How to duplicate a layer in Photoshop? Tips and tricks. Duplicating objects with movement at a given distance, automation Automation of movement with duplication of layers in Photoshop

I promised to write about 30 Photoshop tricks. So, all this is not true, there was a typo and there will be only 10 chips :) I think I will continue to write a little about all sorts of tricks in Photoshop, so subscribe to the page so as not to miss the updates. I know that there are already many such posts, but I am sure that many of you have not read them :) In general, study and simplify your work!

Once you have opened Photoshop, there is no need to go into file and there look for the open button, just double-click with the left mouse button on the gray background and a window for selecting files on your PC will open in front of you.

Hiding work panels

When you work with a file in Photoshop, all sorts of panels very often get in the way! Terribly inconvenient, unless you have a 30-inch panel 😉 Just click Tab and all panels will hide.

Click again Shift+Tab, and only the left panel will be hidden. Sorry for the mistake in the image, I'm lazy and didn't change it.

Making a color inversion

Click Ctrl+I in Photoshop, and all the colors in the selected picture will change. Black will become white, and white, on the contrary, I don’t know how blue will change :)

Personally, I use this trick when I cut objects, then it’s easier to see all the uncut remains.

Grid in Photoshop

Press the key combination Ctrl+' and a grid will appear on the image.

A grid is a very useful thing when you need to align an object relative to another... :)

Moving objects

While holding down the key Shift, you can move the object using the arrows on 10 px in any direction! And if you hold down the key Ctrl, then you can move something by 1px in any direction.

The trick is very useful; it is not always possible to align an object, since you need to drag it manually, but by moving it 1 or 10 pixels to the sides, it will fit perfectly.

Quickly change transparency

Select the desired object and use the numbers on the keyboard from one to zero change the transparency of the image.

Duplicating objects

Very often there is a need to copy some part of an image in Photoshop. You can do this very quickly: just hold down the key Alt and drag the object, it will be copied...

Perfectly transformable in all directions

Very often you have to enlarge or reduce a certain object, but how to make everything smooth and maintain proportions? Just! While transforming, hold down the keys Shift+Alt and everything will be clear 😉

Transform to one side, maintaining proportions

When transforming an object, hold down Shift, and as above the picture will maintain its proportions, but only in the direction in which you change...

What I want to say is that both this trick and the previous one are very convenient to use... This transformation is used in many cases, so go for it 😉

Quickly change brush size

Such buttons are abstruse, but you won’t find anything, I’m sure that very often there is a need to change the size of the brush while working, but constantly opening menus is annoying :) In general, just press X or Kommersant and the size of the brush will decrease or increase...

That’s all, now Photoshop won’t bite so much, because you’ve learned several of its tricks 😉 I hope that you didn’t know at least one of them, otherwise why did I try then? There will be more cool Photoshop gadgets in the future! So don't miss them and subscribe to the E-mail newsletter.

Good luck! And thanks for your attention!

Duplicate layer- this is a complete copy of it, duplicated along with all the superimposed settings and parameters.

There are many reasons to create a duplicate, for example, to multiply some individual element in the image (stars in the sky); multiply the layer to experiment with each copy; duplicate the text layer with all the styles, and change only the text itself; make a copy, thereby saving the intermediate result, and continue working on the copy. You can come up with a dozen more examples, which indicates the usefulness of this function.

Methods for creating a duplicate layer

Method 1

Hotkey to create a duplicate layer: Ctrl+J

Perhaps this is the fastest way. Just remember to first make the layer you want to copy active.

Method 2 Menu command

Select the following command from the main menu: Layers - New - Copy to new layer(Layer via Copy).

Method 3 By drag and drop

There are shortcut buttons at the bottom of the Layers palette. Among them there is a button Create New Layer.

Hold down the layer with the left mouse button and, without releasing the key, drag it onto this icon. You will see that the icon appears as if pressed in, then release the key. The layer will immediately be duplicated and appear first in the list.

Method 4 By dragging with a keyboard key

Unlike the previous method, here you need to drag while holding down the Alt key. When you start moving, you will notice that the mouse pointer arrow will change into a double black and white arrow. It means you're doing everything right.

The main advantage of this method is that you indicate to Photoshop the place on the palette where the copy should appear. One move - two birds with one stone.

Method 5 Palette menu

As has been said many times, the palette menu includes all the basic commands for its management. Let me remind you that it opens by pressing the button in the upper right corner (do not confuse it with the closing cross). At the very top of the list of commands you will find Duplicate layer...(Duplicate Layer).

The peculiarity of this method is in the dialog box that opens. In it you can enter a new name for the layer, and also send it to another open program tab. It's kind of like copying a layer and pasting it into another document.

Method 6 Context menu

Nobody canceled the right mouse button. It works on many Photoshop tools. If you click on it on any of the layers, a menu of possible actions will appear, including the command to create a duplicate.

