How do I crop just ONE Layer?

[Grazie]

Brain fade here . . . .

I have 2 layers.

Layer 1 has Blur applied to it.

Layer 2 is a Copy of Layer 1 without Blur and I wish to crop a small slice to allow it to appear OVER Layer 1

End result is to have a slice of the "Blur" in focus.

Or, is there a truly simpler way of doing this - I bet there is!

TIA

G

[hartpaul]

Method 1 :Do a selection on lower layer , promote selection to layer, move that layer to top.

Method 2 :Make a crop of the lower layer and crop as new image, copy and paste that new image onto the top layer.

[Grazie]

Thanks - I'll have a go tomorrow. Off to Arsenal v Burnley - FA knockout. Soccer.

G

[JoeB]

Method 3: Use the Selection tool to select the unblurred part of the top layer you want to keep, invert the selection, hit the delete key.

[LeviFiction]

My methods are weirder and more invovled. Any advantages they offer may not be worth it for the steps involved.

Method 4: Duplicate the layer. Select the area you want to crop to, then add a mask using Layers -> New Mask Layer -> Show Selection

This has two benefits. 1) It's non-destructive. and 2) it can be easily adjusted using the pick tool on the mask layer provided the distortions aren't too extreme. Making small and precise adjustments easier. It's also less annoying if your selection is a little off.

Method 5: Use the crop tool and corp the image as normal. Hit Undo. Then run this script. It grabs the last used crop rectangle and creates a selection from that, promotes the selection to a new layer and drops the selection for you. Probably a bit odder than the other methods listed thus far but lets you use the crop tool in case you want to use its tools.

This is a link to the script you can download. You have to save it to your Scripts-Restricted folder.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8FlFL ... sp=sharing


Method 6: Use a vector rectangle with no fill, no stroke (turn off background color, and set stroke to 0) to properly select the area you want. The pick tool will make resizing and moving easier. Then Turn on the fill, create a selection from the vector object, select the layer you want, promote the selection.

This could also be turned into a script to make it faster. And the vector rectangle can be re-used. Though the script would only work on the layer beneath the rectangle so some layer manipulation would be required if it was scripted.

[Grazie]

I'm not worthy . . . You guys are the very best . . .

OK, I had a sneaking suspicion that the Selection route was going to be the way forward, but I had truly forgotten the Invert option to do the "ALL-BUT" option. Once I had the Rectangle Selection and Invert and then Delete - bosh! - my "sharp" item is sitting amongst the Blur. I couldn't ask for more. Thanks for your support.

Oh yeah, great FA game: Arsenal 2 - Burnley 1

G

[JoeB]

@Grazie, glad you found a solution that worked best for you.

@LeviFiction, while your solutions were more complicated (as you indicated) I'm glad you posted them all because they provided me, for one, with some ideas I would never have considered and that could prove useful in some situations. It was also useful in pointing out how many ways there are to create selections from different tools, which is something I really should be doing more of given that I'm constantly using selections and switching tools a lot in the process!