Raster and Vector Layers

Now you need to go back to your floating toolbars - you need the "layers palette" one again.

Hover your cursor over the titlebar on the palette and it will expand out and down just like it did before... this time, it should look something like this:

On the left hand side, you will see that one of the icons is a square and the other 2 are both raster layers (the coloured circles).  The square tells you that it is a vector layer.  

You will also notice that there is a little + by the side of the square - that means there is something on that layer.  Single left click on that little + so that you can see what is on the layer.

The + has now turned to a "-"... just like in all other Windows programmes, this tells you that everything is now on display and nothing is left hiding.

We can now see what is on the vector layer.  We can tell what it is by looking at the icon and at what it says.  The icon matches the text tool, so this tells us that there is text on the layer and it says "Jester" on mine so that tells us the writing that is on the layer.

So, now we know how to make a vector layer and we know how to recognise it in the layers palette, we need to know what a vector layer is used for and what the difference is between a vector and a raster layer.

As we already know, the Raster layer is the one we use most often and I told you that we used the Vector layers less often and only for certain things.  We have already used a Vector layer for one of the things you use it for - text.  Whenever you put text on an image, it will always be vector... sometimes the whole layer will be a Vector layer (like it is here) and sometimes just the text will be vector.

The other things you use a vector layer for are the preset shapes and whenever you draw something with any of the drawing tools in PSP.

Have a play around and try and get a feel for the layers - they can take a while to get used to so don't worry if you are still confused or you aren't sure of something... the more you practice the easier it will become :o)