What Layer Comps Can and Can’t Save
As shown in the dialog box on the right, a layer comp can
save any of three attributes, which include the following:
- Visibility: This includes which layers and layer masks
are turned on and off. (You turn a mask on and off by
Shift-clicking its thumbnail in the Layers panel.) - Position: Remarkably, a layer comp can track the horizon-
tal and vertical position of a layered object. This means
you can move layers around between saved comps. - Appearance (Layer Style): Photoshop saves the Opacity
setting and blend mode assigned to each layer, as well
as knockouts, luminance blending, drop shadows, and
all other parametric effects. This one check box is worth
the price of admission.
That’s all very well and good, but this list of three attributes
represents a fairly small collection, especially when you con-
sider that the list hasn’t changed since the feature was intro-
duced in Photoshop CS and the Layer Comps panel can’t
track plenty of stuff, including:
- Arrangement: If you move a layer up or down the stack,
it changes inside all saved comps. This goes for moving
layers into or out of sets as well. Frankly, I regard these
oversights as enormous gaffs, but that’s the way it is. - Clipping masks: Mask a layer with the layer below it,
and it will be masked inside all saved comps. Again, a
big oversight; again, nothing we can do. - Scale and orientation: Excluding smart objects, transfor-
mations are pixel-level modifications. So if you scale or
rotate a layer, it changes inside all comps. Layer comps
also ignore transformations applied to smart objects. - Pixel-level changes: The same goes for cropping, image
size, brushstrokes, color adjustments, and filters. Any of
these changes affects all comps.- Adjustment layer settings: Adjustment layers are spe-
cialized layers that permit you to modify the colors of
underlying layers without permanently altering so much
as a single pixel. Rather bizarrely, layer comps can track
whether an adjustment layer is on or off and what kind
of blend mode is assigned to it, but they can’t track the
layer’s settings. - Smart objects and smart filters: Another specialty layer
type, smart objects receive even worse treatment. Not
only are layer comps blind to a smart object’s transfor-
mation and smart filter settings, they can’t even see the
s. In other words, layer comps can’t track which smart
filters are turned on and which are turned off, making
them useless for comparing differently filtered effects. - Additions: If you add a layer, all existing layer comps
treat it as off unless otherwise instructed. - Deletions: If you delete a layer, merge a few layers, or
delete a set, the Layer Comps panel fills with yellow
icons. In all likelihood, the comps will work as well as
can be expected. But you’ll have to update the comps
(see Step 8 on page 174) to make the warning icons go away.
- Adjustment layer settings: Adjustment layers are spe-
What Layer Comps Can and Can’t Save 171