Unflattening a pdn file

[blanco111]

Is there a way to get the individual layers back after saving a pdn, jpeg, or a png file?

[Leif]

Ups, no. I can only say: Take frequent backups so you can return to them if needet.

[lancemcknight]

To elaborate on Leif's answer, PNG and JPEG automatically flatten the layers after you tell PDN it is ok to flatten the layers. The default file for PDN to read is the .pdn file, which saves layers (or lack of if you unfortunately close the program without undoing the flattening of layers and saving the .pdn file again).

Best practice is to undo immediately after saving to a different file format, and then save again in .pdn format.

Sorry about that. It happens to all of us from time to time.

[blackpenny]

I usually save as .pdn first, then flatten and save as a .png when I think it's finished.

Live and learn!

[Helen]

That happened to me a gazillion times. Believe me, it's a pain. I also start with one .pdn file. If I make a change, I save it as page1a.pdn, and with a next change, I save it as page1b.pdn, and so on. That way, I have three to four files backed up with minor changes to complete. I wish we could undo layers when they're flattened.

[barbieq25]

Yep, me too. I keep all my art in a folder for the month - "Art May 2011" etc & inside that folder is the PDN files for all of the images. Inside the main folder, everything else is PNG.

I too learnt the hard way mostly because all of the tutes I did early on said to flatten. I only merge those layers that need to be moved together. Now with my super pc I can keep individual elements in case I want to re-use later.

We live & learn ;D

[Sidneys1]

Heh, I hate when this happens. Luckily you can undo the flatten command in Paint.NET itself, if you haven't closed it after saving the png/jpg file.

Have a nice day,
~Sidneys1

[blanco111]

Thanks everyone. For awhile I was confusing PDN and PNG (both using P and N). I think I got it now, though. As I was sorting my files into flattened PDN, JPEG, and PDN into one folder and unflattened PDN files into another, I had to load each PDN file into Paint.net to see if the layers were preserved. There's no other way to tell, right? Paint.net is going to force me into getting more organized.

[Leif]

I always start by making, and saving a PDN file. And save frequently. Sometimes i use "save as" with a bit of a deferent name, to have somewhere to go back to, if i mess things up. It uses quite a bit of hard disk space, but fortunately that has become cheep lately.
But it is a pain in ... ... to remember to save in the right order when you are eager to get your work done.
BTW, can someone explain me the deference between "save as" and "export to." I remember someone in the main forum asking for that feature.

[AFG]

There is a method that occasionally works to restore a flattened PDN file, if the PDN file has been previously saved as a .pdn, right click on the flattened file (jpeg,png), choose "properties" and then click on "restore previous version".

@ Leif : Save as = Specific file type (jpeg, png, tiff,bitmap)
Export to = sending the file to another program to work on it there (if compatible)