Photoshop plugin

Assemblr help

Every control in the panel, and the everyday jobs step by step.

01User guide

Every control, explained

Assemblr works from one panel in Photoshop, with one tab, Products, and two tiles: Product, for the product you are working on, and Products, for every product in the document. Its settings are behind the cog. Each number says what a part of the panel does, and the note beside it lights up as you point at it.

Products

Your layers made into products, each laid out by what you can see in its layers rather than their layer boxes. Pick a tile to see its settings.

Assemble

Assemble

2 layers can be assembled.

Line-upGridMosaicPinsPuzzle

Product

Cans

Feed | 5 layers

Align imagesTopMiddleBottom
Angle (°)10Size (%)63Scale (%)100Bleed (%)0
Perspective (%)10
Add selected
Disconnect
Swap order

The Layers panel puts can-white copy 2 in front; the row's front is can-white. Allow Assemblr to restack layers (settings) to make them agree.

Disassemble

Layers

can-whitecan-blackcan-white copycan-black copycan-white copy 2

Product

The product you are working on: Assemble for the layers you select, then its arrangement, its settings and its layers.

  1. The drawing

    The product drawn over the panel. Drag the end of the line round to turn the row, or out and in to set its size; hold Shift to only turn. Pick a dot to choose where the row sits in the rectangle.

  2. Assemble

    Makes the selected layers one product, inside an invisible rectangle round them, in one history step; nothing on the canvas moves. A layer that is not a smart object becomes one, and the panel says why when it leaves a layer out.

  3. Arrangements

    Line-up, Grid, Mosaic, Pins and Puzzle: five ways to lay out the product's layers, each by the visible subject of every layer. Until you choose one, nothing moves and the panel says Choose arrangement. Each choice is one history step, and Edit ▸ Undo is the way back.

  4. The product

    Its name, the artboard it is on and how many layers it holds. Products are named Assemblr 1, Assemblr 2 and so on; type here to rename one.

  5. Settings

    Align images lines the layers up on their top edges, middles or bottom edges; Angle, Size, Scale, Bleed and Perspective are Line-up's other settings. Each arrangement shows only the settings it uses: Grid its columns and rows, Mosaic and Puzzle a Breathing space.

  6. Add selected

    Adds the layers selected in the Layers panel to this product, where they stand, in one history step. With an arrangement chosen, the product is laid out again at once.

  7. Disconnect

    Leaves this product's layers alone: Assemblr re-fits and snaps back nothing until you Reconnect. Reconnect lays it out again with the layers as they stand.

  8. Swap order

    Brings the other end of the row to the front. The Layers panel keeps its own order unless Allow Assemblr to restack layers is on, and the panel says when its front layer is not the row's.

  9. Disassemble

    Takes the product apart: its rectangle goes, and every layer stays where it stands.

  10. Layers

    The product's layers as thumbnails, in the row's order: drag a tile to change the order. × turns a layer off, its eye goes off and the others close up; + turns it back on.

Settings

Behind the cog: two settings for what Assemblr may do to your layers.

Allow Assemblr to unlock images

Allow Assemblr to restack layers

Off: layers keep their place in the Layers panel; the panel says when the row's order differs.

Ready · Feed
unlock

  1. Allow Assemblr to unlock images

    On, as it starts: Assemblr may release a layer's lock when you resize its product, and the layer rejoins the set. Off: nothing in Assemblr ever unlocks a layer; a locked layer stays where it is and the others fit round it.

  2. Allow Assemblr to restack layers

    Off, as it starts: layers keep their place in the Layers panel, and the panel says when the row's order differs. On: in Line-up and Puzzle, the product's layers are reordered among the places they already hold, so the row's front layer is in front in the Layers panel too.

  3. Settings that are on

    The status line names them at its right end: restack, unlock, or restack · unlock.

02Help

Quick help

The everyday jobs, step by step, and what to do when the panel tells you something. Every action in Assemblr is one named step in the History panel, and Edit ▸ Undo is the way back.

