Layers and groups

Build an image from separate layers so you can move or adjust each part independently. The top of the list is the front of the image.

Add a layer

Use + at the bottom of Layers to choose a type:

Layer	Use it for
File	An existing texture from Project.
Drawing Layer	Painting, erasing and filling.
Color Fill	A solid color, UV coordinates or a geometric distance-field pattern.
Gradient	A smooth color transition.
Noise	A generated pattern. See Noise.
Shape	An editable rectangle, ellipse, polygon, star or line.

You can also drag a Project texture onto Canvas View to add it at the top, or drop it between rows to choose its position. A newly assigned image keeps its original proportions. Assigning an HDR texture to a File layer sets Color Range and Blend Range to HDR. You can change both afterwards in Color & Blending.

File layers linked to another WhimTex document have a thin orange line along the left edge of their row. Double-click its thumbnail or row background to open or focus that document without replacing the current one.

Effect layers also show thumbnails of their results. Animated Shader FX use still thumbnails.

Select and arrange

Click a row to select it. Hold Ctrl to select several layers or Shift to select a range. The last selected layer is active: this is the layer you paint on and edit in Layer Settings.

Drag a row to move the selected layers; hold near the list’s top or bottom edge to scroll. Finish editing a text field before dragging from it. Dragging from a field cancels unconfirmed input. Confirm name and opacity edits with Enter or by leaving the field. Edit the name directly in the row. Opacity controls how much the layer shows; Blend controls how it combines with the image below. Changing either updates all selected layers.

Use the eye to hide a layer. The eye in the column header reveals all layers.

Select several layers in Layers, then use Transform (T) to edit them together. The initial frame is axis-aligned and encloses only the selected layer frames; selected groups contribute their own frame, not their children’s bounds. Move, rotate, scale, skew and perspective work relative to this shared frame. Selecting both a group and its child does not apply the transform twice. Esc cancels the current drag; Undo restores the entire operation. Per-layer toolbar settings are disabled during multi-transform.

Edit layer settings

The selected layer’s settings are divided into four foldouts:

Transform: position, size, rotation and tiling.
Color & Blending: Opacity, Blend Mode, color ranges and Swizzle. Opacity and Blend Mode are also available in the Layers list. The Standard/HDR selector remains available in the header.
Properties (layer type): settings specific to this layer, such as its source texture, effect target or drawing symmetry.
FX: add and adjust shader effects.

Open the same settings in a separate window through layer ⋮ → Properties. Sections that do not apply to the selected layer are greyed out.

Select layers and click Folder, or drag layers into an existing group. Use the group’s arrow to expand or collapse it.

Groups start in Pass Through, so their layers can blend with layers outside the group. Choose another blend mode to blend the group as one image. Group opacity fades the whole group. Add FX to a group to process its combined image. FX automatically isolate a Pass Through group using Normal blending, so they do not affect the image outside it. Removing all FX restores Pass Through unless clipping or Swizzle still requires isolation. Properties → Compositing shows the effective mode, read-only. Groups also have Transform: move, rotate, scale, skew or distort the group with perspective. Children keep local transforms relative to their group. The group frame represents its own transform, not the bounds of its children. Moving layers between groups or ungrouping preserves their canvas placement.

Duplicate, merge or delete

Right-click a row or open ⋮ for actions on the selection. Duplicate makes a copy you can edit separately. File layers still use the same source texture.

Footer icon	Click	Drop selected layers
+ (type menu)	Choose a layer type.	Duplicate.
Page + (page with a plus)	Add a Drawing layer.	Make a merged Drawing copy.
Folder	Group the selection.	Group.
Trash	Delete the selection.	Delete.

See merging and conversion when you want to paint on the combined result.

Drag one or more selected layers into another open WhimTex window to copy them. Drop outside the Layers list to insert at the top; inside the list, use the insertion indicator or drop onto a group to copy into it. Source layers and the clipboard stay unchanged. Groups and Drawing pixels are copied independently, and one Undo removes the transfer. Within the source window, dragging still moves layers.

Select layers and choose Copy as JSON. Send the text or a .json file; the recipient copies its contents and presses Ctrl+V. Ordinary Ctrl+C is unchanged.

Copy uses FullOptimized: active settings and defaults remain, while inactive settings are omitted. Disabled layers and FX stay in the tree. For Full or Compact, use the JSON option in Export.

Include source layers used by Target, FX textures and clipping masks. Drawing pixels are not embedded: copying reports empty Drawing placeholders, even if the image originally came from a URL. Use TIFF or cross-window dragging to preserve painted content. File layers reference project assets; missing assets produce warnings and empty inputs until restored.

Custom FX source is retained. Includes are expanded where possible; unavailable dependencies may leave an FX unable to compile on the receiving machine. Check the warnings and preview after importing. See the shared JSON format for technical details.

