Random Layer Locking

P
Posted By
Phosphor
Sep 10, 2003
Views
352
Replies
7
Status
Closed
All layers are not created equal. Some are locked when created and some are not. I cannot correlate the locked status with any other condition. I can’t even create a layer that is originally locked when I want to. It happens or doesn’t happen at PhotoShop’s whim, not mine.

Now, this really doesn’t bother me because (1)It is infrequent, at least for me, and (2)The layer can be readily unlocked with one mouse click. What DOES bother me, however, is the constant whining of a colleague who is absolutely bugged by it. In our weekly group meetings, every time it happens, he turns to me and asks if I have figured it out yet. (These meetings are about digital imaging, not group therapy).

Having thus stated my problem, I throw myself at the mercy of the forum. Please, can somebody get my friend off my back! What determines the locked or unlocked initial status of a layer when created? How can I create an initially locked layer when I want to—if for no other purpose than to replicate the condition? OR, how do I politely get my friend to knock it off?

George
Related Tags
layer lock random

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Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 10, 2003
I presume you mean with the little padlock icon in the layers pallet. I have only seen a layer locked in three conditions. 1)it is a background – on a newly created document setting background to transparent avoids this. 2)On a layer that is intentionally locked by the user. 3)The image mode is one that does not support layers (thus making a background out of the image, thereby locking it).

Some are locked when created and some are not

I have never seen this happen when a layer is created – I’m not the end all of information of course, but it seems highly suspect that one clicks on the new layer button and it is locked. If you choose Layer|New|New Background from layer it will be locked.

Other than that, I’ve never seen it George.

Peace,
Tony
P
Phosphor
Sep 10, 2003
Tony,

Thanks for taking a swing. I can’t hit nasty curves either. Looks like a strikeout in the making. Let’s see—is there a "Dear Abby" forum? ‘-)

George
JW
Joanne_Wittenbrook
Sep 30, 2003
OK, this looks like the right place for this question. I’m trying to create a droplet that will copy an image, resize it, change the mode to rgb and re-save it as a .gif into a specific folder. The problem is this locked layer thing. Images coming from a digital camera work fine, but images that are pulled off of a CD or scanned in have the layer set as a background show up as locked, therefore you can’t run the droplet. I can’t find a preference in the scanning software that defaults to making the image a locked background. Is there an action I can include in the droplet that will handle all images regardless of source and avoid "resize not available" messages.

I know it is easy to fix, but the people using the droplet may not be able to handle troubleshooting this problem, so I have to make it fool proof.
GA
George_Austin
Oct 1, 2003
Joanne,

I don’t know if this will be of any help to you, but it has been observed by a friend of mine that you get a locked layer when you create a new layer from an UNSELECTED locked background by pressing CTRL+J, but you get an unlocked layer if the background is SELECTED before pressing CTRL+J. I do not know whether this behavior was designed into the feature or was inadvertent, but you can certainly verify it for youeself—as I did, with more head-scratching. Peculiar? Yes! But this observation does explain the "random" appearance I noted. Random, in that who is going to notice the selection connection? In fact, why would anyone have pressesd CTRL+J with nothing selected in the first place? Go figure, as they say.

George
NB
Norbert_Bissinger
Oct 1, 2003
A background layer is always locked if you use New Layer via Copy (Ctrl+J) it will make a COPY. If you make a new layer it will not be locked, but if you lock it and make a copy of course it will be locked because these are exact copies.
GA
George_Austin
Oct 1, 2003
Norbert,

But if you SELECT ALL of the locked background before making a copy of it, the layer produced is unlocked. Where’s the consistency you are implying? The surprise is all wrapped up in the selection status before creating the layer.

If, over a period of a couple of months, twenty regular PS users were unable to spot this distinction when prodded weekly (mildly, to be sure) until finally one of them stumbled onto it, do you conclude that all twenty people (unrelated, by the way) can’t see their noses in front of their faces, or do you conclude that the PS Help section needs help? 🙂

George
NB
Norbert_Bissinger
Oct 1, 2003
No conclusion. Never had a problem with lockings of all kinds. Just plain sense made me come to this answer.
Select all is commonly used to past over something else and therefore it is only natural that it comes in unlocked because one is going to work on this layer. Common Sense.

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