iPad Designer: merge layers fails - how to do correctly?

[VectorCat]

I posted earlier about wanting to export all of the layers of a document with *many* layers (over 100). It might be wise to consolidate like layers for my purpose, but when I try merge selected, nothing happens, and when I choose merge down (on layers which are selected) either the wrong thing happens, or I can’t see what results.

What is the correct, reliable method to merge selected layers, some of which are placed images which have been cropped,  their contents arranged how I like, to then instruct Designer to take all of those selected layers and merge them into one single layer?

This seems very elusive, and makes me hesitant to use what could be powerful functionality.

Here’s one fail example I just tried:  per the help file, select layer, merge down merges with layer below. I select 6 of 7 layers, choose merge down, thinking that the selected layers will merge downward, ending with that 7th, unselected layer. Not only does that not happen, but one of the layers selected merges with something completely different and not selected at all!

To me this is a major fail of what layers ought to do. I’d consider it a bug. “Merge Down” isn’t very complex language, and what ought to happen is that selected layers need to merge down with layers beneath them, unless I completely misapprehend the meanings of “merge” and “down.”

Additional fail: even when I try with just 1 cropped image, or 1 image and the very next one below it, the resulting merge is not of what was selected. Could we get programmer eyes on this? What do I need to supply for such examination? As things are, I don’t believe that layers can be controlled very well.

[Callum]

Hi Vector Cat,

Merge selected is the correct most reliable way. Merge down only ever merges to the first layer below the layer you selected. This is not a bug it is completely by design unless it is truly merging with a random layer and not just the one below it regardless of wether it was selected. I have tried to recreate your additional fail here and haven't been able to at all. Please could you provide a screen recording of this issue?

C

[VectorCat]

Thank you for your answer, Callum. Since my post, it occurred to me that all layers needed to be rasterized first - this was not an easy / predictable thing to do, either. But I believe that I can try to re-create what I was experiencing, because I still have the "starting point" file I used. I'll try to take a screen recording of a thing that I did which resulted in a layer several layers below - which wasn't even selected, and wasn't the next below - to be incorporated.

 

[VectorCat]

I am unable to reproduce one of the strange results I got, in which a layer not intended, not immediately below - in fact which was very far below the selected layers-to-be-merged - also was included.

The other “fails” were purely my fault. I assumed that vector elements, and clipped images and “images” would all be thrown into the hopper and rasterized together. Such is not the case.

So...if you have layers that are vector, and you need to keep them as vector, and you need to merge and export, how do you handle that?

[DM1]

3 hours ago, VectorCat said:

So...if you have layers that are vector, and you need to keep them as vector, and you need to merge and export, how do you handle that?