Deleting rectangle when on base layer

Question

I am following the Learnit Training Photoshop Full Course Tutorial on YouTube. At about 1:43 in, the instructor deletes a smart object rectangle on the base layer, drawn with the Rectangle Tool (keyboard shortcut U), by appearing to do no more than selecting it with the Move Tool (keyboard shortcut V) and hitting Delete. After he does that, I can see his base layer returns to just being a transparent layer (the layer created when creating a new document). I am using Photoshop on Mac and cannot delete my rectangle. I ended up deleting the document and starting over. .That video is now about 3 years old. Has the app changed? What am I missing? In future, should I lock my base layer and keep it transparent and draw everything in new layers on top so I can just delete the layer to get rid of the object? Thank you.

davescm · Accepted Answer

I did not see the cursor move anywhere or open a menu. That is why I assume the rectangle was deleted with a keyboard command, presumably the Delete key.

A couple of comments, not to be pedantic but it may help in your learning.
1. The layer with the rectangle, in your first screenshot, is a shape layer not a smart object.

2. A background layer is a special type of layer on Photoshop and cannot be transparent. It will be labelled background and have a lock symbol. Clicking the lock symbol changes it to a normal pixel layer.
3. A normal layer which is shown in the second screenshot can of course be transparent.

As Conrad states above, you cannot delete a layer if it is the only layer in the document. So, there are a couple of possibilities that come to mind, that could have been used in making the video.
First, an action could be created to add a new layer then delete the shape layer. That action could be created and assigned a shortcut key, to save time in his video.

Second, he could have stepped back in history. Panels can be on a second monitor that is not recorded in the video so, if the history panel was on a separate screen, you would not see that being used.

Dave

Conrad_C · Answer

When you say “base layer” you might mean Background layer, and when you saw “smart object rectangle” I’m guessing it was actually a rectangle shape layer (“shape” as in vector, not pixel, and not a Smart Object).

It sounds like what you’re describing isn’t really about the Background layer, smart objects, or rectangles specifically. If I’m right, the instructor simply used a rectangle shape layer as an example of one general tip: The Delete key can delete a layer.

The way it works is basically this: If a layer is selected in the Layers panel, pressing the Delete key deletes that layer. That’s all. This is what’s shown in the demo below.

The layer can be any type, such as a photo, or a type, fill, pattern, adjustment, vector shape, or Smart Object layer.

One restriction is that there must be at least two layers the document, because Photoshop doesn’t allow a document with no layers. So if there is only one layer in a document, it can’t be deleted until at least one more layer is added. The second layer doesn’t have to be a Background layer.

I don't think the rectangle was “on the base layer” as in the base layer being the only layer. I think the rectangle was a separate layer above the Background layer.

Now, if there is actually just one Background layer and a pixel rectangle was painted on that one layer, that could be deleted using Select > Select All and then Edit > Clear. Or press Command-Delete to fill the layer with the background color (default is white), or press Option-Delete to fill with the foreground color (default is black).

@richards26580075 wrote:

In future, should I lock my base layer and keep it transparent and draw everything in new layers on top so I can just delete the layer to get rid of the object?

Basically yes, if each part of your document is a separate layer, then it’s super easy to delete any of those layers by selecting one or more of them in the Layers panel and pressing the Delete key. But the nature of the Background layer (what you call the “base layer”) should be clarified:

If the bottom layer is the Background layer, it cannot be transparent. Deleting the last non-Background layer leaves the fully opaque Background layer.

A document doesn’t have to have a Background layer; it can be deleted. The bottom layer can be any type of layer. If the bottom layer is not the Background layer, then it can have a transparent background. This is necessary if you want to export a graphic with a transparent background, such as a PNG with a transparent alpha channel for use on a website or to be composited in a video editing application.

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