Manipulate layers

[jmahall]

Is there a way to manipulate (size, mirror, rotate etc) a layer without it effecting the underlying layer?

[LeviFiction]

Yes it is. Most commands only work on the currently selected layer and won't touch the others. Some do affect the whole image but most don't.

The first thing I would recommend is to use the Pick tool, it allows you to rotate and scale the currently selected layer (if you grab an edge and drag it over to the other edge this will have a similar effect to Mirroring or Flipping the layer) all interactively. The pick tool does try to be helpful so if you click on a transparent area of the current layer it may select the layer underneath assuming that's what you wanted to do.

If you're literally using the commands "Resize" and "Rotate Left, Right, or Free" from the menu the story changes slightly. Rotate Left and Rotate Right under the Image menu are full canvas rotations. If you want to rotate a single layer 90 degrees really quickly you can either 1) Use the Pick tool, grab the rotation handle and hold SHIFT to lock the rotation to 15 degree increments. or 2) Use the Free Rotate command and deselect the "All Layers" checkbox at the bottom of the command window.

For resizing, the Pick tool's scale isn't great for large resizing. Small resizing, tiny adjustments, it's fine. But if you need to do some big resizing the quality might come out better with the resize command. But Resize is still mostly designed for the entire image. So I recommend sticking to "By Percentage" as the mode, and then check the "Advanced" checkbox at the bottom of the dialog to see the advanced options and again turn off "Resize all layers". With that turned off it'll only resize the current layer. I recommend using percentage because confusingly, the resize will still be based on what would happen if you resized the whole image. So if I have an image that's 1000x1000 pixels and I have a layer that's 500x500 pixels. And I use the Resize command with "Resize all layers" turned off and tell it to resize my layer to 700x700px it'll actually shrink not grow. Which is very trippy. Unless you want to do the math, resizing one layer with the Resize command should always be done in percentage.

The commands Mirror and Flip should only affect the current layer so those are fine.

[jmahall]

Thanks I'll give this a try.