Fill Layer on Adjustment Layer weird behaviour?

[Torpi]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to have some mask on an adjustment layer. The mask is composed of Gradients that I want to be able to edit. What I am using is a Fill Layer since Pixel Layers like Mask Layer cannot be edited afterward.

With an Fill Layer on an Adjustment Layer, using the Paint Brush to paint black or white will act as mask on/off as I would expect.

However, this does nothing with a Gradient.

What I found though is if instead of a black/white gradient I use a transparent (0%) and opaque (100%) gradient and a Fill Layer with "Erase", I can achieve what I need. Problem is now I cannot use the Paint Brush on the Fill Layer anymore! (does nothing)

Can someone explain me where I am wrong? Why should we play with transparency in gradient tool instead of black/white?

Any other way to have gradient that you can edit after when going back to the layer?

 

Thank you very much and have a lovely day,

Torpi

[David in Яuislip]

Fill layers are vector so the gradient as a mask works with opacity not colour, I've used yellow but anything will do. The gradient remains editable
The curves adjustment layer has a built in pixel mask, I've just scrawled the word Black in black to negate the effect and 128 Grey in Greyscale 128 to reduce the effect

[Torpi]

Thank you for your response. I think I am slowly getting there, (coming from Adobe suite...)

I did 2 mistakes: 1) My adjustment layer was not under the picture layer but on top. 2) I did not think of using the mask of the adjustment layer, I tried to add another layer with a mask but with no success.

Now I am getting closer to you. The only question is, how can I add multiple elliptical gradient ? Do I need multiple fill layers? Let say I want to correct the exposition with gradients in different places of a picture, how would you do that? 

[David in Яuislip]

A fill layer is functionally the same as a rectangle covering the whole image, so you can use any of the vector shapes at any size anywhere in the image

Here I've used elliptical gradients, inner at 100%, outer at 0% so it blends with the rest

Left curve is pulled down to darken, right curve raised to lighten

I think you'll need a separate curve & gradient for each area, I don't think you can have multiple gradients on a single adjustment layer unless there are some clever tricks with blend layers

Actually, you can. If you set up the gradients, group them and nest under the adjustment layer it will work but you can't edit the gradients in a group so you have to nest them individually, then release, group and nest again. Here I've used the same shape/gradients as above but with an HSL adjustment. Helluva effort which would drive me to drink

[Torpi]

A thousand thanks. I think now I am getting it. Separate curve & gradient for each area seems the easy way to go.

I still don't get how you got the gradient working with a "normal" fill layer. To me the only way to make it works is with "erase"

I figured out that you made the garden the opposite way of me but even if I reverse it, nothing is applied to Normal Fill layer.

What am I not understanding here?

[David in Яuislip]

Your fill layer doesn't seem to be nested properly, it's not far enough over to the right

Try releasing it then pick it up with the mouse and drop it on the adjustment layer thumbnail, a short blue bar will appear to the right, well it does in V1

[Torpi]

I found it! Honestly, that is really mysterious to me. It depends if you drag and drop the Fill Layer on the name of the adjustment layer (then it does not work, unless you use erase) or if you drag and drop the Fill Layer on the icon of the adjustment layer. After that there is no way to distinguish one from the other. Well, there might be a gray line just under the layer, when dragged on the icon. I am not sure to understand the difference between those two positions of the layer. Any idea? I am using V2 by the way.

 

The other thing I still not get, while I understood Fill Layer are vectorial and then works with transparency and not colours, then why a paint brush un black or gray on the Fill Layer has the same effect as the Gradient Transparent or not? There is something not uniform here to me no? Or am I misunderstanding a basic concept?

 

On the name, does not work:

 

On the icon, works:

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Torpi

[lepr]

6 minutes ago, Torpi said:

The other thing I still not get, while I understood Fill Layer are vectorial and then works with transparency and not colours, then why a paint brush un black or gray on the Fill Layer has the same effect as the Gradient Transparent or not? There is something not uniform here to me no? Or am I misunderstanding a basic concept?

When you paint on a Fill Layer, you are really painting on its built-in raster mask which modifies the opacity of the Fill Layer.

[Torpi]

OK. That makes sense.

Also I now understand the difference between clipping layers and masking layers.

What I also understand is between v1 and v2, the order of the mask (child) vs clip is not reverse, it's always bottom up.

 

Thank you for you help, it was not obvious for me.

 

[lepr]

41 minutes ago, Torpi said:

What I also understand is between v1 and v2, the order of the mask (child) vs clip is not reverse, it's always bottom up.

Yes, that is a welcome standardisation. The reverse order mask-nested layers in 1.x irritated me.

 

45 minutes ago, Torpi said:

Thank you for you help, it was not obvious for me.

You're welcome!