Layers Studio

About the Layers Studio

Layers are composited together to form your complete design which shows up on your page.

The Studio can be used to build up your design as multiple layers, with each layer devoted to a particular facet (e.g., lines, shapes, text, adjustments, etc.).

From the Layers Studio you can:

• Create or delete layers
• Apply blend modes (or blend ranges) to layers
• Arrange and reorder layers
• Select layers
• Show and hide layers
• Group layers
• Lock layers
• Clip layers
• Merge and rasterise layers
• Create masks
• Tag layers with a choice of colours

• Studio Preferences menu which offers:
  • Select All—selects all objects across all layers.
  • Lock—locks the selected layer(s).
  • Unlock—unlocks the selected layer(s).
  • Unlock All—unlocks all layers.
  • Hide—hides the selected layer(s).
  • Show—displays the selected layer(s).
  • Show All—displays all hidden layers.
  • Show Unlocked—displays a greyed out lock icon beside unlocked layers.
  • Edit All Layers—tick this checkbox to allow selection across all layers (not just the selected layer). This is ticked by default.
  • Checkerboard background—displays layer thumbnails on transparent backgrounds for better contrast in light-background documents.

Tap the pin icon in the top right of the Studio to hide the Studio automatically.

Layer Options include:

• Opacity—Adjusts opacity of the selected layer(s).
• Blend Mode—Changes how the applied pixels interact with existing pixels on the layer below.
• Visible—Disable to hide the layer; Enable to make it visible again.
• Lock—Tap to lock or unlock selected layers to prevent or allow editing.
• Solo—Tap to hide all layers apart from the selected layer, for focused editing of objects without any distraction.
• Blend Ranges—The blend Gamma, Channels and Source / Dest spline graphs let you alter how tones blend between the selected layer and the layer below.
• Tap the pin icon in the top right of the Studio to hide the Studio automatically when you are no longer focusing on it.

Merge and Rasterise—Allows you to either:

• Merge Down—Merges the currently selected pixel layer with the layer directly below it.
• Merge Selected—Merges the currently selected pixel layers.
• Merge Visible—Merges all visible layers, including vector and pixel layers. Merging vector layers will automatically rasterise the objects within those layers.
• Rasterise—Rasterises the selected vector layer.
• Rasterise To Mask—Rasterises the selected vector layer as a mask layer.

Group—Groups the currently selected layers.

Add pop-up menu—Creates either an empty Vector Layer or Pixel Layer above the currently selected layer, a mask based on the current selection (Mask Layer) or an empty mask that ignores selections (Empty Mask Layer). Use Empty Group to allow objects to be subsequently dragged and dropped into it.

Remove—Deletes the currently selected layer.

From the layers/layer groups, the following options are available:

• Expand/Collapse—Tap to expand/contract the layer, revealing child layers, or group layer to expand the group's content.
• Layer entry—The created layer, showing a thumbnail of objects and the layer name.
• Layer effect—Indicates that a layer effect(s) has been applied to the layer; tap to jump to the Layer FX Studio to view the effect settings.
• Lock—Indicates that a layer is locked. Tap to unlock the layer to allow editing.
• Visible—Tap to hide the layer or to make it visible again.