On the attached example - how can I prevent the drop shadows from casting on transparent pixels?
Each fish is a smart object with a drop shadow effect that could quickly be replaced with a banana, bowling-pin, etc. I want the shadows on each of the smart objects behind, and the inside and flaps of the box.
Toggling the "lock transparent pixels" option in the layers panel doesn't seem to apply to effects.
I've been working on a solution for a while and can't find anything that seems right. Any help is appreciated! Thanks.
1 Correct answer
Now it works with Smart Objects:
...#target photoshop
var doc = activeDocument;
var gp = doc.activeLayer
var bound = false
var curLayer
getLayers (gp)
function getLayers(gp1){
for(var i=0;i<gp1.layers.length;i++){
try{
var check = doc.selection.bounds
bound =true;
}
catch(e){bound = false}
doc.activeLayer = curLayer = gp1.layers;
if(curLayer.typename =='LayerSet'){getLayers (gp1.layers)}
else{
if(curLayer.kind == 'LayerK
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Replies
Your problem, of course, is that you need the shadows to overlap the other box contents 'inside' the box, so I can't think of any significant shortcuts to achieving this. The first thing you need to do is check Layer mask hides effect in the layer style panel
You'll already be using this workflow I suspect, but it then boils down to:
Adding a layer mask to each box object
Ctrl clicking the relevant box layer to load it as a selection, inverting the selection, and filling each layer mask with black
That will make the part outside the box disappear, so Ctrl click each object in turn, and fill its layer mask with white.
You now have the box contents back, but the drop shadow overlap will be gone outside the box, so it is a matter of hand painting it back in the layer mask.
If you were feeling very clever, you could arrive at the required selection using calculations, but that would make my head hurt.
Here's a slightly better workflow. Before you add the layer mask, Ctrl click each box object in turn to load as a selection, and add the layer mask. That leaves you with no shadow.
Then hand paint the shadows back in. You can help yourself by Ctrl clicking other objects to restrain where the shadow is painted in. That's the best I can think of right now, but what often happens here is that one idea prompts other users to think of another wrinkle, so fingers crossed.
Looks like it's just going to be tedious
.
Thanks for the suggestions - love the bananas. I've tried variations of all these, and yes they work for most situations. I didn't know about the "Layer Mask Hides Effect" default setting though - so I learned something new!
Of course, as soon as I transform an object the mask has to be redone. (see below) I think one mega-mask for the group might be the best option.
The illustrations I usually deal with are much more complex than this (think Sam's/Costco size pallets filled with hundreds of items) So scrolling through groups and Shift+Ctrl clicking layers is a pain in the neck. Fortunately the effects do not have to be turned OFF in order to make the selection.
Anyone know of a way to select visible pixels for more than one layer at a time, or toggle layer effects on/off for multiple layers?
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