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Is there a way to align a layer to the "outside" of a selection?

Participant ,
Aug 12, 2022 Aug 12, 2022

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I have a layer and I have a selection on my canvas, I wanna align this layer to the outside part of the selection, be it the bottom outside, or the up outside or the sides, I think the align buttons only allow me to align the layer to the inside of the selection.

p1.png

 

  See in the image, I wanna be able to align the image to be outside and beneath the selection box.

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Actions and scripting , Windows

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correct answers 3 Correct answers

Community Expert , Aug 12, 2022 Aug 12, 2022

This might be more hassle than it's worth, but...

 

Select > Transform Selection
This allows you to extend the sides of the selection, that you won't be aligning to, to the edge of the document.

 

Select > Inverse
Reverses the selection.

 

Then use the align options while using the Move Tool.

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Community Expert , Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

@HeyoThere 

 

Try the following script (original code updated to work correctly with a Background layer):

 

/*
Align Top of Layer to Bottom of Selection.jsx
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/is-there-a-way-to-align-a-layer-to-the-quot-outside-quot-of-a-selection/td-p/13132396
v1.0 - 13th August 2022, Stephen Marsh
*/

// Save the current ruler units and set to pixels
var savedRuler = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;

// Selection
...

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Guide , Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

We can make alignment more interactive:

 

To get alignment to the outer edge, you need to save the script to the prest folder, run it from the menu, activate event tracking and then press shift while aligning to one of the sides. Unfortunately, such an alignment will not be recorded in the action, but it is quite suitable for manual work.

 

Based on @Stephen_A_Marsh code.

 

/*
<javascriptresource>
<name>Alignment tracking</name>
</javascriptresource>
*/
#target photoshop
var s2t = stringIDToTyp
...

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Community Expert ,
Aug 12, 2022 Aug 12, 2022

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Hi check the given link which tells what options we have in Photoshop for alignment maybe it helps you..regards

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/aligning-layers.html

Ali Sajjad / Graphic Design Trainer / Freelancer / Adobe Certified Professional

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Community Expert ,
Aug 12, 2022 Aug 12, 2022

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There isn't built in option to align object to outside of selection.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 12, 2022 Aug 12, 2022

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This might be more hassle than it's worth, but...

 

Select > Transform Selection
This allows you to extend the sides of the selection, that you won't be aligning to, to the edge of the document.

 

Select > Inverse
Reverses the selection.

 

Then use the align options while using the Move Tool.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 14, 2022 Aug 14, 2022

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@Michael Bullo – Excellent! I like this and will likely look into it further, just for fun.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 14, 2022 Aug 14, 2022

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@Stephen_A_Marsh - Thanks mate. I've got a lot of respect for the work you do and I am curious to see what you might do with this method.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 17, 2022 Aug 17, 2022

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@Michael Bullo 

 

I had a play with your suggestion and came up with both an Action and Script.

 

Action screenshot:

atn.png

 

Script version of the action:

(Script code updated on 20th August 2022)

 

// Save the current ruler units and set to pixels
var savedRuler = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;

// Selection bounds
var selectionBounds = activeDocument.selection.bounds;
var selectionLeft = selectionBounds[0].value;
var selectionTop = selectionBounds[1].value;
var selectionRight = selectionBounds[2].value;
var selectionBottom = selectionBounds[3].value;
var selectionWidth = selectionBounds[2].value - selectionBounds[0].value;
var selectionHeight = selectionBounds[3].value - selectionBounds[1].value;

// Calculate the selection extension values
var extendSelLeft = selectionLeft - 0;
var extendSelRight = activeDocument.width.value - selectionRight;
var extendSelTop = selectionTop - 0;

// Save the selection as a temp channel
activeDocument.selection.store(activeDocument.channels.add());
activeDocument.channels[activeDocument.channels.length-1].name = "_tempChannel";
activeDocument.activeChannels = activeDocument.componentChannels;

// align using the lower middle anchored transform
bottomCentre();

// Load the temp channel selection
activeDocument.selection.load(activeDocument.channels.getByName("_tempChannel"), SelectionType.REPLACE);

// Remove the temp channel
activeDocument.channels.getByName("_tempChannel").remove();

// Restore the ruler units
app.preferences.rulerUnits = savedRuler;


