Exporting individual layers in Photoshop, keeping their sizes

Question

Well I was trying to look this up through Google but didn't find anything, but then I just got the invite for this beta, so I might as well ask here :) I'm trying to export individual layers in Photoshop as PNGs, keeping their size. So if I have a layer that is 200x200 in a composition that is 1000x1000, I want to export just that layer as a PNG at 200x200. Possible?

Answer 1

I'm not sure this question is on-topic, but it's the first question on the site, so here we go:

What you're looking for are layer based slices.

1. Select the layers you want to export, go to Layer > New Layer Based Slice(s)
2. Go to File > Save for Web & Devices...
3. When saving, choose "All User Slices"

If you have overlapping layers, which you will have more often than not, you might have to repeat the process a few times, hiding certain layers each time.

Answer 2

Solution number 1:

Draw a Marquee selection around the element; choose Edit → Copy Merged File → New; hit Return; “Paste.”

now you have your element ready to be saved in png format

Solution number 2:

right click on the layer (or group of layers) choose to duplicate the layer (or group) choose New as a destination

and you get a new document with your layer(s)

:)

Answer 3

File->Script->Export Layers to File.

Answer 4

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do, but when you say your composition is 1000x1000 do you mean that the canvas is actually that size?

One thing you can do is :
1) hide everything you don't want to see (option click the "eye" icon of your chosen layer)
2) select all
3) copy merged
4) create a new file (it'll automatically be the size of your clipboard, which should have resized to the size of actual pixels in your selection)
5) Paste and save as a PNG
6) Repeat!

There are scripts for this if you have an insane amount of layers, but an initial Google search didn't turn up a whole lot of these.