Why

A
Posted By
Alex
Nov 22, 2003
Views
505
Replies
7
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Closed
Hi All,

Once i try to ‘layer mask’ an area on an image, when i go to the menue it doesnt give me this option, do u know why its happening?

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E
edjh
Nov 22, 2003
Alex wrote:
Hi All,

Once i try to ‘layer mask’ an area on an image, when i go to the menue it doesnt give me this option, do u know why its happening?
Is it a Background? Turn it into a layer by double clicking in the Layers Palette.


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N
nospam
Nov 22, 2003
In article <%dOvb.1427$>, edjh
wrote:

[…]
Is it a Background? Turn it into a layer by double clicking in the Layers Palette.

Help me out. Why isn’t the background considered Layer Zero by default? What’s the rationale in calling it Background and locking it? To encourage proper layer use?
E
edjh
Nov 22, 2003
jjs wrote:
In article <%dOvb.1427$>, edjh
wrote:

[…]
Is it a Background? Turn it into a layer by double clicking in the Layers Palette.

Help me out. Why isn’t the background considered Layer Zero by default? What’s the rationale in calling it Background and locking it? To encourage proper layer use?

Only a guess but in older versions you could move the Background, which would turn it into a layer. I can see where that might be undesireable if doen by accident and not noticed right away. Maybe they wanted to prevent inadvertent moving on user’s part.

Comic book sketches and artwork:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/edjh.html
T
tacitr
Nov 22, 2003
Help me out. Why isn’t the background considered Layer Zero by default? What’s the rationale in calling it Background and locking it? To encourage proper layer use?

No. Any file format which does not permit layers (basically, almost any file format except TIFF and Photoshop format) doesn’t permit transparency; the "background" in such a file is exactly that. It’s an opaque background, which does not permit masking because the file format itself does not allow transparency or masking.


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N
nospam
Nov 22, 2003
In article ,
(Tacit) wrote:

Help me out. Why isn’t the background considered Layer Zero by default? What’s the rationale in calling it Background and locking it? To encourage proper layer use?

No. Any file format which does not permit layers (basically, almost any file format except TIFF and Photoshop format) doesn’t permit transparency; the "background" in such a file is exactly that. It’s an opaque background, which does not permit masking because the file format itself does not allow transparency or masking.

Okay, well when I save a multilayer image as JPEG, PS doesn’t bother hassling me with warnings that the layers will be collapsed in the output. Same with other formats. So it would seem that locking the backgroud is silly, regardless.
T
tacitr
Nov 23, 2003
Okay, well when I save a multilayer image as JPEG, PS doesn’t bother hassling me with warnings that the layers will be collapsed in the output. Same with other formats.

Yes, it does. Look at the Save As dialog. You will see a notification to the effect of "Some image data can’t be saved in the current format."

So it would seem that locking the backgroud is
silly, regardless.

Why? You open a JPEG, that JPEG can have no layers; the JPEG specification does not permit it. So the image you see when you open the JPEG will have no layers. If you want to place the image onto a layer, you must explicitly do so.


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nospam
Nov 23, 2003
In article ,
(Tacit) wrote:

Why? You open a JPEG, that JPEG can have no layers; the JPEG
specification does
not permit it. So the image you see when you open the JPEG will have no
layers.
If you want to place the image onto a layer, you must explicitly do so.

Of course. And PS has conventions for handling such in the ‘as copy’, warnings, all that. I guess it’s there for the amateurs. Wish I could disable it forever.

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