Layer
Composites any number of images as a layer stack with per-layer blend mode, opacity, visibility, lock, and transform - the same 18 blend modes as Composite, organized like a layers panel.
Layer takes a variable-count list of image inputs and stacks them with full per-layer control. Each connected input shows up as a row in the Parameters panel (top of the panel is the top of the stack), with a visibility eye, a lock button, the same 18 blend modes used by Composite (with hover-preview), an opacity slider, and an X to disconnect.
Drag the grip handle on a row to reorder the stack: the wires on the canvas physically snap to the new pin positions in a single undo step. A Reverse Order button flips the whole stack top to bottom in one click, so a composition wired in natural order (background first) does not leave every new layer buried at the bottom; each row’s blend mode, opacity, visibility, and transform travels with it, the wires swap ends to match, and the flip is a single undo step. It is disabled with fewer than two layers connected. The input pin array auto-grows when you connect the trailing empty pin and renumbers cleanly when a middle pin is disconnected, so there is always exactly one empty pin ready for the next layer.
Output Size picks the canvas dimensions from the stack - Deepest Visible (lowest visible layer), Max W&H (largest extents across visible layers), or Topmost Visible (highest visible layer) - and Output Anchor positions smaller upper layers as Top-Left or Center on that canvas.
Per-layer transforms
Section titled “Per-layer transforms”Every row can be moved, rotated, scaled, and skewed on its own, without wiring a separate Transform node in front of it. Select a row and the panel grows a Transform section below the row list, with the same parameters as the Transform node: Translate X/Y, Rotate, Scale X/Y (with a proportional lock), Pivot X/Y, Skew X/Y, and a resampling filter.
The on-canvas gizmo jumps to the selected layer and works exactly like Transform’s:
| Handle | Action |
|---|---|
| Center crosshair | Move the layer. It is drawn at the pivot, but dragging it moves the layer rather than relocating the pivot. |
| Corner | Scale both axes. |
| Edge midpoint | Scale one axis only - top or bottom scales vertically, left or right scales horizontally. |
| Rotation ring | Rotate around the pivot. |
| Skew handle | Shear the layer along one axis. |
Double-click the center, an edge-scale, or a skew handle to reset just what that handle controls. To reset a whole row, right-click it in the panel and choose Reset Transform. A row with any non-identity transform shows a small badge in the row list, so a transformed layer buried in a long stack is never invisible state.
The output canvas size and each layer’s anchor position are worked out before any transform, so a transform never resizes the canvas or moves the anchor. A layer moved, scaled up, or rotated past an edge is clipped there; give yourself room with Output Size or an upstream Canvas node first.
Selecting and locking layers
Section titled “Selecting and locking layers”Hovering the preview outlines whichever layer is under the cursor, and clicking selects that row. The hit test reads what is actually visible: clicking a transparent part of a layer passes through to whatever is showing underneath, and clicking where every layer is transparent leaves the selection alone and pans the canvas as usual. A drag already in progress always wins over selecting a different layer.
Selecting a row is a viewing convenience only - it creates no undo step, does not mark the document changed, and is not saved with the file.
The lock button next to each row’s visibility eye keeps that layer from being selected or transformed, so a finished background cannot be bumped by a stray click. Everything else stays editable: visibility, blend mode, opacity, stack position, and connection. A locked layer clicks through in the preview exactly like a transparent one. Locking is an ordinary undoable edit.
Parameters
Section titled “Parameters”Pins
Output
How the output canvas is sized from connected layers
How upper layers are positioned when smaller than the canvas
One row per connected input pin (top of the panel is the top of the stack). Each row has a visibility eye, a blend-mode combo with hover-preview, an opacity slider, and an ✕ to disconnect. Drag the grip handle (☰) on a row to reorder the stack. Wires on the canvas snap to the new pin positions in a single undo step
- Image inputs use a variable-count pin array: connecting the trailing empty pin auto-grows the stack, disconnecting a middle pin renumbers the rest down, and there is always exactly one empty pin ready for the next layer. Pin position is stack position: Image 1 is the top of the stack (painted last), the highest-numbered Image is the base (painted first).
- Reordering rows in the Parameters panel mutates the actual connection targets, so wires snap to the new pin positions on the canvas in a single undo step. Pin labels never change. Reordering and per-layer state edits (visibility, blend mode, opacity) collapse into one undo entry alongside the wire snap.
- Layer shares blend math with Composite: every mode behaves identically across both nodes.
Usage Tips
Section titled “Usage Tips”- Use Layer instead of chained Composite nodes whenever you have three or more images to combine - one node is easier to scan and reorder.
- Toggle the visibility eye on a row to A/B variants without disconnecting wires.
- Each layer row shows the connected node’s custom name next to its title (e.g. “Pad 1 (Background)”), so you can tell stacked layers apart at a glance - rename the upstream nodes to label the stack.
- Pick Max W&H when layers have different sizes and you want every pixel to survive.
- Layer shares blend math with Composite, so a stack you prototype in Layer is identical to the equivalent Composite chain.
- Position elements with each row’s own Transform section instead of a Transform node per layer. The stack stays one node and the handles are already on the canvas.
- Lock the background row before you start moving pieces above it. It stays fully editable in every other way, and clicks pass through it.
- Editing one layer’s opacity, blend mode, or transform only recomposites that layer and the ones above it, so scrubbing a slider in a large stack stays responsive.
- A layer with no authored transform behaves exactly as it did before the feature existed, so older projects open unchanged.