Cannot move/edit size/orientation of a specific layer

[BRNZ]

I do a lot of work with textures and other embellishments in an image.

Normally in Photoshop I can drag an image from my second monitor (I have Win Explorerer open for this purpose) drag and drop the image in. Then Ctl+T will allow me to resize it and reposition it.

First problem with PSP Ultimate 2019 was I couldnt do the drag and drop, and have the image automatically slot in as a layer. It put the image as a brand new image - I had to select that tab, copy it, go back to original image and then Paste as new layer.

According to the manual/help tools I should be able to select that layer and then go to the move tool to move it around.

Except it moves ALL THE LAYERS - not just the selected one. Plus there isnt an option I can easily find that mimics the CTL + T in PS where you get the handles on the corners to drag the image to the size you want, plus you can rotate it and move it around.

This is a key feature I use all the time and I am absolutely failing to make PSP be able to do this.

What am I doing wrong?

[Kathy_9]

Hi BRNZ and welcome to the forum.

Make sure your Layers palette is visible. You will need this because when you drag your second image into PSP you need to drop it on the layers palette of the first image. This will place it as a new layer. If you drag it into the main work area it will open as a new image and that's not what you want.

Next click on the Pick tool and you will see the handles you are looking for.

[hartpaul]

As well instead of Contrl +T you can use K as the shortcut or even customise PSP to use your favored Contrl+T. Currently that key combination is set to Mirror Vertical.

[BRNZ]

Right so you have to drag the new image into the layers palette for it to stack as a new layer. OK can cope with that *sigh*

But this is my problem re moving the layers - this is copied out of the User Guide....

Moving layers on the canvas
You can move the contents of an entire layer anywhere within the image
canvas. If you move part of a layer off the canvas, the layer is not
cropped — you can move it back to the canvas or increase the canvas
size to display the hidden area. For more information, see
“Resizing the canvas” on page 280.
To move a layer on the canvas

Edit tab
1 On the Layers palette, select the layer that you want to move.
2 On the Tools toolbar, click the Move tool
3 Drag in the image to move the layer to a new position

So I figured it out by accident that what you actually need is the PICK tool which this does not at the bottom that you can use as well - but I checked all the info I could find in Help etc and it all said the same thing - and that is wrong as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the response, you did help with solving half my problem which was quite an annoying half!

[JoeB]

Edit tab
1 On the Layers palette, select the layer that you want to move.
2 On the Tools toolbar, click the Move tool
3 Drag in the image to move the layer to a new position

So I figured it out by accident that what you actually need is the PICK tool....

The Pick tool and the Move tool are on the same flyout. Either will move the layer.

[Kathy_9]

So I figured it out by accident that what you actually need is the PICK tool

Did you miss where I said

Next click on the Pick tool and you will see the handles you are looking for.

[BRNZ]

So I figured it out by accident that what you actually need is the PICK tool

Did you miss where I said

Next click on the Pick tool and you will see the handles you are looking for.

I figured it out after I posted and before you responded

[BRNZ]

The Pick tool and the Move tool are on the same flyout. Either will move the layer.

Yes either will move the layer, but if you want to change size or orientation you need the PICK tool - and there is no reference to that functionality in the help files that I could see.

Move also moves ALL THE LAYERS TOGETHER - it doesnt move just the one layer - which is what I was trying to achieve

[JoeB]

The Pick tool and the Move tool are on the same flyout. Either will move the layer.

Yes either will move the layer, but if you want to change size or orientation you need the PICK tool - and there is no reference to that functionality in the help files that I could see.

Move also moves ALL THE LAYERS TOGETHER - it doesnt move just the one layer - which is what I was trying to achieve

No, Move tool doesn't move all of the layers. As long as you click with the tool on a non-transparent part of a layer it will select the layer you clicked on and only move that layer. Or you can start by selecting that layer in the Layers palette, hold the Shift key down, and then click anywhere in the image - even a transparent part of the selected layer - and drag the Move tool to only move the layer you selected in the Layers palette. Unless you use the Shift key also, then clicking on a transparent part of the selected layer of the image with the Move tool will end up with the tool selecting the first non-transparent area on a layer that it encounters and that's the layer that will be moved.

I answered about the Move tool because you brought up 2 separate issues in your original post. You mentioned that the Move tool problem was that it moved all layers, which is incorrect. Then you also mentioned about resizing, rotating, etc., for which the Pick tool is needed. I was only speaking to the first issue you mentioned.

[BRNZ]

Hi Joe

That is not my experience - if I select the layer I want and none of them are transparent - it moves all of them together. That was my first problem - I will try the Shift and layer click to see if it solves it.

My second issue was around resizing/rotating - yes apparently the Pick tool is the right one to use, but it doesnt say it anywhere obvious in the help files that I could find - it references the Move tool.

