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hbortman
Participating Frequently
May 17, 2019
Question

Aligning layer masks with a rotated image

  • May 17, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 2464 views

I edited an image (brought in to PS as a Smart Object) using several curves adjustment layers, each with its own layer mask.

After doing a lot of careful brushwork, I decided I wanted to rotate and re-crop the Smart Object (in ACR). Now all my layer masks are misaligned.

Since I originally cropped the image in LR before bringing it in to PS as a Smart Object, I can't use the Reveal-All-then-re-crop approach.

Is there a way either to keep the masks aligned to the image when I do the re-crop and rotation, or to manually realign the masks with the image after recropping and rotating the image? I don't know how to do the former (if it's possible) and I don't seem to be able to select, move and rotate the content of the layer masks relative to the image.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

JJMack
Community Expert
JJMackCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 18, 2019

Smart Object layer pixels can not be changed  using Photoshop Tools. Smart filters can be applied though.  So you can not crop any pixels from a smart object layer. However You can alter its associated transform to add rotation, distortion and scale. And you can add or modify a layer mask to virtually crop the smart Object layer.  Layer Mask can be linked to the layers content.  When linked If you transform the layers Content a Linked Layer mask will also be transformed likewise. If a layer mask is not linked to the layer content they can  be transformed ie moved independently.

If you open the smart object layers object and modify the object  change its size scale crio rotate etc.  If you commit those changes the smart object layer object will be updated. However, All the smart objects layers that share the object  associated transforms will not work correctly because the will not change. Also if a smart object layer also have layer mask that will be changed so its may likely also not be correct.

JJMack
Daniel E Lane
Daniel E Lane
Inspiring
May 18, 2019

If you are able to undo back to the point just prior to the rotate and crop point, the way forward isn't hard. You can do it a few ways. It just depends on if you want it destructive or not. The destructive way, meaning you cant go back before this point would be to just select the top layer and hit Shift+Option(alt)+Command+E to stamp all of the existing layers into a single new layer. Then crop and rotate from there.

The non-destructive way would be for you to get back to the point before rotate and crop, select all of your layers and put them into a group by clicking the Create New Group button on the bottom of the layers panel. Then you crop and rotate the entire group as one.

The folder is the Create New Group button.

Now you just select the group and rotate and crop as you would previously and everything will stay tied together.

H
hbortmanAuthor
Participating Frequently
May 19, 2019

Thanks, Daniel. I used a modified version of your answer to solve my problem.

Because my original image was cropped in LR before I brought it into PS, and because the new rotation angle and cropping I wanted  included portions of the original image not contained in my initial crop, I did the following:

1. Went back to LR, noted the rotation angle of the original crop, then reset the image's crop and rotation (while preserving all the other corrections I had made to the image in LR).

2. Exported the un-cropped, unrotated original image to PS as a Smart Object.

3. Moved that SO into my original PS multilayer document as a new layer just above my original background layer.

4. Rotated the new layer to the same angle as the original background layer.

5. Manually moved the new background layer to align with the original background layer. This gave me an un-cropped version of the image aligned with all the adjustment layers.

6. Deleted the original background layer.

7. Then used your group-all layers approach to rotate the image to a new angle and re-crop.

There may have been an easier way, but this one worked.

Thanks again.

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