Adobe PHOTOSHOP 5.0, User Manual, Page: 268 / 400

CHAPTER 11 260
Using Layers
You use the Layers palette to create, hide, display,
copy, merge, and delete layers. (Additional
commands appear in the menu.) Changes to an
image affect only the highlighted or active layer.
You select a layer to make it active, and only one
layer can be active at a time. The active layer’s
name appears in the image window’s title bar, and
a paintbrush icon appears next to the layer in the
Layers palette, indicating that the layer can be
modified.
A. Show/Hide B. Paintbrush icon
C. Link/Unlink D. New Layer Mask
E. New Layer F. Trash G. Thumbnail
H. Highlighted layer is active layer.
To display the Layers palette:
Choose Window > Show Layers.
To select a layer:
Do one of the following:
•
In the Layers palette, click a layer to make
it active.
•
Select the move tool, right-click (Windows) or
Control-click (Mac OS) in the image, and choose
the layer you want from the context menu. The
context menu lists all the layers that contain pixels
under the current pointer location.
You can also select layers interactively as you use
the move tool (see “Moving selections and layers
within an image” on page 176).
Viewing layers
With the Layers palette, you can control whether a
layer is visible, whether a preview or thumbnail of
its contents is displayed, and also how trans-
parency is displayed. Turning off thumbnails or
reducing their size can speed performance and
save monitor space.
To show or hide a layer:
Do one of the following:
•
In the Layers palette, click the eye icon next to a
layer to hide that layer. Click in the column again
to redisplay the layer.
•
Drag through the eye column to show or hide
multiple layers.
•
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS)
the eye icon for a layer to display just that layer.
Alt/Option-click in the eye column again to
redisplay all the layers.
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