How to duplicate a layer fragment

Photoshop allows you to also send a fragment of an image to a new layer. To do this, let’s turn to the knowledge of what it is, because with its help we can carry out this action.

So, first you need to create a selection using a suitable selection tool, for example, using .

Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J to send the contents of the selection to a new layer. Pay attention to the palette - the original image remains unchanged and we have another layer. So we did nothing less than duplicate fragment.

Note

Using hotkeys Shift+Ctrl+J You can cut out a fragment from the original image and then copy it to a new layer. In this case, a transparent background will remain in place of the fragment (in simple terms, an empty hole). And if this is a background layer, then the current one will shine through.

Copying and pasting layers

Good old teams "Copy paste" they haven’t gone anywhere in Photoshop, but when it comes to creating copies of layers, they would be very useful.

Using these commands, copies of layers can be distributed both within one palette, simply pasting them into the right place, and sent to others. For example, you created a beautiful text design in one of your projects and decided that it could be used in another project.

To copy a layer to the clipboard, you first need to Select entire layer Ctrl+A (or a fragment of it using the selection tool), then Copy its Ctrl+C, and then in the right place and press Ctrl+V - Insert.

When copying, the scale of the layer's contents will be preserved. In other words, if you copied a picture with a height of 600 pixels, then it, of course, will not fit on a layer with a height of 400 pixels. To do this you will need to resize using Ctrl+T.

If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!

Adobe Photoshop has all sorts of functions for comfortable working with images. In this graphical environment you can create objects, edit images and retouch photos. And this is a very small part of the functionality that this application offers. Many users spend their time in the program, as well as completely new participants trying to achieve such heights that were conquered by experienced professionals.

An important component of this program is active work with layers. Some people know about the duplication method, but not everyone knows how to use it. Therefore, novice users are thinking about how to duplicate a layer in Photoshop CS6. This action will definitely be needed for those who create a large-scale project and use a large number of documents. Also, sometimes there is a natural need to transfer layers from one image to another.

Working with layers

Before duplicating a layer in Photoshop, let's understand the concept of a layer. Layers are an essential part of any image editing process. I would like to note that without the ability to create them, users experienced enormous inconvenience, since working on one canvas seems difficult and uncomfortable. Fortunately, this editor has everything users need. A layer is a local space in which you can apply individual settings and edit them independently of other layers.

The vast majority of users split their image into many layers to make it easier to work and correct defects if they suddenly appear. Each layer can be applied with a special mask, many filters and other blending options.

How to duplicate a layer in Photoshop

Now we can move directly to duplicating the layers. They are located in a special window, which is located in the lower right corner of the program. There are also “Channels” and “Outlines” tabs here, in addition to the main “Layers” tab. In this section you can observe all the layers that are included in the image. The program has the ability to duplicate a layer in Photoshop using hot keys.

1. First of all, of course, you need to launch Adobe Photoshop and open the desired document with the image.
2. Go to the layers section and select the one you want to duplicate.
3. Right-click on the name of the layer and select “Create a duplicate layer” from the dialog box that opens.
4. A window will appear in which you need to select the name of the future layer, as well as with the document to duplicate. The default is the original name with the signature “copy”. If you have an artboard attached, you can change the Canvas value to something else and also set a name. The operation can be performed an infinite number of times.

Duplicate Layer Features

You can simplify various types of tasks if you duplicate layers several times in Photoshop. For example, using image duplicates, you can create a glitch effect, while leaving one color channel value on each layer. Various operations can be carried out on the created copy to change the visualization - usually after this the layers are compared and the activity of the editing tools is evaluated. You can also apply a mask to the duplicated layer.

To simplify the process, there is a special combination of buttons that help duplicate a layer in Photoshop with a key.

1. Using the combination Ctrl + LMB, the user must first select the "Move" tool and select the desired layer.
2. After pressing the hotkey, you can immediately move the layer to a new location.

Transfer layers

We have already touched on this topic in the process of creating duplicates. Let us remind you that in order to transfer a layer using the duplication function, you just need to select another document in the last window. After this, the layer will be moved to the same place where it was located in the previous image. This is often used by those who are designing a program or application where they need to create many different tab screens.

Adobe Photoshop also supports transferring selected layers via regular drag and drop from one document to another. To do this, just select the layers and hold down the left mouse button to transfer another image to the tab.

Changing the order of layers

The order of the layers is determined automatically, that is, each new layer is created on top of the previous one. This is not always convenient, so there is some need to manually rearrange elements.

This is done as simply as possible - select the desired layer and drag it to the desired position between other elements with the left mouse button.

Other operations with layers

Layers are a big part of the work, so it makes sense to briefly describe their functions and settings.

