You can't select the parent layer and its clipping layers at the same time

[Frozen Death Knight]

Was trying to select the clipping layers and the parent layer in an attempt to work on them simultaneously, since the Liquify Persona allows you to work on multiple layers at the same time which I find very useful. However, of some reason there is a big limitation where the clipping layers are not allowed to be selected while clipped to the parent layer, leading to situations where you have to unclip the layers, edit them all together, and then clip them back to the parent layer to get the desired effect. Of some reason masking type layers that are clipped to the parent layer are allowed to be selected, which makes it feel very inconsistent. Here's an example of what I mean.

Another reason why this is a big limitation is that this causes problems when you wish to merge a specific clipping layer to the parent layer. You can only use the merging operations like merge selected when you are allowed to select both, but since you can't when you have them clipped, you get situations like these.

[MEB]

Hi Frozen Death Knight,
Despite mask type layers appearing selected in the Layers panel they are also not affected by Liquify Persona so in that regard the behaviour is not different from clipped layers. I don't think there's an inconsistency because mask type layers are nested to the parent layer (not clipped) - they are not exactly the same thing. Try this create two objects: clip one layer to the first, add a mask to the second - now collapse both parent objects layers. Notice the mask type layer's thumbnail will appear on the side of the parent layer when the parent layer is collapsed, whereas the clipped layer doesn't. Mask layers are nested, whereas clipped layers are clipped (placed inside the parent layer). Mask layers affect the whole parent layer, whereas clipped layers are simply objects placed inside other objects and limited/restricted visually by the parent object boundaries.
I do understand how being able to edit the parent and clipped layer simultaneously in the Liquify Persona can be an advantage but this is more a feature request/improvement than a bug.

Regarding the second point, instead of using the merge selected command, simply rasterise the parent layer. The child layer is not independent from the parent layer thus doesn't count as an independent layer to be merged with other layers unless they are siblings (children of the same parent).

[Frozen Death Knight]

@MEB Yes, you are right that the masking layers don't get transformed despite being selected in the Layers panel. However, I disagree that not being able to select the clipping layers and parent layers at the same time is consistent. From the user's point of view it looks very weird when you are able to shift/ctrl select everything except the clipping layers, especially when you lose your parent layer selection if you try to select a clipping layer.

Also, I would argue that not being able to liquify a mask layer that is clipped to a parent layer as being weird when it looks like you can select it in the stack. If that's the case, why are you then allowed to liquify both the parent layer and masking layer at the same time when you unclip the latter from the former? If you don't want to liquify the mask as well, then why not just let the user manually deselect the mask from the selection stack or simply lock all edits of said layer through Edit Lock? Still, I may concede on the point that adding this feature to masks might be a feature request rather than a bug.

However, my next point I definitely don't consider as a feature request, but as a bug. Look at this video for example. I can select layers unrelated to the clipping layers themselves and even liquify them at the same time, but when I try to select the parent layer I can't. It is a very odd limitation since you can select everything else at the same time, with the only exception (that I know of) being parent and clipping layers. Not being able to select clipping layers and parent layers at the same time while simultaneously allowing selection of other layers is just really, really awkward.

[Frozen Death Knight]

50 minutes ago, MEB said:

Regarding the second point, instead of using the merge selected command, simply rasterise the parent layer. The child layer is not independent from the parent layer thus doesn't count as an independent layer to be merged with other layers unless they are siblings (children of the same parent).

Well, yes, I can do that. However, that also means rasterizing all the layers and masks clipped to the parent layer at the same time, which is not something I want. I want to be able to run merge selected so I can rasterize the parent layer and one clipping layer at a time. I am able to do this when I unclip the clipping layers to run merge selected, but not when they are clipped, since you can't select the clipping layers and parent layer at the same time, as previously mentioned. Fixing the issue of not being able to select both at the same time would make this possible.