thanks for the complements It is very encouraging.

Quote Originally Posted by Ascension View Post
As far as the merge...do you have 2 or more shadow layers? If they have different blending modes then those modes can get lost when merging. Personally, I just leave mine alone, but since each layer takes a chunk of memory with it I can see why the need for the merge.
No Kidding, 5 layers filled with black, @ ~10% opac and I am looking at over 120 meg of additional size in working memory demand. Slooooooows thiiiiings doooooown just a tad. Might have something to do with a 2kx2k px picture as well

Try this to see if it helps: click on the first shadow layer, create a new layer, link it to that first shadow layer, move the new layer under that first shadow layer, click on the shadow layer then merge down...this will remove layer styles (blending modes and opacity count as layer styles) while preserving the look. Do the same steps for other shadow layers then merge them together.
I don't have time to try this atm, but I will later if I can figure out how to "link" layers. Not too sure I want to merge before I am satisfied with the elevation shadows, which I am not yet.