The more layers you have in your document, the more difficult it is to manage them. Fortunately, Photoshop now offers layer “sets” in which you can group contiguous layers (layers that are next to each other). Layer sets are so easy to use that they really don’t require a great deal of explanation. Here are the basics, though.
- To create a layer set, click on the New Layer Set button in the Layers palette.
- To add a layer to a set, just drag it on top of the set. Or, to create a new layer inside the set automatically, select the set or any layer within the set (in the Layers palette) and press the New Layer button. You can remove a layer from a set simply by dragging it out.
- You can move layer sets in the same way you move layers: just drag them around in the palette. You can also copy a whole set of layers to a different document by dragging the layer set over.
- If you have more than one layer set, it’s helpful to color code them: just double-click on the layer set’s name and pick a color in the Layer Set Properties dialog box. You should probably name the set, too, while you’re there (the default “Set 1″ doesn’t help identify what’s in it).Watch out, though: if you drag a color-coded layer out of the set, it still retains its color-coding!
- If you want to move all the layers within a layer set at the same time, select the layer set in the Layers palette. This is easier and faster than linking the layers together.
- You can add a layer mask to the layer set (see Chapter 13, Selections for more on masks) and it’ll apply to every layer in the set. Similarly, locking a set locks every layer within the set.
- Layer sets act almost like a single layer, so when you show or hide the set, all the layers in that set appear or disappear.
- When you delete a layer set, Photoshop lets you choose to delete the set and the layers inside it or just the set itself (leaving the layers intact).
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Unfortunately, you can’t apply a layer effect (see Chapter 14, Essential Image Techniques) to a set or use a set as a clipping group (see Chapter 13, Selections).
Layer Sets and Blending Modes. If you had your coffee this morning, you’ll notice that you can change the blending mode of a layer set. Normally, the blending mode is set to Pass Through, which means, “let each layer’s blending mode speak for itself.” In this mode, layers inside the set look the same as they do if they were outside the set. However, if you change the set’s blending mode, a curious thing happens: Photoshop first composites the layers in the set together as though they were a single layer (following the blending modes you’ve specified for each layer), and then it composites that “single layer” together with the rest of your image using the layer set’s blending mode. In this case, layers may appear very different whether they’re inside or outside that set.
Similarly, when you change the opacity of the set, Photoshop first composites the layers in the set together (using their individual Opacity settings) and then applies this global Opacity setting to the result.