PSD with clipping mask?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2018-06-23 06:49:57

A major part of my use case for Photoshop is making clothing for Second Life. I have several PSDs that use the clipping mask feature: a shape with flat color on one layer, then the next layer above is completely black with highlights, with blending mode set to screen. Then, I do Create Clipping Mask on the highlights layer, and presto! what I get is the shape with the highlights added.

This is great for me because all I need to do to change the color of the highlighted bit is to use Fill with Preserve Transparency with the new color, and boom, it's done in one operation. If I'm making ten colors of an item, this saves a lot of work.

When I open the PSD in Pixelmator Pro, the two layers - the highlights and the shape/color - are flattened into one layer. This makes it impossible to recolor in one step. In addition, there doesn't seem to be an equivalent to the Preserve Transparency option on the recolor, and that leads to jagged edges. How do I get there from here? I have Pixelmator, as well, if it's possible there.
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2018-06-23 08:26:55

In most cases, there are workarounds that should let you achieve the result you're looking for but a lot actually depends on the file itself (maybe there's an outline layer, which you can load a selection of and quickly create a mask on a different layer), so could you possibly share the PSD file with us at support@pixelmator.com? We'd also be able to make a note of what PSD features in particular you'd like to see in Pixelmator Pro.
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2018-06-23 11:24:45

Certainly. I'll send it along right now.
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2018-06-26 08:41:20

Thanks a lot for sharing that file! I've now had a chance to take a look at it and, if I've understood right, you'd like to recolor the Stockings and Leotard layers (the ones below the clipping mask layers). If that's the case, the first thing I should say is — although it appears to have been merged, the clipping mask is still there. If you select the Stockings layer and choose the Effects tool, you'll see an Image fill effect containing your clipping mask is applied to the layer. Although Pixelmator Pro doesn't have a clipping mask feature just yet, the Image fill effect serves pretty much exactly the same purpose. It fills the outline of your selected layer with the contents of a different layer (the image) just like a clipping mask.

If you'd like to recolor the layer, you can apply the Color fill effect to the same layer, making sure to move it below the Image fill effect. To do that, you'll need to click the name of the effect and choose the Send Backward option.

Image

Hope that helps!
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2018-06-26 10:47:46

That looks like it will do the job, all right

Now, is there a way to copy the layer effect to another layer? That would save some work, too.
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2018-06-26 12:22:49

There isn't a way to copy individual effects, but that's definitely a feature that we should (and will) add! For now, you can save all effects applied to a layer as a preset and then apply that preset to other images. In this case, you'll probably need to save only the Color fill effect in the preset.