User Manual

Manipulating Images 85
Selecting layer opacity/transparency
New layers are transparent (they have an alpha channel), but once you've placed
pixels on the layer you'll be able to select between the layer's pixels (i.e., their
opacity) and remaining transparency.
To create a selection from a layer's opacity/transparency:
• For selection of Opacity: In the Layers tab, Ctrl-click on the layer’s
image thumbnail.
• For selection of Transparency: As above, but additionally select
Invert from the Select menu.
Storing selections
Finally, you can store selections (i.e., just the marqueed region and per-pixel
selectedness data) as part of either the current image or any open image file, and
load a stored selection at any time. It's often useful to be able to "grab" the same
region of an image at different phases of working on it. And, for repetitive tasks
(preparing web buttons, for example) on different but graphically similar files,
by storing a selection you can reuse it rather than having to recreate it for each
file.