Flatten Image vs Merge visible??

[antonroland]

Would anuone be so kind as to explain the difference between these and the different applications if any?

Thanks!

 

[Paul MR]

Merge Visible retains transparency Flatten does not.

 

[antonroland]

Thanks Paul MR

Would you mind giving me a practical example?

 

[Marc]

Merge Visible retains transparency Flatten does not.

I've often wondered this. What do you mean by "retains transparency"?

 

[Paul MR]

One main area is if you are wanting to create PNG with transpareny.
A lot of people work with PNG files for animation/games etc.
If you image trying to create a film strip with lots of pictures, you would have lots of layers and would slow Photoshop down to a crawl, using merge visible keeps the layer count down.
As an example I wrote a script to create this type of film strips for an animator.
It will create strips top - bottom, bottom to top, left to right, right to left
Files have to be the same dimentions(jpg & png) supported.
http://www.ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2489
The merge visible is only pertinent when the transparency is required for the final output.

 

[Paul MR]

fabs: transparency (alpha) is when you can see through (no visible pixels)
PNG/TIFF/PSD are the main formats that support this, Very useful for logos etc.

 

[Marc]

Thanks for that Paul. So I would assume then that for standard photo editing there is no difference.

 

[Paul MR]

If it's for print not a bit of good. Many used for the WEB/Animation and Games

 

[Marc]

If it's for print not a bit of good. Many used for the WEB/Animation and Games

Cheers.