Locking effects

When you resize or rotate  a Live Effect it takes this to be an edit and re-generates the effect. This may not be what you want. So it's useful sometimes to be able to lock an effect.

Old style Adobe Photoshop® plug-ins are marked as '(locked)' when you apply them. This means the underlying shape can't be edited. You can also lock a Live Effect. Once locked, when you resize or rotate the object the effect remains fixed.

When transferring files to other people, if they do not have the same plug-ins it's also necessary to lock any effects you've used. Locked effects are saved as bitmaps in the document so anyone can see them.

To lock an effect, select the object or objects and in the Live Effects InfoBar click the padlock icon. You can alter the resolution of the effect. For printing you may want to use a higher resolution than if the work is just for screen use. To unlock an effect that has been locked this way, just click the padlock icon again.