Topic awaiting preservation: Layer problems

I'm doing something wrong and need help with layers. The problem comes when I try to do some work on a layer, and nothing will happen. Something about not being the active layer......but, I dont want to do what I'm trying to do in the active layer.....I'm trying, for instance, to splatter some airbrush on one layer, then, erase part of it on another layer. Help me out? Thanks for all past help.

religion + oil = war, over and over and over and over..........

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I'm trying, for instance, to splatter some airbrush on one layer, then, erase part of it on another layer.

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What the?...

Um, maybe you're lacking some basic understanding of layers. Each layer is independent. Think of them as, um, those clear sheets of plastic, layered on top of each other. You draw something on one of them, and then... how can you go to another sheet and erase it when it's not on that sheet?

Sorry if that was confusing. Anyone care to help raybee out here?

Hmm, what you mean by "erase part of it on another layer."? You mean it is covering another layer partly and you don't want that? If that's the case, then you'll have to work the airbrush-layer so it matches the edge of the underlaying layer.

You can also use the underlaying layer to create a mask that you can use on the airbrush-layer to mask it so it doesn't cover the layer beneath it.

Remember that if you have painted something in one layer, you can't erase it if you have another layer selected.
Working with layers can sometimes be a bit confusing since you can see all the content of all layers but you can only work the layers one at a time so know what layers contain which graphics.

It sometimes helps to temporarily make some of the layers "invisble" using the eye-icon next to it to see what's in the layer that weren't made invisible.


Hope this helps a little...

Let me echo the confusion here...

You can *only* work on the active layer. That's why it's.......active.

I can't really guess what you are trying to do from what you ahve said - you'll have to elaborate more.

It was on another forum (Car Design) that a guy was describing this, and I wanted to try it. He would make a huge swath of a dark (shadow) color, flowing wild and freely. Then,
he described how he made another layer, and erased the parts of it he didn't want.
Could it be he made some kind of duplicate layer?.........Maybe I'll have to ask him how he did it. I even got it to work once myself, but I can't duplicate it......(memory loss is a terrible thing to waste). He made it sound so "normal" I thought it was a standard trick.
I guess not, unless you can dig a clue out of this rambling????????
Thanks for past help.

religion + oil = war, over and over and over and over..........

Raybee: hhhmmm... sound like a layer mask to me.

The layer mask is like another layer that is to the side of the active layer, but it's masks out what don't want.

Try webreference.com for a quick understanding of it and look at Google, as I can't be bothered explian it all out .

[This message has been edited by Copey (edited 07-26-2003).]