Inspiring

Question

aligning images with masks

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
March 4, 2019
4 replies
5591 views

I am placing a project with with a mask onto a background and I would like to align them. When I attempt to do this the alignment is based on all the masked art and not just the visible which is what I want. Is there a good way to align just what is visible? I would prefer not to have to merge clipped art.

Thanks

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sharp_hands16B8

Community Expert

Myra Ferguson's technique is probably the best one for alignment and ignoring the mask situation.

But, based on your second comment about the pixels being outside of the canvas, with your crop tool there is an option for deleting cropped pixels. This is a permanent edit, but it will accomplish the removal of pixels off the artboard.

C

COGordonWAuthor

Inspiring

When i have attempted to crop out the images past the canvas I have had that option selected. However some layers still do not crop. The layers that don't crop are linked if that helps.

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

Ok, did you tried to convert existing SM layer with mask to Smart Object layer then to align to selection (suggestion 2 from my previous reply)? You can convert Smart Object to another Smart Object, by the way.

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

Here are my $0.02

Ctrl/Cmd + click on layer mask to load selection (you may need to invert selection)
In the Layers panel select layer which you want to align
Activate Move tool then use alignment options from the options bar. This will align layer content to active selection.

Myra Ferguson

Community Expert

Make your art with your layer mask a smart object. Right-click on the layer towards the right side and select Convert Object to Smart Object from the contextual menu or go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object. It's like a container for your layer(s). Then you can align it based on the masked art. Here's more info on smart objects Work with Smart Objects in Photoshop

C

COGordonWAuthor

Inspiring

So I can make your method work if I crop the psb however if I just mask the psb any transformations made to the smart object in the psd are based on the entire size of the psb including the masked area.

This is my psb before masking.

This is my psb after adding a mask

This is the psd file with the updated smart object. Notice when I try to tranfsorm the smart object the bounding box is the size of the unmasked psb. What am I missing here?

C

COGordonWAuthor

Inspiring

I count on that you will align to selection: select some area then align smart object layer based on selection. That's what I have tested.

Well it looks like that worked. It's to bad Photoshop doesn't just have an align to canvas. I think what was throwing me was the transform box still includes all art, even masked art. Thanks for all the help. I know this has been frustrating

JJMack

Community Expert

Target all the layers you want to align. Select a pixel you want to align them to and then align layers to selection. Are you sure you do nor want to distribute them above the background.

You should also be able to target all the Layers with layer mask you want on a new background. Then with the shift key held down drag the layers from the Layers Palette and Drop then them into new background Document. You also need to be careful if the Mask are not linked to the layer's content. Unlinked the layers content and layer mask positions can be moved independently.

JJMack

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