• Blend options. Large sub-settings where you can edit parameters such as transparency, shadows, outlines, color channels and much more. Allows you to apply various effects and controls the graphic component of the layer. This feature is really useful as it provides additional flexibility to the layers.
• Convert to Smart Object. Use this setting to easily resize the image without much loss of quality.
• Rasterize the layer. Converts a smart object and shape layer into a regular one. For rasterized elements, settings are available that could not be applied to layers of other formats.
• Merge visible ones. Allows you to quickly merge all layers that have not been marked as invisible.

Working with layers is very versatile. In this article we will look at actions such as creating duplicate layers and deleting them.

Duplicate a layer very useful when you want to do something permanent, like sharpening an image or smoothing out the skin on the face of a photo of grandma. By duplicating the layer first, you can work with a copy images, not the original. You can even duplicate part of it. This technique comes in handy when you want to whiten your teeth or make multiple copies of an object.

There are plenty of ways to do this operation. Choose the one that suits you:

• Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J or select the menu command “Layers - New - Copy to new layer”.
• Drag to the "Create New Layer" button at the bottom of the palette. When the button (which looks like a piece of paper with a folded corner) is highlighted, release the mouse button.
• Drag the layer while holding the Alt key to any other position in the palette. Once you start moving, the mouse pointer will change to a double black and white arrow. When you release the mouse button.
• Select Duplicate Layer from the palette menu. This method gives you the ability to name and also send the layer to a new document.
• Right click on the layer. Select the “Create Duplicate” command from the context menu that appears.
• Lastly, create a selection using any of the tools and then press Ctrl+J to move it to a separate layer. If you want to simultaneously delete a selected area and duplicate it on another, press Shift+Ctrl+J.

Adding layers can significantly increase the file size of your document, so if you have a slow computer or low RAM, you'll want to remove unnecessary layers.

To remove it, select it and then:

• Press Backspace. This is the fastest and preferred method.
• Drag to the button with the image of a trash can.
• Click on the button with the image of a wastebasket. When asked if you are sure you want to delete, click YES, and if you don't want to see this confirmation box in the future, check the "Don't show again" box.
• Right-click the layer name and select Delete from the context menu. Make sure you click on the name. If you click on the thumbnail, you will not see this item.
• Select the menu command “Layers - Delete”.

As you can see, there are countless ways to perform these simple actions. Choose one that you can use quickly and conveniently.

Using the filter is very simple. Let's say we have a document consisting of two layers, this is a background image measuring 500 by 400 pixels, and on the other layer there is a square measuring 50 by 50 pixels. Task: duplicate the square and move it to the right by 100 px.
Step onto the layer with the square and duplicate it by pressing the key combination Ctrl+J. Then go to the Filters tab --> Other --> Shift (Filter --> Other --> Offset) and set the necessary offset parameters, i.e. +50 pixels horizontally, 0 vertically.

As can be seen in the figure, the displacement of the square can be seen immediately, before the final application of the filter (i.e. clicking OK).

If you need to get several copies of the square at the same distance, then duplicate it by pressing Ctrl+J, and then apply the last filter, i.e. "Shift" by pressing Ctrl+F. And these actions need to be repeated as many times as we need copies of the object.

Move objects a specified distance using the Free Transform tool

Using free transformation, you can set not only the distance, but also change the size of the object. Duplicate the square. We press the key combination Ctrl+T and see that an overall frame has appeared around the square, but for our tasks it is not needed.

We will need the settings at the top of the Photoshop working window, in the options bar. By default, the X and Y parameters will indicate the distance of the object's center from the origin, as shown in the figure.

And we need the distance from the center of the object, for which we need to click on the triangle pointed to by the arrow in the picture, and it will be highlighted in gray. Then it will be possible to specify the displacement value relative to the initial position of the square.

The figure shows that the X and Y values ​​equal to 100 pixels are entered to offset the square, and the object rotation is also set to 45 degrees. You can also change the size of the object if you put your values ​​instead of the width and height of 100%.
To complete the transformation, press the Enter key.
To shift and duplicate the object again, you must, as in the first example, clone the square by pressing Ctrl+J, and then repeat the transformation by pressing the combination Ctrl+Shift+T.

Now let's try to automate this whole thing, because... It's sad to constantly hit the keys.
For the example with automation, I took an object more interesting than a square, purely for the sake of clarity.

Automating Moves with Duplicate Layers in Photoshop

In the layers palette, select the layer that you want to duplicate.
Open the Operations palette, or, as it is otherwise called, the Actions or Actions palette. I open it with the combination Alt+F9.

In this palette, click on the “Create new Set” icon located at the bottom and give it a name. Next, click on the “Create new Action” icon and again set the name. On the layers palette, the “Begin Recording” button is highlighted in red. Duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J), then apply the “Shift” filter or free transform as described above. Click on the Stop playing/recording button. That's it, the action is created. The palette of operations will look like this (I called the set “Shift”, and the operation “Shift by 50 px”).