GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 772472
The align tool always selects a whole layer group, picking individual layers from a group is impossible
Last modified: 2018-05-24 17:00:50 UTC
When there are several layers inside a layer group, trying to click on one of the layers in the canvas (not in the layers panel), always selects the topmost layer. I noticed this problem when trying to use the Align Tool to align a certain layer to another layer, both of which were inside a layer group. Tested gimp 2.8.16 on xubuntu and gimp 2.8.18 on arch linux. Some other people talked about this situation already as well: http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/27948/why-cant-the-gimp-align-tool-select-some-layers
Ok, so additional discussion on IRC helped to define this issue a bit differently: When you try to use the align tool on any layer in a layer group, the whole layer group is selected for alignment. This is very noticeable by arranging two layers of less than canvas size inside the group to a partially overlapping layout - the markers of the align tool will mark the bounding box of the layer group, and alignment will happen to the layer group as a whole. As such, this behavior feels natural for the groups, but it is simply impossible to select an individual layer from a group for alignment. A possible way out could be to introduce a "pick layer / choose active layer" tool option like for the move tool.
Created attachment 337017 [details] Minimal test case Attaching a test case with two small, intersecting layers in a layer group, as described in the previous comment.
I came across this issue when going through a tutorial (see link below). The author found out they could not select the individual circles/layers once they were put into a layer group. http://clownfishcafe.blogspot.com/2014/02/align-and-distribute-in-GIMP.html snippet: At this point in the process I discovered that the Alignment tool cannot be used to select and align individual layers within a layer group. It selects the entire group at once and aligns the group with respect to the canvas or to other layers or layer groups at the same level. In order to align the dots properly within the layer group, it's necessary to slide them out of the group, align them, then put them back in the group.
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