Understanding Layers in PSP - a Basic Guide for Beginners (Part 2)

This tutorial is my fifth in the Absolute Beginners series and is the second part of a two-part series of tutorials I have written which introduce the layer palette.

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Introduction: This is Part 2 of my Understanding Layers tutorial. If you haven't already done it, then I suggest you do Part 1 of this tutorial before you start here. Before we get started, you'll also need to download a file for this tut, which you can get right here.

(Note: This is a WinZip file which contains the original .pspimage file, not a .jpg or .gif. If you're unfamiliar with unnzipping WinZip files, click twice on the icon after it's downloaded and follow the prompts. Once you see the 'Mooncat' file in the list, right-click on it and then click on 'extract' in the drop-down list you'll see. It'll ask you where you wish to extract the file to. Choose 'My Documents' or any other folder which is convenient for you, then open it up in PSP.)

1.   OK, before we go any further here's a quick reminder of what the layers palette looks like:

2.  Open up the 'Mooncat' image you've just downloaded. If it's not already showing, go to View>Palettes>Layers, or just hit the 'F8' key. This will open the layers palette. Let's have a look at what we've got:

3.  Oh, and of course, this is our image:

4.  As you can see, all the hard work has already been done for you ;-) What we have here is pretty straightforward. An image with three layers, plus the background. (Reminder: the Background is not an actual layer). To keep things simple (always a good idea when working with layers!) I've named each layer after the element I've placed on it.

5.  Let's play around a little with the layers palette. Click on the Cat layer to select it. Now click on the visibility icon (that's the eye). Watch what happens to the cat.......hmmmmm.....where did she go? Maybe she fell off the fence ;-) Now click on the eye again, and voila! As if by magic she re-appears. And now an explanation as to what's happened: clicking on the eye icon toggles the visibility of an individual layer on and off. This comes in handy when you have a lot of images on a lot of different layers and need to work with only one. Things can get pretty cluttered on there after a while, especially when working on an image with several elements on it. The less distractions you have, the more easier it is to focus on the job in hand.

6.  OK now let's move off the Cat layer altogether. Select the Moon layer this time. Find the Opacity Slider for the Moon layer (that's the thing that looks a bit like an hourglass - see above). Left-click on top of this, and with the mouse button held down, slowly drag the slider back towards the eye. Watch what happens to the moon as you do so.....it will get dimmer and dimmer (see below). You'll also notice the numbers (or opacity percentage) change. Keep dragging until you get down around 30% or so....this is what the Mooncat image now should look like (see bottom):