++ WHY create separate files from individual layers?

DR
Posted By
Danny_Raphael
Feb 26, 2004
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218
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A technical solution was offered in this thread…
Danny Raphael "Saving out layers as individual files" 2/25/04 1:41pm </cgi-bin/webx?13/8>

….where an action could be applied to a multiple layer image that creates separate files from each layer?

My question is, "Why?"

Under what circumstances would it be useful, valuable and/or necessary to take, say, each layer from a 5-layer image and create a new file from each layer?

TIA

~Danny~
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LL
Larry_Ligon
Feb 26, 2004
I created a script for Photoshop 7 to do just this. I write software using Visual Basic 6. Visual Basic 6 does not have component
that I can use to play an animated gif. It does have a component that will play bmp files in order to create an animation. I could
download an animated gif from the Internet and open it in ImageReady and then transfer to Photoshop. This made a document with each
cell of the animation as a separate layer. My script would then save each layer out as a bmp file. I could then use these files to
create an animation in my Visual Basic program.

It seems that other people have other uses for this script. It is now included in Photoshop CS.

Larry
Y
YrbkMgr
Feb 26, 2004
Danny,

As far as I can tell, the "why" is: it’s about workflow and how you build a particular image.

I can think of a bunch of client situations in which you would want to share some but not all of the layers in a particular build, but one reason I can think of off the bat, is that you may want to re-use specific layers in different ways.

If you’ve built a complex piece and you want to be able to reuse some layers in different ways, sometimes it serves to have individual files of those layers so that you can "mix and match".

Peace,
Tony
PC
Pierre_Courtejoie
Feb 26, 2004
I might see a reason for file sizes problems, or also to create animations.
S
subdude
Feb 26, 2004
On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:52:59 -0800,
graced us with:

A technical solution was offered in this thread…
Danny Raphael "Saving out layers as individual files" 2/25/04 1:41pm </cgi-bin/webx?13/8>

…where an action could be applied to a multiple layer image that creates separate files from each layer?

My question is, "Why?"

Under what circumstances would it be useful, valuable and/or necessary to take, say, each layer from a 5-layer image and create a new file from each layer?

TIA

~Danny~

How about color separations for printing or a silk screen?

subdude
SJ
sandy_johnson
Feb 26, 2004
Another "why", and something we do all the time. Headshots of people all the same size with same feathers/dropshadows/effects/bkgd, but placed separately in Pagemaker or a DTP.
IM
Iain_McFadzen
Feb 26, 2004
When I’m texturing I have to paint maps for several channels (colour, specularity, opacity and so on) per object. Given that all of these maps have to line up with each other on the same model, and many of them are derived from each other anyway, it makes sense to create them all as layers inside a single PSD. Saving each of these out individually starts to get tiresome very quickly.
JM
John_Mensinger
Feb 26, 2004
With no one instructing me otherwise, I’ve made color separations in PS, (‘spot’ colors > screening-type work), by moving each color to it’s own layer, which facilitates applying chokes, changing colors, tuning registration, etc. When finished, you have a stack of layers that add up to a final composite. I added registration marks, filled each layer with black, saved each as a separate image, (which is where the relevance to this thread comes in), and output them as plates.

It just seemed like a logic-driven process to me, but the screen maker thought my .PSD’s and resulting plates were the best thing since sliced bread. (I honestly don’t know enough about his process to comment either way…maybe he’s just sheltered?)

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