Skip to main content
Mugen777
Mugen777
Inspiring
May 5, 2021
Answered

Is it possible to make the name of combined layers the bottom one's?

  • May 5, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 15088 views

Sorry for the bad English in the title. What I mean is, for example I have 3 layers

top - Edit 2

mid - Edit

bot - Main layer with a name that makes sense

When I combine them together, the name of the combined layer becomes "Edit 2". Is it possible to make it the bottom one with a setting? Maybe with an action? 

(just to be clear, it is not always 3 layers and the names are not "Edit, Edit2" etc.)

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jazz-y

It is fast when there are 10 layers but when the numbers become 100+, you feel the difference 😕😕 

I honestly have no idea how yours work, but mine is basically create 2 arrays with for then compare them to find difference. And since it is a loop, it gets slower with more layers. 


I did not see the simplest way - to get the name of the 1st target layer and assign it after convert to SO.

 

function main() {
	var s2t = stringIDToTypeID;

	(tr = new ActionReference).putProperty(s2t('property'), p = s2t('targetLayersIDs'));
	tr.putEnumerated(s2t('document'), s2t('ordinal'), s2t('targetEnum'));

	(lr = new ActionReference).putProperty(s2t('property'), n = s2t('name'));
	lr.putIdentifier(s2t('layer'), executeActionGet(tr).getList(p).getReference(0).getIdentifier(s2t('layerID')));
	var nm = executeActionGet(lr).getString(n)

	executeAction(s2t('newPlacedLayer'), undefined, DialogModes.NO);

	(r = new ActionReference()).putEnumerated(s2t("layer"), s2t("ordinal"), s2t("targetEnum"));
	(d = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(s2t("null"), r);
	(d1 = new ActionDescriptor()).putString(s2t("name"), nm);
	d.putObject(s2t("to"), s2t("layer"), d1);
	executeAction(s2t("set"), d, DialogModes.NO);
}

app.activeDocument.suspendHistory("Smart Obj Script", "main()");

 

2 replies

Kukurykus
Kukurykus
Legend
August 6, 2021

 

sTT = stringIDToTypeID;
(ref = new ActionReference()).putEnumerated
(sTT('layer'), sTT('ordinal'), sTT('targetEnum'));
(dsc = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(sTT('null'), ref)
executeAction(sTT('linkSelectedLayers'), dsc)
with((actveDcmnt = activeDocument).activeLayer)
	nme = linkedLayers.pop().name, merge()
actveDcmnt.activeLayer.name = nme

 

or:

 

(aD = activeDocument).suspendHistory('', ''), aHS = aD.activeHistoryState
	sTT = stringIDToTypeID, dsc = new ActionDescriptor(), arr = ['back', 'for']; while(arr.length)
		(ref = new ActionReference()).putEnumerated(sTT('layer'), sTT('ordinal'), sTT(arr.shift() + 'wardEnum')),
		dsc.putReference(sTT('null'), ref), executeAction(sTT('select'), dsc); nme = aD.activeLayer.name
aD.activeHistoryState = aHS, (lyr = aD.activeLayer).merge(), aD.activeLayer.name = nme

 

or else:

 

sTT = stringIDToTypeID;
(ref = new ActionReference()).putEnumerated
(sTT('layer'), sTT('ordinal'), sTT('targetEnum'));
(dsc = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(sTT('null'), ref)
executeAction(sTT('groupLayersEvent'), dsc), aD.activeLayer.merge()
.name = (lrs = (aD = activeDocument).activeLayer.layers)[lrs.length - 1].name

 

    Mugen777
    Mugen777Author
    Inspiring
    August 6, 2021

    Hey there


    Looks like it is faster than what I created before, I just changed 

        (lyr = aD.activeLayer).merge()

    with 

        executeAction(stringIDToTypeID("newPlacedLayer"), undefined, DialogModes.NO)

    to turn layers to smart object instead, and looks like it is lot better than before : ) 

    Thank you!

    Kukurykus
    Kukurykus
    Legend
    August 6, 2021

    These versions were due your to original question, but after I found you changed mind to make Smart Object I wrote forth code accordingly to your new requirement: Aug 06, 20121

     

    Regarding to the speed when using these codes for merging the fastest is 1st, then 3rd & 2nd. When using the 2nd code to make a smart object from layers it is as fast as the 4th code 🙂

     

    I didn't expect you to show up after over 2 months, but if you are here add one of my answers to correct (fastest) solutions for some stray forum scripting wanderers 😉

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 5, 2021

    In the Layers panel, you can drag the layers to change the order, and you can relabel the layers.

     

     

      Mugen777
      Mugen777Author
      Inspiring
      May 5, 2021

      So far I was renaming layers after combining them, but it takes a lot of time, so I thought maybe there is a way to change that setting. 

      Mugen777
      Mugen777Author
      Inspiring
      May 7, 2021

      Here is the mergeDown.jsx  I wrote you could script that would also merge the layer names as well as the layers contents.  Just target the top layer an press the shortcut you set for the script  you could change Ctrl+E to be the Scripts shortcut.  You can coment out the alert in the script if you want to.

       

      app.activeDocument.suspendHistory('mergeDown','main()');

function main() {
	try {
		topLayer = app.activeDocument.activeLayer.name;
		mergeDown();
		app.activeDocument.activeLayer.name = topLayer + " - " + app.activeDocument.activeLayer.name;
	}
	catch(e) {alert("Nothing Merged");}
} 

function mergeDown() {
	var descriptor = new ActionDescriptor();
	executeAction( stringIDToTypeID( "mergeLayersNew" ), descriptor, DialogModes.NO );
}

       

      Here I used the shortcut twice.  You can also backout  the script with an undo,

       

       


      Thank you but I didn't want to merge, I wanted to use smart object. I already created something anyway, so you don't need to create something else : ) 

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices