Digital Light & Color

Back in the "old days" with PWP7, when an image had some transformation done to it, the resulting image was generated and remained on screen, regardless whether the original image was then closed.

With the new system, it appears when a resulting image is saved, it is not actually generated on screen as a new image. That, in itself. is not a bad thing, however in the past I would generate a new image then immediately close the image(s) that contributed to that image, to eliminate clutter and get rid of images that I no longer needed.

Just now, I opened 8 mask images and resized each. Each new image was then saved. It was my intention to generate these new masks, keep them on screen (for further use in another image), and close all the larger versions. However, the only option I am given when I close the originals is to also close all images that depend on it. I then had to open a folder and find the new image to open it.

As I do this type of operation quite often (where I transform an image and wish to keep the new, but immediately dump the old), I am wondering if there is any workaround that would allow me to save and keep the last image in a tree, while closing the initial base image (and in a long operation, even the intermittent images), without losing it from the work area.

Marv

The reason it works the way it does is to preserve your options to go back and change the way the final images are generated if, perhaps at a later time, you revisit the image and decide to change some step along the way to creating it. This means keep around all the originals so you can regenerate the final images from them. In your example, suppose you decided to resize the masks differently or perhaps crop them.

Currently, the only way around this is to save the final image, close the originals, and then re-open the saved image to continue working on it.

What I think you are asking for - and this is something I have occasionally considered adding - is a way to save an image and then collapse the tree above it so the final image becomes a top level image and all the images that contributed to it go away.

Jonathan,

I think the current workflow is great. In fact it's one of the best changes to PWP, in my opinion and I have used it multiple times.

Having said that, I think the method you have considered adding, would be a great option.

Marv

I will add it to the wish list -- I need to consider the implications of the change first.

I have not yet downloaded or used PWP 8.0, but have followed this forum section almost daily for over a year because I am intrigued by the back and forth of the development process and also appreciate having a peek at what to expect when I finally do begin using 8.0. Also, being 76 and retired, I have the time to do unproductive things like follow this process.

If I understand this thread, I too would appreciate having the proposed option available.