[Gimp-user] Copy a "layer mask" from one layer to another layer?

[David Gowers]

On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 9:01 AM, DJ <delphitech at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi David, gimp-users,
>
>>> Is it possible to copy a "layer mask" from one layer to another layer?
>> Yes, make it so that you are editing the layer mask on both, then
>> select all and Copy from one and Paste to the other.
>
> I was going to ask, "What if the layers are different images?", but I
> just tried it, and only the layer mask was copied/pasted.
>
> I just became aware of Edit > Buffer, and I see the layer mask in the
> Buffers Dialog too.  Do Gimp users use the Buffer a lot?  I seems like
> a nice little work area repository.

'the buffer'? Do you mean the Buffers mechanism and dialog (as opposed
to simple Copy/Paste)?

Not that I've ever heard of.
It's nice in theory, I think the need to name buffers impedes the
usability in practice.
A limited amount of numbered buffers that you may *optionally* name
seems more usable to me.

>
> I'm trying to think of all the various things I may want to copy.
> Paths and Channels comes to mind. I see on the Path Dialog, on the
> right-click, there is Copy Path and Paste Path. But there isn't
> something similar on the Channels Dialog. I'm still trying to get a
> stronger understanding of Paths and Channels, so maybe there wouldn't
> be a need to copy/paste a Channel.  But, if there were, how would you
> do it?
Just like any other drawable. Make it active (eg click on it in the
channels dialog), Copy, make the one you want to paste to active,
Paste.