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Create new document turns a folder of render elements and a template into a new PSD: groups with their colours and blend modes, every render placed as a smart object in its slot, masks cut from your mattes, and placeholders for anything missing. The wizard has three steps: Renders → Plan → Done.

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Before you start

  • Select the right render engine on the Home screen.
  • Render your elements as separate files or as a multichannel EXR. Keep each camera’s renders together in one folder.

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1. Pick your renders

Press Create new document on Home, then choose:
  • Browse folder to pick your render output folder. LayerWise scans it and all its subfolders (skipping thumbnail folders) for PNG, JPEG, TIFF, TGA and EXR files.
  • Pick files to choose individual files instead.
LayerWise reads each file’s size, resolution and bit depth, and matches every file to its element by name.
The first step of the Create new document wizard with Browse folder and Pick files buttons

Step 1: point LayerWise at your render output

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2. Check the plan

Here you see everything that will be built, before anything happens in Photoshop.
The second step of the Create new document wizard with document settings and the list of what will be built

Step 2, Plan: check the name, saving, template, size and what gets built

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File

  • Name. The beauty pass file name up to the first dot (RGB_color for V-Ray, Beauty for Corona and FStorm). You can change it.
  • Save next to the renders. Off (the default), PSB or PSD. With PSB or PSD, LayerWise saves the finished document into the render folder under its name. It never replaces an existing file; it adds a number instead (cam01 2.psb). Pick PSB for files over 2 GB. LayerWise remembers your choice.

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Document

  • Template. The templates of the current engine, with your default template first, then your own and cloud templates, then the built-in ones. The chip shows the template’s bit depth and turns red if it differs from your renders’ bit depth (for example an 8-bit template with 32-bit EXRs).
  • Inspect template (the eye) shows the template’s full layer tree.
If some of your renders have no slot in the chosen template, a warning lists them. They won’t be imported. If you need them, pick another template or edit this one.

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Render output

  • Width × Height. Defaults to the largest render size. If you change it, the document is resized after the renders are placed. With the aspect ratio locked (the default), the height follows the width.
  • DPI. Defaults to the renders’ resolution, or 72 if they don’t store one. Changing it only changes the document’s DPI setting, not its pixels.

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What gets built

  • Elements found. Every template element with a matching render. When several files match one element, LayerWise uses the last one by default. Use Show every match to choose a different file per element. Elements marked Import all (such as LightSelect) bring in every matching file.
  • Which file is the Beauty pass? Corona and FStorm beauty passes often have no element name in them (for example just cam01.png). If the template needs a Beauty and none was matched, LayerWise asks you to pick it from the files that matched nothing.
  • Placeholders for N missing elements. Puts an empty smart object in the slot of every template element you didn’t render. The structure stays complete, and you can fill them later with Update renders.
  • Extract N layer masks. Makes masks from your multimatte and luma passes. The chips show every mask that will be made, such as #Wood from a multimatte’s nametags or [LUMA]Alpha from the Alpha pass. The toggle is disabled when your renders have no multimatte or luma elements. See Masks.
  • Cryptomatte masks. Shown when your renders include a Cryptomatte. Pick the objects or materials you want masks for, from a list or straight in the image. See Cryptomatte.
Files that matched no element are listed under These files matched no element. If LayerWise should recognize one of them, add its name in Render elements. Press Build document.

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What LayerWise builds

  1. A new document at your renders’ size and the template’s bit depth.
  2. The template’s groups, top to bottom, each with its name, label colour, blend mode, opacity and visibility.
  3. Every render placed as a smart object inside its group, at its native size, with the slot’s blend mode and opacity. Multimatte and wire colour layers are hidden, since they only serve as mask sources.
  4. Masks on the matching groups (created where needed), also saved as alpha channels. Picked Cryptomatte mattes become #name groups in the template’s Cryptomatte slot.
  5. The document resized to your width, height and DPI, if you changed them.
  6. Every smart object baked so its scale reads 100%, if Layer transforms in new documents is set to Reset to 100%.
  7. The document saved as PSB or PSD in the render folder, if Save next to the renders is on.
The Photoshop Layers panel of a document built by LayerWise, next to the Done step of the wizard

The built document: groups, smart objects, masked groups and saved channels

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3. Done

Your new document is open in Photoshop. If you chose to save it, this step shows where. Press Build another to start again, or Done to go Home.

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Tips

  • Placed layer names. Layers are named after their files by default. Choose Element name in Settings for short names like Reflection.
  • Linked or embedded. Linked smart objects keep the PSD small, but the render files have to stay where they are. With Reset to 100% on, new documents embed them anyway, because baking a smart object embeds it.
  • Keep the naming. If you rename a render element layer, keep the element name in it, or Update renders won’t find it later.