Why does "Drop" drop all layers?

[Helzer]

Hi,

I don't understand how Painter 8's layers work. I'm working with 5 layers and I want to merge layer 4 & 5 together. So I select layer 5 and click "Drop". Unfortunately it merges with the bottom "Canvas". What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,
Dan

[Jin]

When you choose Drop from the Layers palette menu, it does what it says it'll do, it drops the Layer.... to the Canvas... just as if you stood in the middle of your kitchen and dropped one plate out of a stack of plates, it would land on the lowest plane.. the floor.

The applicable Painter terms for combining multiple Layers into a single Layer are:

Group
Collapse

As long as all Layers in the Group are in Composite Method Default, the Collapse option will be available. Otherwise, it will be greyed out.

You'll find the Group and Collapse commands (along with the Ungroup command) in the following locations in Painter 8:

Layers main menu
Layers palette menu
Layer Commands icon drop down menu (at the bottom of the Layers palette)

Use the following keystroke shortcuts to Group and Ungroup:

Ctrl/Command+G = Group
Ctrl/Command+U = Ungroup

I don't know of a keystroke shortcut for the Collapse command, but if you've installed the Painter 8.1 patch you can add that command to a Custom Palette as a menu command button.


Jinny