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<blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 228934" data-attributes="member: 9240">[USER=13196]@hark[/USER] - If you don't have Photoshop then I wouldn't expect it to make a lot of sense to you.&nbsp; While not available in Elements, Photoshop allows a layer to be &quot;smart&quot;.&nbsp; In other words, in addition to carrying image information it also contains information about how the image was manipulated within a layer.&nbsp; In a conventional layer if I invoke a Nik tool, say Viveza, when I am done it comes back as a brand new layer with the output from Viveza.&nbsp; If I decide down the road that I want to change something I did in the Viveza step I have to go to the previous layer and re-perform all the edits I did in the Viveza program.&nbsp; With a Smart Layer it not only saves the output but also the settings from the Viveza program.&nbsp; If I double-click on the settings portion of the layer (which only exists in a smart layer) it will relaunch Viveza with all my settings intact, including control points, so I do not have to redo everything within the program since the layer remembers it.&nbsp; What I discovered in answering your post today is that it can store multiple steps and calls to different Nik tools within the same Smart Layer.&nbsp; Previously I had been invoking Nik in PS the same way I would have to in PSE, creating a new layer each time, and losing my settings.&nbsp; I did this because I had tried invoking Nik tools as Smart Objects previously and for some reason the file size was growing very rapidly, likely because I was doing one layer per tool.&nbsp; Now not only do I get to save my settings in the Smart Layer, but I can do them all in a single layer (provided I don't want to use and layer masks or blending options).&nbsp; Again, this might be over your head not having PS, but working through your question helped me learn something new about how to use the Nik tools.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BackdoorArts, post: 228934, member: 9240"] [USER=13196]@hark[/USER] - If you don't have Photoshop then I wouldn't expect it to make a lot of sense to you. While not available in Elements, Photoshop allows a layer to be "smart". In other words, in addition to carrying image information it also contains information about how the image was manipulated within a layer. In a conventional layer if I invoke a Nik tool, say Viveza, when I am done it comes back as a brand new layer with the output from Viveza. If I decide down the road that I want to change something I did in the Viveza step I have to go to the previous layer and re-perform all the edits I did in the Viveza program. With a Smart Layer it not only saves the output but also the settings from the Viveza program. If I double-click on the settings portion of the layer (which only exists in a smart layer) it will relaunch Viveza with all my settings intact, including control points, so I do not have to redo everything within the program since the layer remembers it. What I discovered in answering your post today is that it can store multiple steps and calls to different Nik tools within the same Smart Layer. Previously I had been invoking Nik in PS the same way I would have to in PSE, creating a new layer each time, and losing my settings. I did this because I had tried invoking Nik tools as Smart Objects previously and for some reason the file size was growing very rapidly, likely because I was doing one layer per tool. Now not only do I get to save my settings in the Smart Layer, but I can do them all in a single layer (provided I don't want to use and layer masks or blending options). Again, this might be over your head not having PS, but working through your question helped me learn something new about how to use the Nik tools. [/QUOTE]

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