Clip, Merge and Continue

Content ID：2066400

- Report to administrator

Free

Maristane

This material can be used in Studio Mode. (What is Studio Mode?)

An auto action that helps merging one or multiple Layers to all Layers in your document.

If you ever wanted to quickly merge one or multiple Correction Layers to all of your layers, this is the auto action for you. It has other uses, but that's the main one I created it for.

Usage:
To merge a single Layer to the ones below it, just select it and run the auto action, repeating as needed. For multiple Layers, select them and create a Layer Folder, close the Folder, then run the auto action normally for each Layer you want to merge them with. If the Folder's contents are not "passing through" properly you might need to change its blending mode to "Through".

Detailed instructions:

Begin by selecting the Layer that you want to apply to the Layers below it.

Run the "Clip, Merge and Continue" auto action, I recommend assigning a shortcut to it in File > Shorcut Settings > Category:Auto Actions.

It might look like nothing happened on the Canvas, but a close look at the layers reveals the result: the layer was clipped and merged to the one directly below it. If you disable its visibility you can see for yourself.

There is also a duplicate of it now so that you can easily repeat the process for the following layers. I disabled its visibility to show what happened but the auto action only works if the Layer is visibile. When you've finished the process for all of the layers that you wanted, simply delete the last duplicate.

If you want to apply multiple Layers at once to each Layer, simply group them in a Layer Folder, close it by clicking on the little arrow to the right of the folder icon, and only then run the same auto action. It won't work properly if the folder is open. This closing folder step couldn't be recorded into the auto action, unfortunately.

Again, Layer visiblity disabled just to demonstrate the results:

Example:

Here is a common situation where this auto action would be useful.

I added two correction layers to a multi-layer document. Now I want to merge both correction layers to all layers.

First I group them in a folder and close it.

Then I run the auto action for each layer via the shorcut I set (F7), deleting the folder at the end.

Notes:

The initial Layer/Folder is duplicated without changes every time, but the resulting merged layer always becomes a Raster Layer. So if the initial Layer being applied is a Vector Layer and the Layer below it too and you want the merged Layer to still be a Vector one, merge them manually for that step, then proceed normally for other Layers. If you intend to use this with Vector Layers a lot, consider duplicating this auto action and making the necessary adjustments.
For the same reason, be careful when the layer below the current one is a Folder. If you don't want the entire Folder to become a merged Raster Layer, move the current Layer/Folder inside the Folder below it before running the auto action.
Some Correction Layers, like Posterization, might make different calculations when applied to the entire canvas vs. when clipped to a single layer, leading this auto action to change a Layer's appearance unexpectedly. There's not much to do in those cases except working around the problematic Correction Layer and perhaps leaving it unmerged with anything.
I highly recommend changing your default Layer Folder blending mode to Through, by going to File > Preferences > Layer/Frame and checking the "Use [Through] blending mode for new layer folders". This auto action might produce weird results in some cases if you don't.

Old version