/***** Functions *****/

function bottomCentre() {
    // Resize the selection to canvas left, top, right
    activeDocument.selection.resizeBoundary( extendSelLeft + selectionWidth + extendSelRight, selectionHeight + extendSelTop, AnchorPosition.BOTTOMCENTER );
    // Inverse selection
    var idinverse = stringIDToTypeID("inverse");
    executeAction(idinverse, undefined, DialogModes.NO);
    align2Selection('AdCH');
    align2Selection('AdTp');
    activeDocument.selection.deselect();
}

function align2Selection(method) {
    /* 
    AdLf = Align Left
    AdRg = Align Right
    AdCH = Align Centre Horizontal
    AdTp = Align Top
    AdBt = Align Bottom
    AdCV = Align Centre Vertical
    */
    var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
    var ref = new ActionReference();
    ref.putEnumerated(charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt"));
    desc.putReference(charIDToTypeID("null"), ref);
    desc.putEnumerated(charIDToTypeID("Usng"), charIDToTypeID("ADSt"), charIDToTypeID(method));
    try {
        executeAction(charIDToTypeID("Algn"), desc, DialogModes.NO);
    } catch (e) {}
}

 

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Community Expert ,
Aug 18, 2022 Aug 18, 2022

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@Stephen_A_Marsh  Hey that's awesome. I ran your script through Photoshop and got some nice alignment.

 

I was messing with your code a little, mainly altering the value passed to align2Selection(). I'm keen to pull it apart properly a little later.

 

Again, nicely done.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 18, 2022 Aug 18, 2022

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@Michael Bullo – Thanks, it's a bit of a hack, I scaled the three "unwanted" selection edges 2000% in order to try to cover all reasonable use cases. If I had more time/energy I would have scaled to the canvas on those edges which should be faster and more robust. Anyway, I just wanted to try your suggestion, it didn't occur to me at the time, however as is often the case it was "obvious" in hindsight!

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Community Expert ,
Aug 18, 2022 Aug 18, 2022

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@Stephen_A_Marsh Cheers mate. Nice work.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 19, 2022 Aug 19, 2022

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LATEST

@Michael Bullo – I have now updated the code to scale the selection to the canvas edges before inverting the selection. This in theory should be faster than simply scaling the selection by an insane value hoping that it will extend to unknown variable canvas sizes.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 12, 2022 Aug 12, 2022

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This works, but it is messy.

Make the selection into a workpath (icon at bottom of paths panel)

image.png

 

Select the Type tool. Hover over the bottom of the workpath till you see the double arrow cursor, and type.

If the text is placed inside the workpath, use the Path Selection tool (black arrow) and drag it to where you want it.

image.png

 

Make the type layer a Smart Object (right click menu)

Use Free Transform and flip horizontally and vertically

Job done

image.png

 

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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@HeyoThere 

 

Try the following script (original code updated to work correctly with a Background layer):

 

/*
Align Top of Layer to Bottom of Selection.jsx
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/is-there-a-way-to-align-a-layer-to-the-quot-outside-quot-of-a-selection/td-p/13132396
v1.0 - 13th August 2022, Stephen Marsh
*/

// Save the current ruler units and set to pixels
var savedRuler = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;

// Selection lower edge value
var selY2 = activeDocument.selection.bounds[3].value;

// Save the selection as a temp channel
activeDocument.selection.store(activeDocument.channels.add());
activeDocument.channels[activeDocument.channels.length-1].name = "_tempChannel";
activeDocument.activeChannels = activeDocument.componentChannels;

// Deselect
activeDocument.selection.deselect();

// Active layer upper edge value
var layY1 = activeDocument.activeLayer.bounds[1].value;

// Difference between lower and upper edge values
var diff = layY1 - selY2;

// Move using the (negative) difference value
activeDocument.activeLayer.translate(0, -diff);

// Load the temp channel selection
activeDocument.selection.load(activeDocument.channels.getByName("_tempChannel"), SelectionType.REPLACE);

// Remove the temp channel
activeDocument.channels.getByName("_tempChannel").remove();

// Restore the ruler units
app.preferences.rulerUnits = savedRuler;

 

 

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Participant ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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This script does exactly what I need, thank you. It's weird that there isn't a built in way to align outside of the stuff. In this case, is there a way to make this code ask if I wanna align the text to the up part of the selection, or the right or the left and bottom, just to make this function more complete to anyonelse that needs it?

