The Layer Menu and the Layers Panel Menu As with any panel, tool, or dialog box in Photoshop, knowing the menu options available while working with layers is what gives you the power and
Trang 1The Layer Menu and the Layers Panel Menu
As with any panel, tool, or dialog box in Photoshop, knowing the menu options available while working with layers is what gives you the power and versatility to make the Photoshop creations you’ve envisioned I’ve listed the menus here as a reference; they’ll be much easier for you to understand after you’ve read this chapter and worked at least a little bit with layers, but be sure to come back to them, because I guarantee you’ll find options you forgot about
When it comes to layers, two menus do all the work: the Layer menu, found in the menu bar above the document window, and a compact version in the Layers panel menu, found in the top-right corner of the Layers panel These menus have some identical options, but some options are found in one menu and not the other I start with the Layer menu, because it has the most options, and then move on to the options that are found only on the Layers panel menu
The Layer menu
The Layer menu, as shown in Figure 10.4, has these options for working with layers:
l New:
l Layer: Creates a new blank layer in the Layers panel.
l Background from layer: Turns the current layer into a locked background layer.
l Group: Creates a group in the Layers panel.
l Group from Layers: Creates a group in the Layers panel and adds all selected layers
to that group
l Layer via Copy: Creates a new layer containing the last item copied into the
clip-board
l Layer via Cut: Creates a new layer containing the last item cut.
l Duplicate Layer: Creates an exact copy of the layer that is selected
l Delete:
l Layer: Deletes the currently selected layer.
l Hidden Layers: Deletes any layers that have the visibility icon turned off.
l Layer Properties: Displays the name and associated color of the currently selected layer.
l Layer Style: Adds a new layer style to the currently selected layer Layer styles can be
anything from drop shadows to inner glows and are covered later in this chapter; I also discuss several of the Photoshop effects throughout the book
l Smart Filter: Allows you to make changes to any Smart Filters attached to the selected
layer Smart Filters are covered later in this chapter and used throughout the book
l New Fill Layer: Adds a fill to a layer This fill can be a color, gradient, or pattern
Trang 2FIGURE 10.4
The Layer menu
l New Adjustment Layer: An adjustment layer is an image enhancement that is placed as a
non-destructive layer over your image These adjustments range from levels to hue and saturation adjustments Fill and Adjustment layers are covered in more depth later in this chapter
l Layer Content Options: Opens the settings of a selected Smart Filter, Fill layer, or
Adjustment layer so you can change them
l Layer Mask: Creates a new pixel mask on the selected layer.
Trang 3l Vector Mask: Creates a new vector mask on the selected layer.
l Create Clipping Mask: Creates a clipping mask using the layer below the selected one
Masks are covered in greater detail later in this chapter
l Smart Objects: This option has a submenu of multiple options for creating and using
Smart Objects Smart Objects are discussed in detail later in this chapter
l Video Layers: Provides options here for working with video layers They are covered
when we discuss working with video in Chapter 26
l Type: Provides options having to do with layers containing text They are covered in
Chapter 17
l Rasterize: Creates a raster image from the vector objects listed in the Rasterize submenu
As discussed in Chapter 3, a vector object is based on a set of values that describe lines A raster image is one that is made up of pixels
l New Layer Based Slice: Creates a slice that conforms to the proportions of the selected
layer
l Group Layers: Groups the selected layers.
l Ungroup Layers: Ungroups the selected layers.
l Hide Layers: Turns off the visibility of selected layers.
l Arrange: Changes the position of the selected layer(s) in the Layers panel relative to the
option chosen For instance, you can bring the selected layer to the front, which places it
at the top of the Layers panel
l Align: Aligns the objects on the selected layers based on the parameters found in the Align
submenu For instance, you can center all the selected layers with each other so they cre-ate a symmetrical row
l Distribute: Moves each layer the exact same distance from one another based on the
parameters in the Distribute submenu To use this option, at least three layers must be selected and none of the layers can be locked
l Lock all Layers in Group: Locks all the layers in the group with the selected layer.
l Link Layers: Links two or more selected layers When layers are linked, moving, resizing,
or otherwise transforming one also affects the other layer, just as if you had both layers selected in the layers panel
l Select Linked Layers: Selects all the layers that are linked.
l Merge Down: Merges the selected layer(s) with the layer directly beneath it.
l Merge Visible: Merges all layers with the visibility icon turned on.
l Flatten Image: Merges all the layers into a single background layer.
