User guide

Layers, Masks, and Blending 21
• Text layers work like Shape layers, but are intended exclusively for
text. (See Creating and editing text; p. 150.)
• Fill layers contain an adjustable solid color or gradient fill. (See Fill
Layers; PhotoPlus Help.)
• Adjustment layers apply corrective image adjustments to lower layers.
(See Using adjustment layers; p. 38.)
• Filter layers, are much like standard layers, but you can apply one or
more filter effects to the layer without permanently altering layer
content. You also have full control over effects in the future. (See
Using filter layers; p. 58.)
For now though we're concerned mainly with the Background and standard
layers.
A key distinction is that pixels on the Background layer are always opaque, while
those on standard layers can vary in opacity (or transparency—another way of
expressing the same property). That’s because standard layers have a "master"
Opacity setting that you can change at any time (with on-screen real-time
preview), while the Background layer does not. A couple of examples will show
how this rule is applied in PhotoPlus:
• Suppose you are creating a new image. The New Image dialog
provides three choices for Background: White, Background Color, and
Transparent. If you pick White or Background Color, the Layers tab
shows a single layer in the new image named "Background". If you
pick Transparent, however, the single layer is named "Layer 1"—and in
this case, the image has no Background layer.
• If you cut, delete, or move a selection on the Background layer, the
"hole" that's left exposes the current background color as shown on the
Color tab (illustrated below on the left). The same operations on a
standard layer exposes a transparent hole (illustrated below on the
right).