Build non-destructive image documents with multiple layer kinds, masks, clipping, adjustments, smart filters, styles, channels, paths, history, and a flexible panel workspace.
Where: Open Image Editor → Layers / Adjust / Properties / Window
Key ideas
- Layer document: The current engine renders raster, shape, path, text, group, fill, and adjustment layers with visibility, locking, opacity, blend mode, fill opacity, clipping, transforms, masks, effects, and Blend If where supported.
- Mask editing: Add a reveal-all mask or build one from the active selection. Click the mask thumbnail to paint it; link/unlink, disable, invert, apply, delete, or load the mask as a selection.
- Non-destructive stacks: Adjustment layers and clipped filters remain editable. Smart Filters form a re-orderable per-layer chain with visibility, opacity, blend mode, and parameters.
- Flexible panels: The workspace supports docked, split, tabbed, and floating panels; layout is a user preference persisted separately from the image document.
- Object selection becomes mask material: Object Select and Select Subject create ordinary pixel selections. Convert the refined selection into a layer mask, load it later, invert it, or save it to a channel rather than deleting pixels.
- Masks now constrain adjustments: A mask attached to an adjustment layer limits where that non-destructive adjustment is evaluated. Transform flips and mask film state persist with the document.
Steps
- Create or place source layers and name/group them by role.
- Use selections plus masks or clipped adjustment layers instead of deleting source pixels when possible.
- Edit effects/styles, Blend If, vector/text properties, fills, and smart-filter order in Properties/Adjust.
- Use History to review edits and arrange the panel workspace for the task; save the document before rasterizing a delivery output.
Panel catalog
- Layers.
- History.
- Adjust.
- Properties.
- Color.
- Swatches.
- AI.
- Channels and Styles are registered but hidden by default.
- Window menu controls panel/workspace visibility.
Selection and mask systems
- Pixel selections can be rectangles, multi-polygon lassos with holes, or alpha mattes.
- Quick Mask paints a soft selection matte.
- Mask view and rubylith overlay settings change how mask editing is displayed.
- Channels can preserve saved selections; vector paths preserve editable geometry.
Blur edge policy
Lens Blur provides Blades and Rotation. Repeat edge pixels fills only filter padding on sides clipped by the document, so a full-bleed image stays solid while a cutout floating inside the canvas can still blur into transparency.
Crop, smart objects, channels, and large-image fixes
The Image Editor now exposes ratio/straighten cropping with optional destructive pixel trimming, smart-object embedded-content operations, a layer filter bar, component-channel viewing, and a live histogram. The focused guides below describe the actual controls and boundaries.
- 4K brush strokes and masks persist more reliably; live changes to brush settings apply without restarting the tool.
- GPU-pressure handling protects mask/brush work, but browser memory and hardware still limit large documents.
- SVG/path vertex editing supports multi-selection, segment movement, and resynchronization after undo.
- Deep duplication keeps masks and nested effect data independent between copies.
Current menu and floating-surface behavior
Image Editor menus now use the shared styled select control and the full-screen workspace owns a top-level floating layer. Tooltips, dropdowns, filters, blend modes, channel/range controls, and dialogs stay above the editing surface instead of being clipped behind it.
- Crop ratios and AI actions
- Curves channels and Selective Color ranges
- Layer kind/visibility filters
- Blend modes, smart filters, and vector properties
- Panel registry, export, layer-style, and save-selection dialogs
Tips
- Use groups, clipping, and named masks to make intent readable.
- Duplicate or preserve a source layer before applying a destructive raster operation.
- Remember that workspace layout is local UI preference, not content saved into the ImageDocument.
Related guides
- Non-destructive image layers, effects, and workspaces
- Image Editor tool rail: complete reference
- Save, export, rasterize, and reuse an Image Editor result
- Flip, size, position, rotate, and lens-blur layers in Image Editor
- Image Editor Object Select: hover, click, and multi-object boxes
- Image Editor: crop ratios, straighten, and canvas transforms
- Image Editor: smart objects, embedded contents, and layer filtering
- Image Editor: component channels and the live histogram