P: Ability for Layer Comps to remember/work with specific Artboards

Report · Jun 16, 2017

Hi,

I'm a UI Designer and I'm trying to create a website using artboards as different pages on the site and for certain pages, I need to show different states. I'm trying to use Layer Comp for each state of the page but without it affecting the other artboards. I know I can just duplicate an artboard and show the new state in the new artboard but that would then increase the file size for no good reason.

Is there a way to use artboards and layer comps to affect only one artboard at a time?

Report · Oct 07, 2021

Adobe, please improve Artboards and Layer Comps to be better integrated. Layer Comps have layer members regardless of which layer groups they are in, and Artboards are basically Canvases, but they are implemented as exclusive layer groups, which is unnecessary. Artboards could be integrated and merged with Layer Comps, by adding the ability of a Layer Comp to remember an artboard (canvas), as well as layer visibility, position, and blending. This would also allow certain important layers to be shared amongst Artboards, instead of requiring them to be duplicated, saving file size, and also allowing any edits to the shared layer to instantly update all Artboards and Layer Comps, instead of repeating the edits or duplicating the layers again.

Let's say I'm doing many storyboard keys: Layer Comps are a great tool for this: I can create multiple key frames, with characters in different poses. Also with layer comps, I can share a background layer in all of they keys, without needing to duplicate the background layer. I can also edit the background layer and the changes will be visible in all the layer comp keyframes. But this functionality doesn't work with artboards: if I need to change the canvas to create an oversized background pan, I create an artboard, but now the background layers need to be duplicated across all artboards, because they are exclusive groups. Why can't artboards function more like layer comps, allowing membership of any layer from any group?

Another way of achieving this would be to have the ability to duplicate layers as links, or instances, rather than as copies, to save file size, and to instantly propagate changes to the original layer, reducing the need to manually edit the multiple copies of the original layer. (Note, I have attempted to do this with Convert to Smart Object, and Convert to Linked, but this is restrictive due to the necessity of using a .psb file, which is large in itself, cannot be imported into Adobe Premiere to create a background in an animatic edit, and cannot be exported as a .png without again messing with canvas size and artboards - while it's possible to prepare a linked .psb file and matching .png beforehand, this seems laborious and excessive compared to simply linking/instancing layers in the Photoshop master file itself.)

Cheers.

Report · Oct 07, 2021

Adobe, please improve Artboards and Layer Comps to be better integrated. Layer Comps have layer members regardless of which layer groups they are in, and Artboards are basically Canvases, but they are implemented as exclusive layer groups, which is unnecessary. Artboards could be integrated and merged with Layer Comps, for example by adding the ability of a Layer Comp to remember an Artboard (canvas), as well as layer visibility, position, and blending. This would also allow certain important layers to be shared amongst Artboards, instead of requiring them to be duplicated, saving file size, and also allowing any edits to the shared layer to instantly update in all Artboards and Layer Comps, instead of repeating the edits or duplicating the shared layer all over again!

Let's say I'm doing many storyboard keys: Layer Comps are a great tool for this: I can create multiple key frames, with characters in different poses. Also with layer comps, I can share a background layer in all of they keys, without needing to duplicate the background layer. I can also edit the background layer and the changes will be visible in all the layer comp keyframes. But this functionality doesn't work with Artboards: if I need to change the canvas to create an oversized background pan, I create an artboard, but now the background layers need to be duplicated across all artboards, because they are exclusive groups. Why can't artboards function more like layer comps, allowing membership of any layer from any group?

Another way of improving the sharing of layers comes to mind: to have the ability to duplicate layers as links, or instances, rather than as copies, to save file size, and to instantly propagate changes from the original layer to all the instances, reducing the need to manually edit the multiple copies of the original layer. (Note, I have attempted to do this with Convert to Smart Object, and Convert to Linked, but this is restrictive due to the necessity of using a .psb file, which is large in itself, cannot be imported into Adobe Premiere to create a background in an animatic edit, and cannot be exported as a .png without again messing with canvas size and artboards. Yes, while it's possible to prepare a linked .psb file and matching .png beforehand, this seems a bit laborious and excessive, compared to simply linking/instancing layers in the Photoshop master file itself, and would certainly be more clear and understandable for my students and, I imagine, many artists!)

Cheers!

Report · Oct 09, 2021

As a workaround, I'm using the Layer Comps and Artboards to Files script.

While there is a similar Adobe Community suggestion in this photoshop idea thread, the difference is that I feel Artboards can be made more robust, flexible, and easier to use, by fully merging and integrating them with the Layer Comps feature. It's also worth noting that since I'm doing a storyboard for video, my oversized background Artboard sits behind the 1080p keyframes, not laid out next to them in a bigger canvas.

Report · Jan 12, 2022

It would be awesome if each artboard would have it's own set of independent layer comps, so as a UI designer, I can easily create different button states without the need to create a different artboard for each such state. This way each layer comp will be specific to only one artboard, and I can go on and update an artboard without it affecting other artboards.
Will make my work much more efficient and tidy.

Thanks!