Photo art and layer blends

[Blacknight]

I'm using Studio Artist to create photoart because I find it easier to generate with presets than I do with some other paint programs I've tried. I have used Photoshop for years, and like blending layers with it. I have done some layer blending with SA, but unlike Photoshop it seems you have to change the "opacity" (the number that starts out being 100 in the layers palette) before you notice andy blending taking place. I guess my questions would be is this the way it has to be done in order for the different effects to be visible? Does it matter which order the layers are in for the effects to work? I can't seem to find much information "out there" on layer blendings. Anybody else using SA for this purpose as well? Any thoughts. or places I could go to learn more on this process? Thanks in advance!

[Synthetik]

All lists in Studio Artist start at the top and proceed down. That includes layers, so the individual layers are applied 1 by 1 from the top to the bottom of the list. So the last layer in the list is the last layer applied via compositing.

If you use a compositing operation other than replace you will see something happening with 100% opacity. If you just want a straight blend, then you would use replace and reduce that 100% value to bring more of the previous layer in.

Studio Artist is also unique in that layer compositing is also built into it's image processing operations. So many things you would have to do in other programs with layers can actually be done by compositing in place hen running an image processing operation.

[Blacknight]

I have clicked on the black dot indicating which layer is selected and moved them around. I have lowered the number from 100 downwards (admittedly only on the lower one(s) - I usually make three layers) and adjusted the upper layers (selecting the view all mode) only. Probably because that's the way Photoshop layers work. So perhaps I should start at the bottom layer with my blending? Is that what you're saying? I'll try that and get back with you on my results.

Thanks.

[Synthetik]

Yes, start at the bottom of the list with blending, since that's the last layer applied. If you are used to Photoshop that's the reverse of what you would do there.

At least in Studio Artist things in lists are always applied consistently, from the first element in the list (at the top) to the last element in the list (at the bottom). So once you get that you'll always be able to figure out how elements in any list are applied (like a PASeq for instance, or the processor chain list in MSG Evolver, or layers in this case).

[Blacknight]

Indeed, that's what I should have been doing was starting at the bottom. I saw that mentioned in the tutorials (where layers added are under the previous layer), but failed to grasp the significance of it as applied to blend modes.

I wonder how hard it would be to reverse the layer order and make it more like Photoshop? I wonder also if most of the users of SA also use Photoshop. I notice that CMD-Z is undo, like Photoshop. Might be a good selling point having less of a learning curve with regard to commands and such.

Thanks for the help!

[Synthetik]

I do understand where you are coming from. I guess my on-going beef with this particular issue is that in photoshop some lists work from top to bottom and other work from bottom to top. Every list in Studio Artist works the same, there's never any question about how the index ordering will be used. They always work from top to bottom.

cmnd h doesn't hide photoshop (like it does almost every other mac application), so if we're going to be consistent with photoshop should we turn that off too? cmnd z (and cmnd h) are apple specified conventions, we do try and follow apple specified conventions.

[Dee Flouton]

Personally, over time I have gotten more accustomed to compositing layers in SA and prefer it to PS almost exclusively.

[Dee Flouton]

John beat me to this as I was about to add the following, but I'll include it anyway:

Interesting effects can be achieved with only 2 layers. More layers of course will render more possibilities. It is not necessary to change the opacity in layers to notice the difference. Blends can be achieved by simply changing the pop up menu on the layers palette. First set the "view" pop up to "all layers". Then change each layer in succession from "replace" all the way to "modulate inversion" and watch what happens with each change. When you hit on one that you like, you can save it as another image from which to work.

There are 22 possibilities, so if you are working with just 2 layers, there are many combinations that can be made which affect color, edges, depth of field, etc. Some very lovely affects result as well as some very garish ones. And all this without changing the opacity.

If you would like to see a few examples with the settings, I'll send you a file.

[Synthetik]

Dee brings up a good point for people getting started with Studio Artist. You layer view can be set to view current layer only or view all layers. If you want to see compositing and blending effects between layers you need to be in view all mode. If you are in view current layer mode, then the composite setting is ignored since you are looking at just the current layer.