them. You just want to quickly select the layers, and then perform the move. Or, perhaps you want to delete several layers but don't want to delete them one at a time. The ability to select multiple layers allows you to exert even more control over Photoshop, and that control provides more fuel for your creative energy. A single selected layer is called the active layer. Selecting Layers Select Layers Open a multi-layered document. Select multiple layers in the Layers panel using the following options: ◆ Contiguous Layers. Click on the first layer, and then Shift+click the last layer to select first, last, and all layers in-between. ◆ Non-Contiguous Layers. Click on a layer, hold down the Ctrl (Win) or A (Mac) key, and then click on another layer. Select layers in the document window using the following options: ◆ Single and Multiple Layers. Select the Move tool, choose the Auto-Select Layer or Auto- Select Group in the Options bar, and then click on an object in the document window. The layer holding that object is selected. To a dd t o or s ubtract layers f rom the selection, Shift+click (or drag). TIMESAVER Select the Move tool, hold down the Ctrl (Win) or A (Mac) key, and then click on an object. Hold down the Shift+Ctrl (Win) or Shift+A (Mac), and click on another object to add that object's layer to the selection. To d eselect all layers, click the Select menu, and then click Deselect Layers. 4 3 2 1 Contiguous Multiple Layers selected 1 Non- Contiguous Multiple Layers selected From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 5 Working with Layers 109 Layer groups help to bring organization to large, multi-layered docu- ments. Photoshop layer groups give you control over all the layers within the group at one time. For example, multiple layers within a group can all be hidden or locked with one click of a button. In addition, if you click on the Group name, you can transform or move all the layer objects within the group as one unit. To further help organize your Layers panel, Photoshop lets you create nested groups. Nested groups are groups that are located within other groups. Layer groups can be nested more than five levels deep (New!). When you nest groups, you control all of the groups by clicking on the main group's name, or you can control the individual groups by selecting the nested group name. Creating a Layer Group Create a Layer Group or Nested Layer Group Open a document. Select the Layers panel. If the document contains a layer group, click the triangle to expand the group, and then select one of the layers within the group to create a nested group. Click the Create New Group button on the Layers panel, or press Ctrl+G (Win) or A+G (Mac). Photoshop creates a layer group. TIMESAVER To q uickly create a Layer Group, hold down the Shift key and click the layers you want in the group, click the Layers Options button, and then click New Group from Layers. To a dd l ayers to the group, d rag layers from the Layers panel onto the folder icon of the group. To r emove layers f rom the gr oup, drag them from the group back into the Layers panel. 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 New group 5 Expand triangle From the Library of Wow! eBook . the layer stack by dragging them where you want them. Type. To creat e a Typ e layer, select o ne of Photoshop& apos;s Type tools, click in the active doc- ument and begin typing. Photoshop automati- cally. folder. Instead, you might want to combine them into a single unit. Once again, Photoshop comes to the rescue by giving you several options for com- bining layers without flattening the entire. of Wow! eBook ptg 104 Chapter 5 With the Layers panel, you can control ele- ments of a Photoshop design by assigning separate layers to each individual object. In addition, Layer effects control