Serif ECD518624M Datasheet download pdf (Page 146)

138 Layers and Masks

Operations involving layers

Many standard operations, such as painting, selecting and moving, Clipboard

actions, adjusting colors, applying effects, and so on, are possible on both the

Background layer and standard layers.

Others, such as rearranging the order of layers in the stack, setting up different

color interactions (blend modes and blend ranges) between layers, varying layer

opacity (transparency), applying 2D layer effects and 3D layer effects, using

depth maps, creating animation frames, or masking, only work with standard

layers.

Once an image has more than just a background layer, the layer information can

only be preserved by saving the image in the native PhotoPlus (.SPP) format.

Multiple layers are merged when you export an image to a standard “flat”

bitmap format (e.g., .PNG). It’s best to save your work-in-progress as .SPP files,

and only export to a different file format as the final step.

Some standard operations can be applied to all layers simultaneously by

checking the Use All Layers option from the Context toolbar.

To carry out basic layer operations:

• To select a layer, click on its name in the Layers tab. The selected layer

is now the active layer. Note that each layer’s entry includes a preview

thumbnail, which is visible at all times and is especially useful when

identifying layer contents.

• To select multiple layers together, use Ctrl-click or Shift-click to select

non-adjacent or adjacent layers in the tab's stack. Once selected,

multiple layers can be moved, linked, aligned, duplicated, grouped,

rearranged, hidden, merged and deleted. To select all layers, choose

Select All layers from the Layers menu, or for just linked layers,

choose Select Linked Layers.

• To create a new standard layer above the active layer, click the

New Layer button on the Layers tab. Dragging a file icon and

dropping it onto the current window also creates a new layer from the

dragged image.

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Serif ECD518624M Datasheet Page 146