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Guide ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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We can make alignment more interactive:

 

To get alignment to the outer edge, you need to save the script to the prest folder, run it from the menu, activate event tracking and then press shift while aligning to one of the sides. Unfortunately, such an alignment will not be recorded in the action, but it is quite suitable for manual work.

 

Based on @Stephen_A_Marsh code.

 

/*
<javascriptresource>
<name>Alignment tracking</name>
</javascriptresource>
*/
#target photoshop
var s2t = stringIDToTypeID,
    t2s = typeIDToStringID;
try {
    var evt = t2s(arguments[0].getEnumerationValue(s2t('using'))),
        ad = activeDocument;
    if (evt && ad.selection.bounds) {
        if (ScriptUI.environment.keyboardState.shiftKey) {
            var l = ad.activeLayer,
                s = ad.selection;
            switch (evt) {
                case 'ADSBottoms': l.translate(0, -(l.bounds[1].value - s.bounds[3].value)); break;
                case 'ADSTops': l.translate(0, -(l.bounds[3].value - s.bounds[1].value)); break;
                case 'ADSLefts': l.translate(-(l.bounds[2].value - s.bounds[0].value), 0); break;
                case 'ADSRights': l.translate(-(l.bounds[0].value - s.bounds[2].value), 0); break;
            }
        }
    }
} catch (e) { }
if (!evt) {
    dialogWindow();
}
function dialogWindow() {
    var w = new Window("dialog {text: 'Alignment tracking',alignChildren:['fill','top']}"),
        bnNotifier = w.add("button {text: 'Enable alignment tracking'}"),
        bnOk = w.add("button {text:'Ok', properties: {name:'ok'}}}"),
        evt = new Events();
    bnNotifier.onClick = function () {
        if (evt.checkEvents()) evt.removeEvents() else evt.addEvents()
        setEnabledButtonValue()
    }
    w.onShow = function () {
        setEnabledButtonValue()
    }
    function setEnabledButtonValue() {
        var enabled = evt.checkEvents()
        bnNotifier.text = enabled ? 'Disable alignment tracking' : 'Enable alignment tracking'
        bnNotifier.graphics.foregroundColor = enabled ? bnNotifier.graphics.newPen(bnNotifier.graphics.PenType.SOLID_COLOR, [1, 0, 0, 1], 1) : bnNotifier.graphics.newPen(bnNotifier.graphics.PenType.SOLID_COLOR, [0, 0.8, 0, 1], 1)
    }
    w.show()
}
function Events() {
    var f = File($.fileName);
    this.addEvents = function () {
        app.notifiersEnabled = true
        app.notifiers.add('Algn', f)
    }
    this.removeEvents = function () {
        for (var i = 0; i < app.notifiers.length; i++) {
            var ntf = app.notifiers[i]
            if (ntf.eventFile.name == f.name) { ntf.remove(); i--; }
        }
    }
    this.checkEvents = function () {
        for (var i = 0; i < app.notifiers.length; i++) {
            if (app.notifiers[i].eventFile.name == f.name) return true
        }
        return false
    }
}

 

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Participant ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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Thank you, this code is improving Photoshop!

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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WOW, that is very cool jazz-y!

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Guide ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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@Stephen_A_Marsh , if we shorten the code to:

 

var selY2 = activeDocument.selection.bounds[3].value;
var layY1 = activeDocument.activeLayer.bounds[1].value;
var diff = layY1 - selY2;
activeDocument.activeLayer.translate(0, -diff);

 

 

 Then in the history of actions we will see:

2022-08-13_22-21-05.png

Previously, I did not notice such optimization in DOM functions о_О

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Community Expert ,
Aug 13, 2022 Aug 13, 2022

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@jazz-y – the first version of my code was only tested on a layer stack that didn't contain a Background layer. It all worked as expected.

 

When I later tested on a two-layer file with a Background layer, the script didn't work the same. It appeared to not like the active selection, so I added more code to save, deselect and restore the active selection after the upper layer was translated to the lower selection edge location.

 

I too didn't expect Photoshop to be adding in these "extra" steps that were not explicitly requested, I can see that they are doing exactly what I have added as extra code to make this work for a Background layer.

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