Photoshop Layer Links

Link

Although we already know how to select multiple layers to move together, this combination is temporary. For example, when we select two eye layers to move together, and then select the other layer, the original temporary combination does not exist. If you want to move two eye layers later, you must select both. This is obviously troublesome, for this Photoshop provides the layer link function, which is commonly used to lock several layers together, so that even if only one layer is moved, other layers that are in the link state move together.

The way to link layers is simple, as shown on the left, after you select more than one layer, click the link button below the Layer palette (the red arrow below) to achieve the link between the selected layers. After several layers are linked, move any one of them, and the rest of the layers move along.

After you have established the link, select any layer in the link, and other layers in this link will also display the link flag in the Layer palette, as shown in the right figure, and the "eye" layer also displays the link flag when you select the "Eye copy" layer.

If you want to add another layer to an existing link, you must select it with the existing link layer, and then click the link button. However, you do not need to select all the layers in the original link. Assuming that you now want to add the "nose" layer to the existing two eye layer links, click the link button in the following 3 figure to achieve the goal.

The way to unlink a layer is to select the link button below the Layer palette by selecting the layer in the link. Allows you to remove links from multiple layers after you select them.

The role of layer links in layman's parlance is that some of the remaining layers can be automatically followed when moving layers. This is commonly used in CS and earlier versions, because earlier versions do not allow multiple layers to be selected at the same time, if you want to move multiple layers at once, you must link them first, and most of the layer links in the earlier versions are temporary, such as the need to move at the same time or transform at the same time (zoom, rotate, etc., will be When finished, the links are essentially unlinked for subsequent operations on a single layer.

The Photoshop we're using now allows you to select multiple layers at the same time, which in effect is equivalent to a temporary layer link, and using the Move tool combination CTRL and SHIFT keys for multiple layers is also very handy. In practice, if you need to create a "permanent" layer link, you will typically use layer groups (as you'll learn later in this lesson), so the layer link functionality is no longer common or even necessary.

Whether you are selecting multiple layers at the same time, or to make a link between layers, there are many actions for a single layer that cannot be used, such as changing opacity, drawing with a brush, adjusting colors, removing layers, duplicating layers, and filters to be learned in the future, or only valid for a single layer.

The last thing to note about layer links is that Photoshop allows multiple sets of links to exist at the same time. For example, "eye" can be a set of links with "eye copy". At the same time "nose" and "face" can be composed of another set of links. Even so, a layer can exist only in a set of connections, such as the "eye" layer, which makes it impossible to make a link with a "face" layer, and another set of links to the "nose" layer. If you do this, the newly established link relationship replaces the old.