Pattern fill

In Color Fill, choose Mode → Pattern. Shape offers Triangles, Squares, Hexagons and Circles. Circles use Square or Dense packing; Dense offsets alternate rows and reduces their spacing. The field is calculated directly from the geometry, including distances in gaps, without a separate SDF layer.

Size (px) sets the X/Y grid scale before transforms. The chain button links proportional changes; unlink it to edit each axis independently. Linking preserves the current proportions. Offset (px) and Rotation move the pattern.
Gap shrinks each figure (0–0.99). Roundness rounds polygon corners inward; zero keeps sharp corners. Rounding opens gaps at shared vertices even when Gap is zero.
Bulge rounds the interior distance profile without moving the contour. At zero the field is a geometric distance; nonzero values are an artistic remapping.
Distance selects Signed, Inside, Outside or Center (absolute distance). Distance Range is measured in figure inradii. Signed maps the contour to the middle of the gradient.
Inverted, Profile and Gradient control the final colors and alpha.
Cell Color adds per-figure coloring: Uniform keeps the distance gradient, Random samples Palette using Seed, and Pattern alternates two colors for squares/triangles or three for hexagons. Circles follow their packing grid.
Variation controls Random’s palette range: zero uses the midpoint, one uses the whole gradient. Use a Fixed palette for discrete colors. Color Blend → Multiply keeps the distance shading; Replace RGB gives flat cell colors. Both preserve the distance gradient’s alpha and ignore palette alpha. Gaps use the nearest figure’s color.
Colors follow the figures through offset and rotation. With Seamless, Random repeats across the canvas and Pattern fits cell counts to its color cycle (even counts for checkerboards, multiples of three horizontally for hexagons/dense circles).

Seamless fits whole rectangular repeats to the canvas, including complete pairs of staggered rows. The combined layer/group rotation snaps to quarter turns; scale is fitted independently on each axis. Shear and perspective are replaced by an axis-aligned fit at the canvas center. The requested settings remain stored; the inspector shows the fitted grid after rendering. Switching Seamless off restores free transforms. Polygons can stretch slightly; circles stay circular and may leave extra space on one axis. Seamless takes precedence over layer tiling. It guarantees the generated pattern’s periodicity, not arbitrary FX applied afterwards or other layers in the composite.

Draw a shape

Choose Shape (U), pick a shape in the Canvas View header, then drag to create it. New layers are named after the figure, such as Rectangle 1, Line 2, or Star 3, with one shared numbering sequence for all shapes. Each drag adds a separate Shape layer, including in an empty document. Hold Shift for equal proportions or a line angle in 45° steps; Ctrl bypasses guide snapping. Press Escape before releasing to cancel.

Use Transform to move, resize or rotate an existing figure. In Properties (Shape), change its type, fill and stroke colors, rectangle roundness, polygon sides or star points and inner radius. For a rectangle, Roundness (%) has four fields around a square, one per corner. The chain links proportional changes; the crossed-out chain lets you edit each corner independently. Linking keeps existing values. Linked changes stop when a corner reaches 100%; editing a zero corner adds the same amount to all four. The diagram shows the shape before its Transform rotation. The stroke sits inside the edge, and its width is measured in canvas pixels. Feather (px) softens the contour without blurring the whole image. Feather Position selects Inside, Outside or Centered; it also affects both edges of a hollow stroke. The value is the total transition width in canvas pixels. Zero keeps the original edge. Wide Inside/Centered feather can fade away thin strokes or small details; Outside expands into gaps. For a line, adjust its length and thickness with Transform. You can also create a centered shape through + → Shape.

A Shape stays editable: it works with clipping masks, blending and FX, just like other layers. For example, put a Gradient above it and enable the gradient’s clipping mask to color the figure. Convert it to Drawing only when you want to paint directly on it.

Create textures for VFX

Procedural layers are useful for energy rings, bursts and particle masks. In this example, a bright rim is combined with fine radial streaks.

Use a Gradient layer for the main silhouette, Noise for surface detail and Shader FX for distortion or finishing. Keep these in separate layers so that changing the texture detail does not require rebuilding the shape. Adjust color keys and falloff in the gradient editor, then check the result against the background used by your particle effect.

Repair a missing layer

A layer whose type is unavailable keeps its name, position, visibility and common settings. A group also keeps its children. Select the row to see the warning in Layer Settings. Choose Replace with, then click Replace Behaviour. Transfer saved settings copies compatible settings from the previous layer type. The panel lists anything that cannot be transferred; check the result before saving. Groups containing children can only be restored as groups.

You can still move, hide or remove the unavailable layer. It does not appear on the canvas until restored.

The current layer format is incompatible with documents created before the Layer/Behaviour redesign. There is no automatic conversion. Keep those documents with their original WhimTex version, or export their images there before updating.

Procedural Noise