ImageGear allows users to load layered image files and retain image layers for editing. Users can also create new layers and delete existing ones, as well as flatten and display the selected layers.

ImageGear currently supports layers for Adobe PSD and large PSD (Adobe PSB) file formats.

The com.accusoft.imagegear.processing.layers package provides a set of API for working with layers.

Layer

Layers are used to specify different elements of an image. There are different types of layers. They represent a part of an image either as image pixels or as adjustment instructions. They are stacked on top of each other producing the resulting appearance of the image. ImageGear supports the image layers described in the next section.

Image Layer

Image Layer is a type of layer containing image pixels which can be applied/blended with other layers. The image from the Image Layer can cover the same area as the resulting image or just a part, specified by its rectangle. The Image Layer is associated with a certain opacity and other properties.

Layered Page

An ImageGear layered page is a raster image page containing the composition of layers. Layers associated with an image page can be blended in the order in which they appear to provide the resulting page. The result of such blending represents the final image view and is stored in the page's DIB.