I was reading a tutorial in a digital photography magazine which suggested using the Diffuse Glow filter from the filter palette to get a nice effect. When I tried it, I get the error message saying the "diffuse glow command is not currently available". I’m using Elements 2 on a Mac (not Windows) with plenty RAM etc etc and OSX 10.2.8.
Is there anything about the format of the image you’re working on that might be keeping you from applying that filter? I just tried accessing it for a straight PSD file and had no trouble. However, I don’t use filters very often and don’t happen to know if there are any particular formats/layers/etc. that might be required in order for it to be used.
I just tried the Diffuse Glow filter – it works on JPG and PSD, on layers, backgrounds and selections — which makes me think that Alan’s is acting "funny".
Alan, you may want to try to reset your PSE preferences, if you have not already done so. It has been known to straighten all sorts of kinks.
On a PC, the magic spell is to hold CTRL-ALT-SHIFT immediately after clicking the PSE icon to start the program. There are different keys used to do the same thing on a Mac, but, since I don’t have a Mac, I can’t tell you what they are. If you don’t know the PC/Mac CTRL and ALT key equivalents, we have several Mac-fluent people on the forum who will be able to advise.
Select a different tool before you invoke this command. I had a similar (but not exactly the same) problem with another tool a few weeks. I resoved the issue by selecting the Marquee Tool before proceeding. It worked.
Ray, i know what you mean. tools get buggy and ya have to trick them every now and then. happens to me often enough. Nothing that bothers me….Elements has given me so much that I feel i owe it to the program to give it what it wants….even if it doesn’t know what it wants. 🙂
The more I use it, the more "annoyances" I discover. Nothing major though. Like yesterday, I had a grid set up so that only one line would show up in the middle of my document. Did a printscreen, and open it in Elements. Now, the printscreen was bigger, so there were more lines (logicaly). Saved and closed the PrintScreen. But when I returned to my original documents, there were gridline all over the document. Check the grid setting but it was ok…
This having been said, I still believe Elements is the best under the sun!
It sounds like you need to calibrate your monitor, if you have not already done so. On a PC, use the Adobe Gamma Utility to adjust your monitor so it will display correct colors. A search on this forum will provide much information and links to helpful site for running the utility.
Diane, I’m sure your already know this but just in case make sure your background color chip is white since the glow color will be whatever color the background color chip is set to in the tool box.
Glad it worked out. I kind of figured this would be the cause. You’ll find several of the PSE filters are affected by the color chips. Some filters use foreground color, some use background color, some both. Experiment around with color and you can get some really eye catching results with some of these filters.
The original is ordinary white with orange "bed". Søren
Søren,
Please elaborate a bit more. What are you attempting to do, and how are you attempting to do it. It appears that there is a Selection of the upper portion of the image, plus some around the feet. Is that correct? Where do you wish the Diffused Glow to appear?
Hunt
Are you sure you used the diffused glow filter? That is not what the diffused glow filter looks like at all? It should be giving light areas a glow, with or without grain (depending on settings), and giving little or no effect to darker areas of the image.
Please elaborate a bit more. What are you attempting to do, and how are
you
attempting to do it. It appears that there is a Selection of the upper
portion
of the image, plus some around the feet. Is that correct? Where do you
wish
the Diffused Glow to appear?
Hunt
It just an example. – no selections – just "Filter" – "Distort" – "Diffuse glow". Settings in this case (but actually it doesn’t matter – same problem if I use other settings) Graininess: 0, Glow amount: 2, Clear Amount: 16. The selections you mention is the area that would have been "diffused glowed", is it was working correctly.
In CS its always a problem. 7.0 is working sometimes. Actually I
