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Layer Tips

docs/src/content/docs/features/Canvas/layers-and-drops.mdx

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A couple of layer-related behaviors that aren't obvious from the canvas UI alone.

Drag & drop targets

Dragging an image onto the canvas reveals five drop zones, arranged as two zones on top and three on the bottom:

Top row
New Raster LayerCreate a regular raster layer from the dropped image.
New Control LayerCreate a control layer from the dropped image.
Bottom row
New Regional ReferenceUse the image as a regional reference.
New Inpaint MaskCreate a new inpaint mask layer using the image as the mask source.
New Resized Control LayerCreate a control layer resized to the current canvas dimensions.

You can drop from the gallery, from disk, or from any panel that shows a draggable image.

Lock transparency on raster layers

Each raster layer has a Lock Transparency toggle (drop icon) in its layer header. When enabled, brush strokes only affect existing non-transparent pixels — painting over transparent areas does nothing. This behaves like Photoshop's "Lock Transparent Pixels".

Typical uses:

  • Recolor an existing shape without bleeding paint into the empty space around it.
  • Refine details on a subject that was painted on an otherwise transparent layer, with no risk of growing its silhouette.

Toggle it off to resume normal painting. The lock is per-layer, so different layers can be locked or unlocked independently. Pressure-sensitive pen input and undo/redo both respect the lock.