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Step 1 |
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There are times you need to align two or more
layers over each other perfectly. Doing it pixel by pixel while in 1600%
zoom is rather time consuming. There is a better way. In this image,
I have three parts. Each on its own layer.
1. The Background layer
2. The green Square
3. The purple Circle
Now the problem is they are all over the place and I want them perfectly
centered so they fit together. Here is how we can do that with Photoshop. |
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Step 2 |
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Select your background layer. This is the base
"anchor" layer that we want all of our layers to be centered relative to. To
select your background layer just click on it and it will turn blue to show
you that it is selected. Next, your other layers are linked to the
background layer. Once you have your background layer selected, click in
the empty box directly to the right of the eye in your other layers. By
default they are blank. Once you click in that area a little chain icon will
appear (see the green highlighted box in the image to your left) to show you
that your layers are now linked. When you link two or more layers, you
"glue" them together - so dragging one layer will affect the layers linked
to it as well. This is very useful while creating websites in Photoshop. |
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Step 3 |
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Now that your layers are all linked to the
background layer you can go ahead and start your centering process. Go to
the file menu up top and select Layer > Align Linked > Vertical Center. If
you receive an error message about pixels not being opaque, make sure that
your "base" layer is not locked. If you are using background layer as your
base layer, make a clone of it to unlock it and delete original background
layer. |
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Step 4 |
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After the above step you file should now look
like this. |
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Step 5 |
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Now go to the file menu again and select Layer
> Align Linked > Horizontal Center. |
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Step 6 |
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That's all! If all the steps above are
followed all of your images should be perfectly centered relative to the
background layer now. You can also use the Layer > Align Linked menu to
align your images on the background layer in any way you need, to the right,
left, top, bottom, etc. Choosing [selecting] another layer as a base layer
will force all linked layers be aligned relative to that layer. |
Tutorials / Adobe Photoshop 6.0 / Layer Alignment
