The Layer and Object menus
Every item in the Layer and Object menus: what it adds or does, its shortcut where it has one, and when it is greyed out.
Layer adds a new layer to the project. Object arranges, transforms and combines whatever is already selected. Every item in Layer is always available; Object's items grey out depending on how many layers you have selected.
Where a new layer lands is set once, in the Layers panel: Above, Below or Inside the selection. Every item in this menu honours it, and so do Duplicate and Paste. See the Layers panel.
Layer
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Vector | Adds a new Drawing layer: a frame-by-frame vector container that can hold its own drawing cells. This is not the same thing as a Shape layer. The Layers and Timeline Add menus call the same command Vector Cells. |
| Group | Adds a Group layer |
| Bone | Adds a Bone layer |
| Raster Cells | Adds a Raster Cells layer at the canvas size. Unlike adding one from the Layers or Timeline panel, this entry skips the Ask for raster layer size when adding prompt from Preferences |
| Symbol | Adds a Symbol layer |
| Mesh | Adds a Mesh layer |
| Weld Vertices | With two or more vertices selected, welds every one of them to the first vertex you selected |
| Unweld Vertex | Removes every weld touching each selected vertex |
Object
| Item | Shortcut | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group | Ctrl+G | Folds the selection into a new Group layer | Fewer than two layers selected |
| Ungroup | Ctrl+Shift+G | Dissolves the selected group and promotes its children | No selection |
Transform
- Flip Horizontal / Flip Vertical: mirrors the layer along that axis
- Rotate 90° CW / Rotate 90° CCW: rotates the layer a quarter turn
Order
| Item | What it does | Greyed out when |
|---|---|---|
| Bring to Front | Moves the layer to the top of its stack | It is already at the top |
| Bring Forward | Moves the layer one place toward the top | It is already at the top |
| Send Backward | Moves the layer one place toward the bottom | It is already the bottom-most layer, just above the built-in camera |
| Send to Back | Moves the layer to the bottom of its stack, just above the camera | Same as Send Backward |
Align
Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Align Top, Align Middle and Align Bottom line up the selected layers along that edge or axis. Align needs one vertex or one layer to be enabled, and cameras never count. With vertices selected it acts on the vertices, not on their layers: selecting a single vertex aligns it to the canvas rather than moving the whole layer under it.
Distribute
Distribute Left, Distribute H Center, Distribute Right, Distribute Top, Distribute V Center, Distribute Bottom, Space Horizontally and Space Vertically even out the spacing between the selected layers. The submenu needs at least two layers selected.
Distribute needs three of whatever it is acting on: three vertices when any vertex is selected, otherwise three layers. Space Horizontally and Space Vertically are layer-only and need three layers with no vertex selected. A span too small to divide is left alone rather than piling everything onto the first item.
Boolean
The submenu holds four items: Union (Liquid Shape), Subtract and Intersect need two or more vector shapes, and XOR takes two, or a single compound shape, which releases its contours the way Separate does in Affinity. All of them wrap the selected layers in a new group set to that blend mode, rather than merging them into a single shape. The original layers become that group's children. At least two layers must be selected. Divide is not here: it lives only in the toolbar's Pathfinder group.