l Matting:
l Color Decontaminate: Reduces a color fringe or halo around the edges of a selection
by reducing the saturation of any color on the edges that isn’t found in other areas of the selection
Trang 4l Defringe: Removes halos from selections by replacing aberrant color with pixels
far-ther into the selection
l Remove Black or White matte: Removes halos around images whose edges have been
anti-aliased and that have been cut out of a black or white background The anti-aliasing caused the edges of these images to blend with the background, creating a halo
The Layers panel menu
The Layers panel menu, shown in Figure 10.5, has the most common options found the Layer menu A few of the options do basically the same thing as options found in the Layer menu but go under a different name Some of the options have to do strictly with the Layers panel, so they are found only in the Layers panel menu
FIGURE 10.5
The Layers panel menu
These additional options are found only in the Layers panel menu:
l Convert to Smart Object: This option converts the selected layer into a Smart Object for
use with Smart Filters This option is found in the Layer menu under the Smart Objects option It is discussed later in this chapter, as well as in areas of the book where filters are discussed
Trang 5l Edit Contents: The contents of a Smart Object are effectively kept in a different file to
protect them from changes This option allows you to make changes to the original file
l Blending Options: This option opens the Layer Style menu where you can create a
Blending option for the selected layer This is not as easy or straightforward as simply using the Blending options drop-down menu found on the Layers panel itself Blending options are covered later in this chapter
l Edit Adjustment: This option opens the Adjustments panel for a selected Adjustment
layer and allows you to edit the settings
l Animation Options: Additional options for the Layers panel deal with animation These
options can be shown automatically when an animation is being created, or they can be turned on or off These options are discussed in Chapter 26
l Panel Options: This option allows you to change how your Layers panel appears and how
layers are shown Figure 10.6 shows the options that are available
FIGURE 10.6
Use the Layers panel options to change the way the Layers panel looks and displays lay-ers and effects
l Close: This option closes the Layer panel.
l Close Tab Group: This option reduces the entire tab group containing the Layers panel
to an icon
Trang 6The Layers Panel
The Layers panel is arguably the most used panel in Photoshop It is so popular that it appears in every panel preset Whether you are a photographer using Photoshop to enhance your photo-graphs or working with 3D objects, the Layers panel is a vital part of what you are doing in Photoshop
The panel is found in the lower-right corner of the Photoshop workspace, but as you learned in Chapter 2, you can move it to any position you would like It works out well at the bottom, though, because the Layers panel has a tendency to grow You’ll see what I mean very soon
A quick look at the Layers panel, shown in Figure 10.7, shows several icons, settings, and drop-down menus They are covered throughout this chapter
FIGURE 10.7
The Layers panel
Opacity and Fill settings
The Opacity and Fill drop-down menus both allow you to change the opacity of a selected layer, but in different ways The opacity setting is just that, a representation of the opacity of the selected layer The higher the percent that is displayed, the more opaque the selected layer is As the per-centage goes down, the layer becomes more transparent
The Fill setting also adjusts opacity, but only the opacity of the fill A normal image layer disap-pears just as easily with a Fill adjustment as an Opacity adjustment, but an object or text layer reacts very differently Figure 10.8 demonstrates how adjusting the fill opacity on a shape layer reduces just the fill, while the outline (or stroke) remains, along with any styles that have been applied
On the Web Site
Try different Layers panel setting by downloading Figure 10-8 from the Web site n
Trang 7FIGURE 10.8
Reducing the fill opacity leaves the outline of the shape
You can adjust both the Opacity and the Fill settings in three ways The first is to highlight the per-centage that is shown and type a new perper-centage If you know exactly what perper-centage to use, this
is probably the fastest method Second, you can click the down arrow to open the drop-down slider and use it to adjust the setting The third, and by far the easiest, method is to use the scrub-ber Click and drag over the setting name (Opacity or Fill) and a two-sided arrow appears Drag left to decrease the setting and right to increase it
Lock settings
The Layers panel has four different lock settings, as shown in Figure 10.9 Locking different aspects of your layers means that those aspects can’t be changed Each lock works on a different aspect of your layer, giving you a wide range of versatility Select the layer you want to lock, and then decide which lock you want to use
The first option is Lock Transparent pixels Click this icon, and all the transparent pixels in your image are locked You can add fills, make color corrections, or add styles or filters to the rest of the image, but the transparent pixels remain pristine
The second option is Lock Image Pixels This protects the image pixels from the paint tools
The third option is Lock Position This locks the position of the objects in the layer, keeping them static inside the document You can still change other things about the layer, adjusting the color or adding a filter, for instance
The last option is Lock All This keeps your layer visible but protects it from any accidental changes A background layer is automatically locked
Trang 8FIGURE 10.9
The Layers panel has different types of lock settings that allow you to protect your layers
Lock Transparent Pixels
Lock Image Pixels Lock Position Lock All
Blending modes
Blending modes create amazing special effects by changing the way layers affect each other At the beginning of this chapter, I asked you to imagine that layers were like transparencies stacked on top of one another Using Blending modes is an example of how using digital technology has taken this idea one step further Imagine that your transparencies are made of gel rather than plastic, and that rather than sitting on top of one another, they can blend with each other Then imagine that you can determine which areas of the images on your transparencies would blend and how Last but not least, imagine that you finish blending them, and you hate the result, but you find that you can pull them apart and start all over with your original images
But blending modes do more than blend two images together They can be used on any layer that
is added to your Layers panel You can use them to change the way a layer style is applied, to blend a pattern into an image, or even to change an adjustment layer into a special effect
The drop-down menu at the top of the Layers panel shown in Figure 10.10 shows the different blending modes you can use to choose how the selected layer affects the layers under it
The blending modes are divided into six general categories, explained in the following sections