Layered Shader vs Layered Texture

[kleer]

Is putting my "labels" onto a shader (lambert, phong...) then putting those shaders into a layered shader the only way of getting true layering (just one on top of another with an alpha channel) like you would have in photoshop? I'm working with 4k+ textures (that I am projecting) and that method seems a bit expensive to me, but I've been playing around with layer texture and it just won't work for me.

[jem]

I've recently been struggling with a problem along the same lines: how to place a lambert 'label' onto a glass bottle (blinn) without having to create separate geometry for the label. I wasn't able to get much joy from the 'Stencil' option (though apparently that's what it's for). But I had success with the Layered Shader - and I discovered that you can set up a network which doesn't require an alpha channel (or separate transparency bitmap) in any of the bitmaps. Instead, you can use a 2D texture placement node to position the label AND to control the transparency of the lambert. This gives you a very interactive, resolution independant (and inexpensive) alpha channel.