If I pull up the User Guide - this is ALL the choices for working with Layers (cont below list)

Understanding layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Using layers with photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Using layers with illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Using the Layers palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Creating layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Promoting the background layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Deleting layers and clearing layer contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Duplicating and copying layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Renaming layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Viewing layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Finding layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Organizing layers by color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Changing the order of layers in an im
age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Moving layers on the canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Grouping layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Linking layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Blending layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Setting layer opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Protecting transparent areas of raster layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
vi
Corel PaintShop Pro 2018 User Guide
Merging layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Using adjustment layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Using layer styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

The ONLY reference to moving layers is the below - and in the User Guide it does reference the Pick tool but so obliquely its easy to miss that it is in fact the Tool I was after - The user guide talks a lot about Pick tool in the Vector section. However unless you know what it is you are looking for its pretty easy to not be able to figure it out

Moving layers on the canvas
You can move the contents of an entire layer anywhere within th
e image
canvas. If you move part of a layer off the canvas, the layer i
s not
cropped — you can move it back to the canvas or increase the ca
nvas
size to display the hidden area. For more information, see
“Resizing the
canvas” on page
280.
To move a layer on the canvas
Edit tab
1 On the Layers palette, select t
he layer that you want to move.
2 On the Tools toolbar, click the
Move
tool
.
3 Drag in the image to move the lay
er to a new position.
You can also select and move layers with the
Pick
tool

[JoeB]

Yes, I've mentioned in other posts about the fact that Corel's user guide isn't the most detailed in the world so it can be a frustrating experience unfortunately. That's one way this forum can be helpful - filling in the blanks.

And yes, the Move tool does work as I described. If you're having problems making it work as it should then please post back with specifices - number and type of layers, the steps you're taking, etc. Grouped layers, for example, will act differently from individual layers, just so you know.

[hartpaul]

I suspect the information about the Pick tool is not included in your referenced layer information because the Pick tool has a section all to itself and is more complex than the Move tool. So they have all that info under the Pick tool here:
http://help.corel.com/paintshop-pro/how ... 3ww1409420

this avoids repetition of info multiple times.
You mentioned "Right so you have to drag the new image into the layers palette for it to stack as a new layer. OK can cope with that *sigh*"
So how does Photoshop work if you want to insert an image inbetween layers? The Painshop Pro way works because it applies to all positions except the bottom position. You can drag an image from the explorere window and place it anywhere in a number of raster layers above the bottom layer.
For the following I set up three layers :
Re Moving Layers
Using the Move Tool you can select a layer (highlights in blue) hold the shift key down and move just that layer. This applies to all simple ungrouped individual layers. With the top layer you don't even have to use the Shift key.

01MoveToolShift.jpg (74.4 KiB) Viewed 3009 times

If you link the layers then they will all move together.

With the Pick tool :
Choose a layer and then move it and only that layer moves.

Use the control keys to choose all layers and then move and all chosen layers will move.

Choose layers and link them and only those layers will move.

[hartpaul]

(Post continued due to limitations on #images in post.)

Scaling images with the Pick tool
With the Pick tool chosen you will see a Mode and that can be
Scale
Shear (Shift),
Perspective (Ctrl),
Free (Shift+Ctrl)

This is why you cannot use Shift with the Pick tool as was done with the Move tool so just selecting a layer with the Pick tool chosen keeps the action to just that chosen layer.
With Scale chosen you can scale (resize) a chosen highlighted layer

Holding Control Key down switches the Pick tool to Perspetive Mode for that layer

If you use the Control key to select a second layer then you get a new tool options bar for Object alignment, Object Distribution, Position on Canvas , Make Same Size and Group.
You can experiment further with these to see what they do - (hint choose one layer first that you then want its characteristics -alignment ,position etc to be applied to the second layer).

[BRNZ]

Thanks for the detailed response - I can get the Pick tool to work as I need it to now I know about it (tho I have to keep clicking on the desired layer and then the tool to get it to stay stuck to that layer - other wise it keeps dropping down to the background layer)

In PS if you drag an image from Explorer into the main working panel and drop it on top of the image you are working on, ie NOT the layers palette - it drops the layer in on top of whichever layer you have active. Super easy.

Will test it again tonite re the move tool and report back, cos it was totes giving me grief on Sunday

[patara]

What I do in PSP is to select the layer I want to move in the Layers Palette and then click on it and while holding down the mouse button I drag that layer from the Layers Palette over onto the other image, and then drop it. It appears as a new layer above the active layer. I never drop it onto the Layers Palette, but directly onto the image. If Tabbed Documents is being used, I drag the layer from the Layers Palette up to the Tab of the image I want, when that image opens, I then drop the layer onto it.