Way to turn on the next hidden layer to automate comps

Sorry everyone I have been out of action for a while, sorry for not keeping up with the comments etc. I really do appreciate everyone's assistance. Will update as soon as I can! Thanks for all your help and again, sorry for going silent.

@Isoneryum – So how did the script go?

@Isoneryum 

Try this script, it will automatically create a layer comp named after the layer for each child layer found in the currently selected/active parent layer group. A single undo step is offered if you need to undo all of the comps in one go. A quick test for 3 comps created manually was around 8 seconds, vs. around 0.1 of a second for the script (obviously less tedious as well).

/*
Create Layer Comps From Selected Parent Group Child Layers.jsx
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/way-to-turn-on-the-next-hidden-layer-to-automate-comps/td-p/13450230
v1.0 30th December 2022, Stephen Marsh
*/

#target photoshop

if (documents.length) {

    function main() {
        //if (activeDocument.activeLayer.typename === "LayerSet") {
        // Check for active layer group and case sensitive name of 'images'
        if (activeDocument.activeLayer.typename === "LayerSet" && activeDocument.activeLayer.name === "images") {

            // Setup the script timer
            var timeDiff = {
                setStartTime: function () {
                    d = new Date();
                    time = d.getTime();
                },
                getDiff: function () {
                    d = new Date();
                    t = d.getTime() - time;
                    time = d.getTime();
                    return t;
                }
            };
            timeDiff.setStartTime();

            // Set the current layer comp count
            var initialCompsCount = activeDocument.layerComps.length;

            /*
            // All child layers in the parent group should be hidden before comps are created
            for (var i = 0; i < activeDocument.activeLayer.layers.length; i++) {
                activeDocument.activeLayer.layers[i].visible = false;
            }
            */

            // Loop over the contents of the selected layer group and make layer comps
            for (var i = 0; i < activeDocument.activeLayer.layers.length; i++) {
                var layerName = activeDocument.activeLayer.layers[i].name;
                activeDocument.activeLayer.layers[i].visible = true;
                activeDocument.layerComps.add(layerName, undefined, true, true, true);
                activeDocument.activeLayer.layers[i].visible = false;
            }

            // Calculate the new layer comp count
            var compsCreatedCount = activeDocument.layerComps.length - initialCompsCount;

            // End of script notification
            alert(compsCreatedCount + " Layer Comps Created!" + "\n" + "(" + timeDiff.getDiff() / 1000 + " seconds)");

        } else {
            alert("The selected layer isn't a layer group or isn't named 'images'!");
        }
        
    }
    activeDocument.suspendHistory("Create Layer Comps From Selected Parent Group Child Layers...", "main()");

} else {
    alert("A document must be open to run this script!");
}

1. Copy the code text to the clipboard
2. Open a new blank file in a plain-text editor (not in a word processor)
3. Paste the code in
4. Save as a plain text format file – Create Layer Comps From Selected Parent Group Child Layers.txt
5. Rename the saved file extension from .txt to .jsx (i.e. Create Layer Comps From Selected Parent Group Child Layers.jsx)
6. Install or browse to the .jsx file to run (see below)

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html#Photoshop

I'm wondering if you could incorporate the Make Frames From Layers command in your process. Make Frames From Layers is a feature that you would use to make frames for an animated GIF that does the following for you automatically when you start with only the bottom layer visible:

1. Makes a frame in the Timeline for the current visible layer
2. Turns the visibility for the current layer off
3. Makes the next layer above the current layer visible
4. Repeats steps 1-3 until it has gone through all of the layers

The resulting frames in the Timeline are similar to Layer Comps in that they are made up of visible layers. You could use those visible layers to create your Layer Comps.

To set it up, you would need to do the following:

1. Show the Timeline (Window > Timeline)
2. Click the Create Frame Animation button in the Timeline panel (if it's not showing, then use the dropdown menu)
3. Go to the Timeline panel menu (the hamburger menu in the upper right of the Timeline)
4. Hide all the layers except for the bottom one
5. Select Make Frames From Layers

One thought is have you tried using groups when building to simplify the structure?