PSP X6 - Problem with layers (aligning)

[xoechz]

Hello!

I use PSP X6 for postworking rendered images. Often I render images in several different layers and combine these layers in postwork. But in PSP X6 this seems to be a problem.
When I open 2 images (png files because of alpha transparency), copy one and paste as new layer on the other, the pasted layer is not aligned with the first one. I always have to drag it where it belongs to and this is really annoying and time cunsuming.
I never had these problems in other 2D softwares. There the pasted layers always open in their place. How can I do this in PSP X6? Am I missing a special setting here?

[LeviFiction]

It's not a setting, no. But there are tricks for dealing with it.

If both images are exactly the same size then you can do this.

1) On the image you want to copy first do a Select All (Ctrl + A)

2) Copy the selection (Ctrl + C).

3) Go to the image you want to paste into and again do a Select All (Ctrl +A)

4) Then use Paste Into Selection (Ctrl + Shift + L)

This should align the images to each other.

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You can also place small dots in the corners of the image. These are referred to as placement dots. Just something small that you can easily erase later so that there is something in all four corners of the image. Then copy and paste the layer. It'll fit itself perfectly into the image. You can then remove these dots.

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I don't understand all of why PSP does what it does. When doing a copy it seems to only copy the opaque pixels (anything with an opacity greater than zero). The exception to this is with selections. So long as the selection contains actual pixels it will use the size of the selection when working things out in one very special situation.

Now it's true that PSP could be made smart enough to look at the original image size, plus the new image it's being pasted into and decide to paste it in place. But they went for a very simple method of just centering the paste on the image.

So when You select the entire layer it uses the selection rectangle (which matches the size of the image) for Paste Into Selection. Paste into selection attempts to fill the selection with the content you're trying to paste. So we make a selection the size of the whole image. PSP then compares the copied selection rectangle to the selection rectangle that it's pasting into. They are the same size so no distortion occurs, and items are placed in their proper position. But this only works when images are the same size. Otherwise this trick will resort in distortion.

Why they didn't make it smarter, I can't say. I've often considered writing a script to see if I could make pasting smarter but I doubt I could.

[xoechz]

Yes, my images are all of the same size and resolution. So the selection method should work.

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation!

[hartpaul]

You could also try the Photo Blend process. Your images are in a folder and then open that folder in Photo Blend (File > Photo Blend), quickly paint over what you want from each image using a green brush (this should be very quick as they are pngs with objects on a transparent layer) Process and then go to Edit mode.
Only problem here is that the images are merged on one layer and you lose transparency. So if you may still want to make slight adjustments then it will be best to maintain the parts on separate layers.

Regarding the placement dots mentioned by Levifiction, you only need two in diagonally opposite corners.