Picking a layer Topic is solved

[David_Fine]

When I use the Pick Layer option to find a layer by clicking on the image, instead of giving me the layer of the item I have clicked on, it gives me a choice of every single layer which intersects with the click point. That kind of defeats the purpose because I am trying to find the layer I am clicking on. Is there a way to restrict the Pick Layer tool to only choose the layer I click on specifically?

[Svengali]

David, that's just how the layer picker works - if the pixel you click is occupied on two or more layers, the picker can't know which of the two you want, so YOU have to choose from those offered (unless I'm not understanding you).

Also. A while back I created a script called LAYERFINDERPLUS which gives the user a way to directly select a layer though it might not be visible in the timeline. you can download it << HERE >> if you want to try it out. It will also show you some settings on the current frame and if you click on any layer in the list, that layer becomes the active layer and forces the timeline to display that layer.

Sven

[slowtiger]

It's exactly the same in PS - clicking gives you a list of all layers which have a non-transparent pixel in that coordinate. Software doesn't read your mind.

[David_Fine]

Thanks for the responses. I don't want the software to read my mind, I want it to do what I am specifically asking. For instance, if I use the colour picker to choose a colour from the screen, I click on that colour and it chooses the colour I touched, it doesn't give me a choice of the colours on unseen layers beneath. So same here. If I click on an opaque object the layer picker gives me all the layers below, but clearly I don't want that. Well, clearly to me. Photoshop does not do this. In PS, when you click on an item in the image, it immediately chooses the one layer for the pixel you touched and only that layer and not what is below it, so I wonder why TVPaint doesn't.

[Svengali]

David, Excuse my mistake. I really don't know or use Photoshop...

In Photoshop assume the upper layer has a wash over the entire surface.
Through the wash you see an object a layer below, an object you want to select, so you click on it.
Explain please, exactly how could Photoshop know what layer you want to select?

Sven

[David_Fine]

Photoshop simply chooses the layer of the pixel you touch. With regard to my question about TVPaint, I am only referring to an opaque solid colour or line anyway, which makes it really simple, but TVPaint will give me a pop up of all the layers which have anything intersecting the pixel I touch. That's not what I want. Say I have 30 layers and I notice a blemish somewhere so I zoom in and pick that blemish with the layer picker, but it shows me four layers it might be on. That means I have to manually choose each one until I find the blemish so I can erase it. It would be so much easier if it worked like Photoshop and just picked the layer that the pixel I touched is on, but I guess it doesn't, which is a drag.

Slightly related to the way layers are treated, if I use the paint bucket to fill above, it does not fill the area on the layer above, but all layers above. I would like to be able to avoid that so that it works with only the layer immediately above the layer I am using the paint bucket on. I seem to feel that these to issues are related.

[slowtiger]

But PS does work the very same way: if at any given coordinate there's a pixel on more than one layer, it will give you a list of these layers to choose from.

[David_Fine]

Hmm. Not in any version of Photoshop I have ever used. If I choose the Move tool (V key) and touch a pixel it changes the layer selection to that layer only. No choices. I could have 30 layers all intersecting and it just pops to the layer I touched the pixel on. That is, assuming autoselect is on in the option, which it usually is for me.

[Svengali]

David, try RMB clicking on overlapping layers in PS and I think you'll see the same layer list as you have in TVPaint.

Sven

EDIT: A caution to anyone else who tries to use this PickImageLayer Button/Script. It works but only in special cases where the pixel objects on all layers are FULL OPACITY.
How it works... It first lets you select/click any specific pixel in the DISPLAY (no matter what your current layer). Then it reads the RGBA values for that pixel. Then it jumps to each layer in search of the same RGBA pixel. If found, it selects that layer and exits. If not found,(or if the pixel is background) it leaves you on the original layer.
The problem is, if the opacity for the searched for pixel isn't 100%, the comparison fails. At that point, you should use the NATIVE "PICK LAYER" OPTION which will present to you a popup menu of all of the overlapping layers that have a pixel at that X,Y location, allowing you to select, and move, to the layer you want.

Sorry David, that's the best I could do with my current understanding of GEORGE commands... But if it works for you, I'm happy.

[David_Fine]

Hey, that shortcut works exactly as I expect it to. Thank you so much! Problem solved thanks to Sven and the good people here on the forum. Thanks all.

[David_Fine]

Ack! I spoke to soon. the Pick Image Layer button is not working for me. It just doesn't pick the layer I touch a pixel on at all. Not sure why. It seemed to work at first.

[Peter Wassink]

i cant bring you further with the layerpick tool but here is a method i often use when removing blemishes or need to find specific layers for other reasons.

i switch to "display current layer" (shortcut =)
this way TVP only shows you the active layer so you can run through your layers holding up/down arrow keys (admittedly 30 is quite a little run...)
and you will be able to find the culprit pretty fast.