Layers are one of the most useful features of Photopaint. They enable you to treat an image as a series of separate superimposed images, each occupying its own transparent layer. This allows you to make changes to an image on one layer without upsetting the images on the other layers. In addition, the order of the layers can be altered. Altogether, layers are an essential tool in helping you to control how your images are created and edited.
The most important feature of layers is their capacity to be transparent in various degrees. Whenever you create a new layer it is shown as a transparent window, usually visible as a checkerboard pattern by default. (You can change the shading and size of the checkerboard pattern in Tools/Options/Grid. A grid size of none in effect creates a blank sheet, either light, medium or dark according to the setting. You can change the style of the layers either before or after opening a file.)
To reiterate, the essential characteristic of layers consists in the fact that whenever you create or edit an image on a particular layer, the images on the other layers will be visible in so far as they can be seen through a transparent area of the layers above. Obviously with more than two layers, the potential for complexity increases, especially if you start changing the order of the layers.
You can keep a check on the arrangement, visibility, opacity and blend mode of the layers you have created by selecting Layers from the View menu. This opens up the "Layers" dialog:
The following sections will further explain how to use the various features available in "Layers":