Confused about adjustments

[ladlon]

@HuniSenpai: Thanks for all the vids and effort!  Yes, that last video shows you doing the thing I'm talking about in the first part of the video... yet, in your case, it works (or at least doesn't clear the content of the layer.  I'm doing the same thing, but when I hit Merge, the contents of the layer disappears/clears!

[HuniSenpai]

2 minutes ago, ladlon said:

Okay, let me try another explanation....

. . . 

But, there is no other method to do this type of thing, as putting an adjustment above the 3rd layer will adjust ALL the layers below it, so when you dial down the brightness of the 3rd layer (eyeballing it to the other layers), all the other layers below will also simultaneously get darker, making it impossible to match, since the other layers will 'run away' from their original settings as you approach them.

Sir, trust me, I know what you are talking about. My point is that this is working for me, but there is a bug that can cause the merge to not work when the layer is childed. The bug is that merge doesn't work when you child the layer yourself. Watch the video I just posted.

[HuniSenpai]

Just now, ladlon said:

@HuniSenpai: Thanks for all the vids and effort!  Yes, that last video shows you doing the thing I'm talking about in the first part of the video... yet, in your case, it works (or at least doesn't clear the content of the layer.  I'm doing the same thing, but when I hit Merge, the contents of the layer disappears/clears!

Yeah, that's what's really confusing me. It should be working for you, so long as you didn't induce the bug. What version are you on?

[ladlon]

It really seems like they broke merging in general with the new update... including that bug previously pointed out about the selection order!

[ladlon]

I'm on the latest version (1.8.2.620) Win7 Pro.

I'm having a few odd things happen... including another quirk I did a thread on (which I think you are also involved in, too) where the square bracket keyboard shortcut for sizing the brush stop working after some random amount of time (yet all the other shortcuts and the program itself continue working!).

[ladlon]

Seems to be happening since the last update, as it worked the way I expected up to now... unless I have gone completely insane.

[HuniSenpai]

Just now, ladlon said:

It really seems like they broke merging in general with the new update... including that bug previously pointed out about the selection order!

I think I may have found your bug.

The elaborate layer structure you are working on has a whole bunch of layers (looks like a person with head, legs, etc.) masked to a layer. When you apply a childed adjustment to one of those masked layers and press "merge," it does a weird thing where the entire thing merges together, and you get, in my example, the donut and background merged together. Take a look at this clip:

I am pretty sure this is a bug. We should probably report this to the devs. 

[ladlon]

UPDATE:

I just did a test on a new/test 'project', rather than my actual project.

Three simple pixel layers... each a different blob of colour.

Selected the middle one, clicked the Adjustment icon (bottom of Layer window), and selected HSL.

HSL adjustment window opened, and I dialed down the saturation (making that layer grey).

Clicked the dreaded Merge button at the top of the HSL adjustment window.... and it WORKED!

 

Okay, so for some reason, there's some aspect of my (real) project file that is buggering up the merge functionality....   Memory usage???  (I've got 32 gigs, and this isn't a massive project, so that SEEMS unlikely)

Nothing obviously odd in my layers.. just a bunch of paint layers... some grouped together... a few with adjustment layers..... but that's it.  Nothing fancy or unusual.

Yet, it is obvious that something is either stressing the program... or some previous action has somehow buggered up the program's functionality...  No idea.

But, yes, it is confirmed that the Merge DOES work in a small/different test project.  That would explain why many are not seeing this issue.

I'm going to close my (real) project, and reload it... to the issue is 'baked' into the project, or if it's related indirectly (duration of the work session, etc).

[HuniSenpai]

Just now, ladlon said:

UPDATE:

. . .

I'm going to close my (real) project, and reload it... to the issue is 'baked' into the project, or if it's related indirectly (duration of the work session, etc).

Take a look at the last video I just sent. I think I figured it out. 

[ladlon]

Ha, we are both responding so fast, this is like live chat!

That last video is interesting.  Doesn't seem to be what is happening with mine, but that certainly seems like a bug (...in the sense that it should just merge the target layer (adjustment to the donut))

In my case, the rest of the heirarchy remains, but the target layer clears (rather than results in a layer that contains ALL the content of ALL the layers in the hierarchy, like your video does.

[ladlon]

I'm going to try a bunch of tests with various heirarchies/groupings, and see what it does.  You are on to something, even though your results (though also incorrect/bugs) are different from mine!

[ladlon]

Just did a quick test... My three coloured blob layers.... but this time, I grouped them together, and applied a targeted adjustment to the 2nd layer (selected it, clicked the Adjustment icon, selected HSL, made the adjustment and then hit the Merge button).

That actually worked, too....  So, it's not specifically/exclusively a bug related to heirarchies... by that, I mean that it CAN work, but in the case of my (real) project, it doesn't.

So, more tests will follow....

[ladlon]

Further findings:

So, in my REAL project (as opposed to a simple test one), I found the following:

1) Adding a targeted adjustment (using the Adjustment icon method described above) to a single, unparented layer (with no childred) and hitting the Merge button works fine

2) Doing the same to one of two grouped layers (each with out children, and with their group not grouped/parented to anything.... just two single layers grouped together) resulted in the non-responsive Merge button shown in one of your videos (...Note, the command history DOES show that a Merge is triggered each time, but nothing happens to the layers... the adjustment layer child remains)

3) Doing the same to a single layer that is grouped with several other layers, which is also grouped to another set of layers (group within a group) results in the destructive/content clearing bug I noted in my previous examples.... adjustment layer is removed/merged, but the pixel layer's contents are cleared completely, leaving it empty, but still present.

 

Going to go for a walk, but will tinker around with this further.

For now, the workaround seems to be to do the targeted layer method (click on the Adjustment icon, etc).... but rather than hitting the Merge button, you exit, select the pixel layer (which will select both it and the child adjustment layer) and hit Rasterize in the context menu.  A bit less convenient, but at least it works for now.  Hopefully, I can assign a hotkey to Rasterize (....an annoyance I point out in ANOTHER of my threads, where I am baffled by why only a select few of the commands can have a keyboard shortcut assigned, rather than all of them being available in the shortcut edit window).

I'll keep you posted on what I find.  Thanks again for your help so far!

[HuniSenpai]

Glad to help! 

I'm convinced it is in some way related to the bug I found, it's just not immediately obvious. You know how the donut oddly merged with the parent after I pressed merge? Maybe, in your case, it's merging with something transparent, thus making it disappear. Maybe the mask?

[carl123]

4 hours ago, HuniSenpai said:

The bug is that merge doesn't work when you child the layer yourself. Watch the video I just posted.

You are dragging the adjustment layer to the wrong position

You need to drag it to the "mask" position on the parent layer (vertical blue line) not the "clipped" position (horizontal blue line)

Then it works as it should when you hit the Merge button

[ladlon]

@Carl123: I know that was targeted to HuniSenpai, but in my case, I'm selecting the target layer, and then clicking the Adjustment icon to add a layer-specific adjustment to it, which is automatic, so I have no control of how it connects it.  In my case, there seems to be a bug(?) related to grouped items (and/or groups in groups), which perhaps the team hasn't run into yet.  I'm going to do some more tests, and establish a specific list of situations and results for each to provide to support.

[carl123]

@ladlon It will be something specific to your document layer structure (groups, sub-groups etc) as I am unable to replicate what you are seeing/reporting

If you can upload that document to the forum (or some other document that shows the problem) it may be easier to see what is causing it or if indeed there is a bug