Edited a Copied Layer without affecting the Original Layer???

Question

I'm so very confused right now and questioning my own sanity. I swear I've done this hundreds of times and never had an issue before...

I'm working on a comp right now where I have a Layer I want to make multiple copies of and move each one independent of each other. Namely I'm trying to make a "trail" effect for a sort of Motion Blur on this. However I cannot seem to edit them independently of each other. No matter HOW I generate the Copy Layers, when I move one, they all move.

I've searched and tried every solution I can find but none are working. I've converted the Layer to a Smart Object, then done "New Smart Object Via Copy". I've copied the Smart Object then Rasterized the Layer. I've simply dragged the Layer to the "New Layer" button (the way I'd normally do this) and no dice.

I deselect all Layers. Select ONLY the Layer I want to move, Move it, then when I let go of the Mouse, ALL the copied Layers move. It is clearly linked to the original layer no matter what I do.

For reference this layer was a masked portion of a photograph that I then clipped down to solely be the masked image.

Am I missing something here? I did this on my own and assumed I Was just doing something wrong, so I looked up a tutorial on how to achieve the effect I'm trying to create. It showed doing this EXACTLY as I was trying it, without issue.

Kevin Stohlmeyer · Accepted Answer

The only way it would affect the original layer is if you still have smart objects on both the original and the copied layer.

Right click the smart layer you want to independently edit and choose "Rasterize Layer". Confirm it does not show the Smart Object icon on the layer thumbnail and try again.

JJMack · Answer

"I've converted the Layer to a Smart Object, then done "New Smart Object Via Copy".  I've copied the Smart Object then Rasterized the Layer.  " A simple Ctrl+J  duplicate layer would have done the juste about the same you would have two identical raster image layers. You just need to convert one to a smat object layer Convert a  Image leyer to a Smate object layer you have one smart object layer.Layer>Smart Object>New Smart Object via Copy you now have two independate smart object layers with Identical objects.Rasterized Layer you now have a normal pixels layer and a smart object layer that look like the normal image layer. Ctrl+J and convert  image layer to smart object does the same thing. Two steps not three.

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