07-02-2024, 10:39 AM
Normally, layer modes define how a layer blends with whatever is under it with in the same "scope", except the bottom layer in the scope which is always treated as in Normal mode.
When you have groups, groups are scopes, so layer modes blend with other other layers in the group. The result is a "virtual" layer (thumbnail of the group) which is applied to the rest of the image using the group blend mode.
Since your "Burn" layer is alone in its group it has no image to apply to so the blend mode doesn't apply and the layer is merely a hardly visible, low opacity version of itself.
Putting the group in Pass-through mode removes the scope (the scope in then the level above, image or parent group), so in that mode your "Burn" layer applies to other layers in the image, in other words in behave as if it were outside the group.
"Pass-through" groups are mostly useful to keep together layers that you want to handle as a unit, even if their blend mode apply to the rest of the image. They are more "management" groups than "effect" groups.
When you have groups, groups are scopes, so layer modes blend with other other layers in the group. The result is a "virtual" layer (thumbnail of the group) which is applied to the rest of the image using the group blend mode.
Since your "Burn" layer is alone in its group it has no image to apply to so the blend mode doesn't apply and the layer is merely a hardly visible, low opacity version of itself.
Putting the group in Pass-through mode removes the scope (the scope in then the level above, image or parent group), so in that mode your "Burn" layer applies to other layers in the image, in other words in behave as if it were outside the group.
"Pass-through" groups are mostly useful to keep together layers that you want to handle as a unit, even if their blend mode apply to the rest of the image. They are more "management" groups than "effect" groups.