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+--- Thread: How to make image and mask move together? (/Thread-How-to-make-image-and-mask-move-together)
How to make image and mask move together? - ESH - 11-07-2025
I am a novice to Gimp 3.0.6. I used Photoshop for decades untill Adobe's policies made me leave.
My pc runs Win 11 with an AMD 64 processor.
In Photoshop a layer with a mask shows a locking-icon. "Locked" will lock the relative movements between image and mask - and "unlocked" will allowe them to be moved separately.
This has nothing to do with Gimp's options to protect the content of the layer against editing or movement (as far as can see).
One of my layers in Gimp shows an image icon and its mask icon - and apparently there's no option to lock their relative movement?
Example:
With the Move tool active and the image at eg. 400% trying to move the image and the mask together within the borders of the screen results in two unexpected behaviors:
1. with the mask icon active a selection of the mask becomes visible and moves independently of the image.
2. with the image icon active the image moves relative to the mask.
How can I make them move together - like in PS when the small locking-icon shows "locked"?
RE: How to make image and mask move together? - denzjos - 11-07-2025
Right-click the layer with the mask and check "Show Layer Masks" (green lines around the layer mask icon). Click the layer's image icon (white lines around the layer's image icon). Try the Move Tool. The mask and image will move together.
RE: How to make image and mask move together? - Ofnuts - 11-07-2025
If you select the layer in the Layers list (in other words the layer is the target of operations), then moving the layer moves the mask with it. If the mask is selected then the move tool moves the mask while the layer stays in place.
RE: How to make image and mask move together? - rich2005 - 11-07-2025
It is worth looking at in a bit more detail. Look for a white border (not always obvious but the info at the bottom of the main window shows what is active)
[attachment=14024]
(1) The basic layered image, shows as background. (Please, do not try and make Gimp look like PS, it does not help for new users)
(2) An intermediate layer (white border) moved with the move tool.
(3) A layer with layer mask (note the white border) and layer + mask moves.
[attachment=14025]
(4) Now click in the layer mask icon to activate - shows as mask and has a white border. That edits as any layer including moving,
(5) For Gimp 3 chain Layers together, ctrl-click in the layers dock. and transform move / rotate / etc. together.
RE: How to make image and mask move together? - ESH - 11-07-2025
Thank you - all.
I feel a bit stupid.
The effect I wanted is aquired with Move tool + Space-bar.
The combination moves the image and its mask together.