States , how to manage them? I am lost.

[kirk23]

I have  states a A and B  saved and then I add a new layer  and save another state C with this new  layer included.   A and B says 6 layers  . C says 7 layers.  

Now I switch to state A and get this new layer still on . Why?    I turn new layer visibility  off and "update" state A. It still saying 6 layers, not 7  for some uncertain reason ? .     The only remedy is to delete state  A and create it again.  It debase the whole purpose of having states if you have to re-create them all over again  after you added a single new layer .  

Am I missing something?

 

Then the query . From what I figured out reading help it's a  kind of states  based on  certain parameters. Cool thing indeed.  Tried it with layers names and expressions. Nothing ever worked .   Now I am totally lost. Why couldn't it be just same simple as layercomps in Photoshop.

 

Could somebody  show an expression to show only layers named   "Main" and  "COLOR_Tweak1"   please?

 

 

[Old Bruce]

States are great for turning on/off bunches of layers. Say you have designed a book cover. The publishing house wants one title for the European market and a different title for the US market.  Two states get set up, one turns on the EU title and turns off the US title, the second state turns off the EU title and turns on the US title. Everything else remains turned on. Maybe there is a photo of a boat with the titles overtop of it. Now the publishers want a green shape added to the cover. So you add the green shape and now when you chose the first state the EU title is shown with the green shape, you then choose the second state and the US title is shown, also with the green shape.

Queries are for selecting things to be turned on/off. A good deal of planing should take place before starting to work. Layers should be appropriately named. Colour tags should be chosen and applied etc.

The states are really useful when you have visibility and or effects that need to turned on/off to show for example text that needs to be in two or more different languages. Have a French state, an Italian state, and a Spanish state. Or a half dozen sets of adjustments that consist of a dozen layers each scattered in a bunch of different groups. The groups have items that must remain on so we cannot just turn off the group. States are great for that.

The non update for the number of layers could be a bug.

[walt.farrell]

43 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

The non update for the number of layers could be a bug.

When that was last discussed, it wasn't clear whether that is a bug or not:

 

[bbrother]

21 hours ago, kirk23 said:

Could somebody  show an expression to show only layers named   "Main" and  "COLOR_Tweak1"   please?

The scenario will differ based on what's the curent visibility status of 'Main' and 'COLOR_Tweak1' is.

Scenario A
If your starting point is that they are visible along with all other layers, you need to select all other layers and hide them.
Then "Main" and "COLOR_Tweak1" will remain visible.
Use this regex → ^(?!Main|COLOR).* — it will match all layers but not those that's name starts with 'Main' or 'COLOR' and hide them.

Scenario B
If your starting point is that they are hided but other layers are visible you need to select them and show them but at the same time you need to hide all other layers.

Follow the steps below:

1. Use this regex → ^Main|COLOR.* — it will match all layers that's name starts with 'Main' or 'COLOR'.
2. Tick the checkbox labeled [And show/ hide others]
3. Click the show option icon in the query panel.

What wil happen after these steps is: all layers that name starts with 'Main' or 'COLOR' will be shown and at the same time all other layers that don't match the name criterion will be hided.

@kirk23 I hope I managed to make it a bit clearer for you how it all works with these regular expressions, queries and the "States" panel.

The key to success is good knowledge of regular expressions.
My knowledge is at an intermediate level because I am a full-stack web developer and JS and regular expressions are part of my work.
But trust me, I've seen some crazy things you can do with regular expressions. It is worth taking a closer look at this topic, because it offers many possibilities.

 

[kirk23]

5 hours ago, bbrother said:

The scenario will differ based on what's the curent visibility status of 'Main' and 'COLOR_Tweak1' is.

Scenario A
If your starting point is that they are visible along with all other layers, you need to select all other layers and hide them.
Then "Main" and "COLOR_Tweak1" will remain visible.
Use this regex → ^(?!Main|COLOR).* — it will match all layers but not those that's name starts with 'Main' or 'COLOR' and hide them.

Scenario B
If your starting point is that they are hided but other layers are visible you need to select them and show them but at the same time you need to hide all other layers.

Follow the steps below:

1. Use this regex → ^Main|COLOR.* — it will match all layers that's name starts with 'Main' or 'COLOR'.
2. Tick the checkbox labeled [And show/ hide others]
3. Click the show option icon in the query panel.

What wil happen after these steps is: all layers that name starts with 'Main' or 'COLOR' will be shown and at the same time all other layers that don't match the name criterion will be hided.

@kirk23 I hope I managed to make it a bit clearer for you how it all works with these regular expressions, queries and the "States" panel.

The key to success is good knowledge of regular expressions.
My knowledge is at an intermediate level because I am a full-stack web developer and JS and regular expressions are part of my work.
But trust me, I've seen some crazy things you can do with regular expressions. It is worth taking a closer look at this topic, because it offers many possibilities.

 

Thank you for the response. I still feel I need ChatGPT help  to make it work.  As of "states" they are obviously with a bug  not being updating.  Although  i am not sure why i need update them at all when I add new layers.   Not at all in photoshop for example.

[bbrother]

1 hour ago, kirk23 said:

As of "states" they are obviously with a bug  not being updating.

I think it's more a matter of not understanding how they work. At least sometimes.
Often, if the user's ideas about the logic of a function differ from how it works in reality, the conclusion is drawn too quickly that we are dealing with an bug that should be fixed. I caught myself doing this several times, so I'll wait for information from moderators and devs.

For me, the documentation is quite clear on this matter↓

My understanding of this is that the update button is only intended to update the layer state of those it originally captured when creating that particular state.

P. S We'll see what comes of it, because as @walt.farrell mentioned, the matter was discussed between moderators and devs and is waiting for the final decision, even though the devs first reaction was that it is by design.

[kirk23]

7 hours ago, bbrother said:

I think it's more a matter of not understanding how they work. At least sometimes.
Often, if the user's ideas about the logic of a function differ from how it works in reality, the conclusion is drawn too quickly that we are dealing with an bug that should be fixed. I caught myself doing this several times, so I'll wait for information from moderators and devs.

For me, the documentation is quite clear on this matter↓

My understanding of this is that the update button is only intended to update the layer state of those it originally captured when creating that particular state.

P. S We'll see what comes of it, because as @walt.farrell mentioned, the matter was discussed between moderators and devs and is waiting for the final decision, even though the devs first reaction was that it is by design.

That's why I think it supposed to work same as in Photoshop with layercomps.    So when you add a new layer  it's not necessary to update  already existing "states"at all .   And the fact the new added layer stay visible  in all older "states" not including it originally is the bug. 

[NathanC]

Hi @kirk23,

I've bumped the issue internally with your report with regard to the 'Update' not capturing newly created layers, i'm still waiting to hear back from the devs as it currently stands.