Promote Group to Layer

[ashf]

Would be nice if you cloud add  this command to Publisher as well.

[walt.farrell]

11 minutes ago, ashf said:

Would be nice if you cloud add  this command to Publisher as well.

What command is that?

[ashf]

13 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

What command is that?

You can turn a group into a layer. very useful when you organize layers.
Check Layer menu in Designer

e.g.
Group layers with Cmd+G
Then change the group to a layer
(since you can't manipulate each layer easily)
 

 

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

What command is that?

"Promote Group to Layer" as the topic title says? 

[ashf]

8 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

"Promote Group to Layer" as the topic title says? 

I think he asked that where the command is and how to use it... lol

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

"Promote Group to Layer" as the topic title says? 

I didn't see the Promote Group to Layer command in the Designer Layer menu. Sorry.

@ashf: It's already available in Publisher if you own Designer, too, via the Designer Persona.

[ashf]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I didn't see the Promote Group to Layer command in the Designer Layer menu. Sorry.

@ashf: It's already available in Publisher if you own Designer, too, via the Designer Persona.

Yes, I know. but I asked this because someone who has only Publisher asked me this.
He says he wants to group text in books but "group" binds text in itself on the canvas so it's not comfortable and he wants to group them only in the layer list.

[Pšenda]

On 4/27/2020 at 11:32 PM, ashf said:

I think he asked that where the command is and how to use it... lol

Oh, thanks. I didn't think of that (or Google Translator didn't translate it correctly/accurately 🙂 This is also because Walt recently contributed to a thread, where this command was discussed, so I would assume he knew about it.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/112817-request-improvements-to-layer-management-183/

P. S. You may be interested in the requirement for a complementary "Promote Layer to Group" command in linked thread.

[walt.farrell]

41 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

This is also because Walt recently contributed to a thread, where this command was discussed, so I would assume he knew about it.

But note that my sole contribution to that topic was a housekeeping one, pointing out how feature requests work in general, and the proper way to draw someone's attention to something. I made no comments about the functions being requested, and hadn't really paid any attention to any part of it prior to the comment I responded to.

[Intuos5]

Would be helpful to have Promote Group to Layer in Publisher directly. I have hotkeyed this up in Designer, so switching to the Designer persona for this ends up being a bit of a workflow roadblock as I am used to just hit the hotkey when I am working in Designer.

[walt.farrell]

45 minutes ago, Intuos5 said:

It is also missing in Photo and I would also like to have it there.

It would be odd to have that option in Photo, as Photo doesn't let you create Layer layers at all.

[Intuos5]

Actually,  that's a good point. Nvm Photo.

[NotMyFault]

I would like to have it all, natively in Photo and Designer: Layer layers and converting freely between group and Layer layers.

I always hated that groups restricts selections of child layers, and prefer how Layers work.

There is absolutely no reason that these are only available in Designer.

[Pšenda]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

as Photo doesn't let you create Layer layers at all.

Although the Layer menu says otherwise 🙂

[NotMyFault]

2 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Although the Layer menu says otherwise 🙂

But those create Pixel layers, not Layer Layers.

 

[Pšenda]

24 minutes ago, NotMyFault said:

But those create Pixel layers, not Layer Layers.

Yes, I know - hence the smiley face, which you apparently didn't understand 😞

Otherwise, if it should be a Pixel Layer, then it should be listed there - right? As in ADesigner, where the identical New Layer command is used to create a Layer layer, not to create a Pixel layer - there is a different command for that.

So you think it's ok? Doesn't that sound confusing?

P.S. An ideal application for confusing users is APublisher, where you just switch Personas, and the "New Layer" command creates something different each time. At the same time, it would be enough to add a New "Pixel" Layer, and there would be no more confusion.

Edited August 29, 2022 by Pšenda

[Old Bruce]

Obviously the Menu in Photo should say New Pixel Layer. I do agree with the idea that we should have Layer layers in Photo as well. But the Menu's text should be fixed, the fact that the shortcut is the same as creating a new pixel layer doesn't help at all, the word Pixel is needed. 

[ashf]

7 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

But those create Pixel layers, not Layer Layers.

 

I think this is confusing. it should be named "New Pixel Layer" since Photo can not create a "Layer" Layer.

[Mithferion]

What I would like is the opposite, turning a Layer into a Group haha.

Best regards!

[Old Bruce]

Select the group.

Make a new Layer layer directly below the group. Or have one there already.

Use Layer > Arrange > Move inside. this will move the item in the layers list below the Layer Layer into the Layer layer. If necessary ungroup the group.

[Pšenda]

4 hours ago, Mithferion said:

What I would like is the opposite, turning a Layer into a Group haha.

As requested in the linked post.

[Intuos5]

  

On 8/29/2022 at 1:19 PM, Intuos5 said:

Actually,  that's a good point. Nvm Photo.

I was wrong on this one.

Having done extensive switching between Photo and Designer, I definitely do see the need to Promote groups to Layers (not pixel layers) in Affinity Photo. That way I don't have to make a round trip to Designer to do this. That's because there are a couple of features that should be working in Designer, but are not available there.

[Pšenda]

19 minutes ago, Intuos5 said:

I definitely do see the need to Promote groups to Layers (not pixel layers) in Affinity Photo.

 

On 8/29/2022 at 1:12 PM, walt.farrell said:

It would be odd to have that option in Photo, as Photo doesn't let you create Layer layers at all.

 

[Intuos5]

As I said, I was a bit conflicted at first because I didn't switch my files between the various programs as I had to do now. When you work in just Photo, there appears to be no particular necessity for promoting groups to layers, because you can't create them. However, when moving data across, it becomes apparent, because groups are different in selection than layers in Designer. So you would want to structure the data accordingly before shipping it over to Designer.

@Pšenda this seemingly cynical comment doesn't engage with what I am saying. You are just restating what I have read before, just don't if you have nothing to add to this.

 

[Pšenda]

On 10/24/2022 at 2:24 PM, Intuos5 said:

You are just restating what I have read before

But this was not obvious at all, because you only repeated (without the addition that you stated later) that APhoto should have operations with "Layers", which, in principle, it does not create. If you wanted APhoto to work with "Layers" and be able to create them, then the request for "Promote groups to Layers" would make sense. But you didn't mention that anywhere here.