You can lock layers to protect it from accidental changes to its position and scale, and to prevent the layer from getting in the way while selecting other layers in the Canvas. This is particularly helpful if you are working with Green Screen or Chroma Keyed layers and need to interact with other layers in your scene.
How to lock a layer
- Right-click on the layer in the Canvas.
- Select Lock layer. You'll know not be able to select the layer or change its position or scale in the Canvas.
When you now view a scene's properties, your locked layer with have the lock icon next to its name in the Layer section.
Please note that a locked layer can still be selected and altered from the Properties Panel.
Locking extended layers
Layer locking occurs on a per scene basis. If you have a layer extending across multiple scenes, you'll need to select the entire layer from your Timeline:
- Select your entire extended layer by double-clicking it in the Timeline. You may need to enable show all layers first.
- Lock the layer — you can use
Option + L
(Mac) orAlt + L
(Windows).
Unlocking layers
You won't be able to select a locked layer from the Canvas, so you'll need to unlock it from the Properties panel.
- Select the scene of your locked layer — click anywhere outside you scene in the Canvas, or select the scene thumbnail from the scene rail.
- Click to lock icon to unlock your layer.