How to lock layer mask position?

[ZoltanE]

How could I lock the position of a layer mask? I'd like it to stay in place while I'm fine tuning what can be seen through it by moving around the parent layer.

[bkh]

You'll have to use a clipping layer instead, I think. (It's a feature of layer masks that they move with the parent layer.)

To convert a layer mask to a clipping layer, simply drag it above the parent layer in the layer panel, then group the two layers together (so that the clipping layer only clips the layer(s) in the group). The layer stack then looks like this:

Screen Shot 2016-01-17 at 16.02.01.png

(Layer masks have dotted circle around the scissors symbol, clipping layers don't, you can switch between them using the context menu.) Now you can move the layer under the clipping mask.

Of course, you could have created a clipping layer instead of a layer masks in the first place.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[ZoltanE]

Ah thanks! One thing tho, as it turns out it is important to set the group to "Draw isolated" to make the clipping layer work.

[bkh]

Ah thanks! One thing tho, as it turns out it is important to set the group to "Draw isolated" to make the clipping layer work.

If you need "Draw Isolated", then your mask layer is probably still a layer mask (dashed circle around the scissors). If it's a proper clipping layer, it also works in an ordinary group (at least it does in my example).

Cheers

Burkhard.

[ZoltanE]

Right, so dragging the layer mask above the parent does not convert it to a clipping mask for me. I'm using 19.03.
Also, while the thumbnail of the group shows proper transparency (ie checkers is visible where the clipping layer is black), the main image is not transparent: clipped pixels are white.

[bkh]

Right, so dragging the layer mask above the parent does not convert it to a clipping mask for me. I'm using 19.03.

So far, I've only seen this happen when the layer mask is inside yet another group (i.e., a situation where it's not clear if you want to use it as a layer mask or clipping layer.

Also, while the thumbnail of the group shows proper transparency (ie checkers is visible where the clipping layer is black), the main image is not transparent: clipped pixels are white.

That's probably because your document doesn't have transparency. If you are in picture mode, select the background layer and turn on transparency in the Layer Attributes panel (checkbox in the "Type" section). If you are in Document mode, you can select the background colour in the Document Attributes panel.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[ZoltanE]

I recreated what I saw in your example image and there was no clipping or masking as soon I moved the layer mask above the parent. I had to manually remove the check mark from Layer/Layer Mask/Layer Mask to make it work. I'm on win 10 so my UI looks different than yours, maybe that's a clue?

Ah and yes I keep forgetting the Document vs Picture mode concept.

But yeah works great now, thanks!