About this post:
A couple timesaving photoshop tips (duplicating within one layer & merging layers into one) from Jeff Hipp, one of our Senior Designers.
Filed under Tips, Tricks & Hints
Streamlining any process in Photoshop and simplifying the quantity of layers can really speed up your project. Here are two simple steps that I use every day and always find myself teaching to design interns and junior designers.
Duplicating an object within a single layer
Say you have a bulleted list or navigation column that needs a graphic next to each topic – in this case we'll use a red arrow. Most-often when you have a Photoshop document with hundreds of layers – ease of editing and document file size becomes crucial.
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1) You can duplicate the arrow layer each time and position the new arrow where needed – but you'll end up (in this example) with a total of 19 separate layers – just for this small section of your design. Not only will this clutter your layers palette, but there is no real reason for this. All it's really doing is taking up valuable vertical visual space in your layers palette. You could group all the arrow layers, but that's just hiding the issue.
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2) Here's what you do… position the first arrow – use your marquee tool and draw a selection box around it. Then hold down your Command, Option & Shift keys simultaneously – then move your cursor within the selection box and click & drag the arrow down to a new position. You will notice that you have just duplicated the arrow within the same layer! If you happened to miss the selection area, clicked & moved, you will notice that you may now have another unwanted layer – delete & try again.
You can fine-tune the position of the arrow by making another selection box around it & moving it . It gets better – if you need to create many many arrows – you can now select the two and duplicate them using the same process – now you have 4, etc.
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3) Repeat as needed until you have as many as you need – all on the same layer. Another advantage to this is when you have to change the arrows in some way, they are all in a single, easy to manage layer. This way you can change colors or position without having to worry about selecting multiple layers. This seems like a small time saver, but it adds up over time, and multiple projects.
Merging layers without losing the original ones
Say that you have a layout that you have been toying and tinkering with for a while. You have it to a point where you need to now show your Creative Director or Client. Here's the thing – you have multiple ideas, color options, or in this case – photo combinations. Time is money, and you don't have the time to fumble through and remember which obscure layer to turn on or off for each combination while that person is sitting directly behind you. No matter how much you aned over organizing the layers. I'll show you an easy way to combine these many ideas onto single layers so that all you need to quickly show are those few final ideas.
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1) Create a few blank layers at the top of all your other layers. Name these layers "flat 1″, "flat 2″, "flat 3″, etc. – or you may even want to name them specifically by there differences or aspects. By always keeping these located at the top of your layers palette – it helps you to quickly find them. Now as you work out each different idea within this same comp, simply follow these next steps…
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2) For each combo of options that you want to show (in this case, photo combinations) get the file looking just how you want. click once on a blank layer to highlight it. Hold down your Option key and then click on the Layer Options button in the top right of your layers palette. Scroll down to "Merge Visible" and click. Be sure to keep the Option key pressed until Photoshop is finished doing it's thing.
You now have all visible layers merged onto one single layer and still keep all the layers used to create it! If you see that you have actually merged all layers and are missing a bunch, go back in your history & undo – try again – KEEP THE OPTION KEY DOWN.
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3) Save your file. Now turn off the flat layer you just created and turn on & off the desired layers for your next option. Repeat step 2 highlighting the next blank top layer until you are done. You can always make more blank layers at the top as you need them.
By mastering these shortcuts, you will find that your workflow will increase and help you look more like a pro.
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