Aligning Layers

This tutorial will show you how to use the tools in the alignment panel to align two image layers.

NOTE The user must have View Anchor and Add Anchor turned on to place and add anchors.

Moving Layers

  1. Open the Digital Logic project.

  2. In the Layers window, set the m1 and CA image layers to visible. Set a orange color for the CA image layer.

    layers1

  3. In the Layers window, right-click on m1 to bring up the context menu. Choose Reset Warp.

    resetwarp1

  4. Go to the Alignment tab and click Move.

    move

  5. Click and drag to move the m1 layer around. If you want to undo a move, use Ctrl+Z.

Using Anchors

The Move, Scale, and Warp tools work for smaller image layers, but they are difficult to use with large image layers. On the other hand, the anchor system allows users to align two large image layers very quickly.

  1. Select View Anchors.

    viewanchors

  2. Click the add button in the Anchors window. Leave anchor mode as Interlayer Alignment and set m1 as the target layer, and CA as the reference layer. Click the Create button.

    createnewanchorgroup1

  3. Select the m1  - CA group in the Anchors window. Click Add Anchor.

    addanchor

  4. In the upper left corner, click and drag to move the m1 layer until it is lined up with the CA layer. An anchor point will be added when the mouse button is released.

    firstanchor1

  5. Continue to add anchors until the m1 layer is aligned to the CA layer. For this small layer, 20 points are enough. The anchor system relies on the warp resolution, so it is important to increase the warp resolution for large image layers, so that the anchor system has plenty of warp points to move around.

    twenty

Layer Orthogonal Tool

Using this tool allows the user to straighten the image. To do this, click the + sign in the Anchor Groups and then select the layer that is to be straightened. The easiest way to straighten the image is to try and find a line or straight segment that runs through the whole image. Left clicking and dragging the orthogonal anchor through the straight line will force the image to become straightened to that line. When using the orthogonal tool, most images only require two lines, one horizontal and one vertical.

anchorslevel1

Cell Alignment

The “cell” alignment type for anchor groups is used to align a collection of cells to an image layer. The primary use case for this form of alignment is in conjunction with the “fill with memory grid” tool, which creates a grid of child cells within a parent cell. The created cells may not be perfectly aligned with the structures they are meant to bound, but there could be too many to adjust by hand. By using a cell alignment anchor group, these cells can be aligned in the same way that two layers can be aligned. When creating the group, the user must select a stationary image layer and a parent cell. The parent cell is the cell containing the child cells which are misaligned with the stationary image layer. Once the anchor group has been created, the standard anchor tools can be used to place anchors to align the cells to the image. There is one caveat, though. Because aligning cells can be a long-running operation, the system will not automatically execute an alignment operation after a cell anchor has been placed. Instead, the cells will snap back to their former position to allow the user to continue to add anchors. The apparent cell alignment will not improve unless the user clicks the “align anchors” button to perform the alignment.

More Information

For more information please click this link View Anchors