How do I…

  • Make a product

    1. Put your product cut-outs on transparent layers, on one artboard.
    2. Select the layers in the Layers panel and open Plugins ▸ Assemblr.
    3. Click Assemble. The layers become one product inside an invisible rectangle round them; nothing on the canvas moves yet.

  • Arrange it

    1. Pick Line-up, Grid, Mosaic, Pins or Puzzle at the top of the Product tile. Until you do, nothing moves.
    2. Drag the drawing or change a setting; the canvas follows when you let go.

  • Make a product bigger or smaller

    1. Click the product's name in the Products tile: it selects the product's rectangle.
    2. Resize it with Edit ▸ Free Transform. The layers re-fit a moment later, as a history step of their own, so one Undo takes the re-fit off and keeps your resize.
    3. Move the rectangle and the layers move with it.

  • Add a layer

    • Select the layers in the Layers panel and click Add selected in the Product tile. They join where they stand.
    • Or click + at the end of any product's strip in the Products tile, without choosing the product first.
    • Or drag a tile from another product's strip: the layer moves to that product, onto another artboard too.

  • Take a layer out

    • × on its tile turns it off: its eye goes off and the others close up. + turns it back on.
    • Delete, rasterize or merge it and it leaves the product.

  • Move, scale or turn a layer by hand

    1. Edit it as usual. A moved layer snaps back into the arrangement when you deselect it.
    2. A scale is kept in Line-up and Puzzle; in Grid, Mosaic and Pins the layer goes back to the arrangement's size. A turned layer is held where it stands while the others re-fit.

  • Keep one layer where it is

    1. Lock it in the Layers panel. It stays where it is, and the others use the whole rectangle.
    2. Unlock it and it rejoins the set when you click away. While Allow Assemblr to unlock images is on, resizing the product unlocks it too.

  • Put the front layer in front

    1. Swap order brings the other end of the row to the front.
    2. The Layers panel keeps its own order. To have it follow the row, tick Allow Assemblr to restack layers behind the cog.

  • Change a picture inside a layer

    1. Double-click the smart object's thumbnail, edit its contents and save.
    2. That layer is measured again and the product re-fits.

  • Work across artboards

    1. Each artboard works as a document of its own, its products numbered on it.
    2. Duplicate an artboard and the copy's products come with it, with their arrangements and settings, nothing moved.

  • Stop Assemblr touching a product, or take it apart

    • Disconnect leaves its layers alone until you Reconnect.
    • Disassemble takes it apart for good: every layer stays where it stands. There is no Reset: Edit ▸ Undo is the way back.

When the panel says…

  • Already in Assemblr 1.

    Every layer you selected is in a product already. Select others, or use Add selected or a strip to move one.

  • Background is the Background layer: it cannot be assembled.

    Turn it into an ordinary layer first, with Layer ▸ New ▸ Layer from Background, or leave it out of the selection.

  • can-white converted to a smart object.

    A layer that is not a smart object becomes one when you assemble it, and stays one. Layer ▸ Smart Objects ▸ Convert to Layers gives you the original layers back, out of the product.

  • Choose arrangement

    The product is assembled but not laid out yet. Pick one of the five arrangements at the top of the Product tile.

  • The Layers panel puts … in front; the row's front is …

    The Layers panel's order and the row's differ. Tick Allow Assemblr to restack layers behind the cog to make them agree, or leave it: the canvas is right either way.

  • … snapped back into Assemblr 1

    You moved one of the product's layers by hand. Move the rectangle to move the set, or Disconnect the product to place its layers by hand.

  • Locked, left where it is

    A locked layer is held where it stands while the others fit round it. Unlock it to let it rejoin the set.

  • … left Assemblr 1

    A layer was deleted, is no longer a smart object, or moved onto another artboard; a product lives on one.

  • Disconnected

    Assemblr is leaving these layers alone. Reconnect lays the product out again with the layers as they stand.

  • Photoshop is busy: try again in a moment.

    A dialog or a transform is open. Finish or cancel it, then try again.