kc, you may have to go through the ‘delete preferences’ routine to get the tool restored to health; have you done that before?
Chuck
kc
Before doing anything check the settings in "Mode" pull down on the settings bar. These settings can drastically effect how the way this tool works or appears not to work. Try setting it at Normal to start with. If this fails do what Chuck suggest as he is a very clever fellow.
Grant
OK, it’s working again, but I can’t figure out why. I just kept trying and re-trying and it started up again. I don’t think I was doing anything differently. But if anyone has any ideas as to what’s going on, I’d be most grateful!
kc
Grant – just saw your reply – I’ll take a look . . .
but I don’t see a response from Chuck . . .?
kc
KC – I had suggested the universal antidote to bad behavior by Elements: the Delete Preferences routine. But Grant’s approach was much better – both the mode and the opacity have a tendency to get changed and in some modes the clone tool just doesn’t do a thing.
Chuck
I think I figured out where the problem lies by accidentally recreating it with another photo,and have solved it — but putting it here for others.
I can see it’s all related to layers, and maybe someone could help make this easier for me re: moving between layers:
[But just for references sake , Chuck — where is ‘delete preferences’?)
here’s what happened —
1) started working on photo that needs background clean-up — used clone (successfully) to clone painted wall in background, removing wires and other clutter. Begins with layer "o", then a layer "l".
2)I saved edited photo, then realized I’ve accidentally deleted too much of the chair subject of photo is sitting in when I was cloning background.
3)So I pull orig. photo back up, use copy, move and paste to recover section of chair I had accidentally cloned over.
4) Now I need to clean up edges where (pasted) chair meets wall. PROBLEM: I want to do so by using clone tool again, but it won’t work on the newly pasted section — it will only work on the sections of the edited photo that were already there.
Experimenting, I finally realized clone tool would work from orig to orig layer and from pasted to pasted layer, but not orig to pasted (as I needed to do).
5)I finally got it to work by selecting original layer in layers palette, using clone tool to selected area to be cloned; THEN back to palette, selected most recent layer (the one with pasted material) and began moving clone tool — that seems to work.
but if anyone can give me some tips on keeping track of what’s in what layer and how to move between them, I’d welcome them.
thanks guys!
kc
Given you’re latest description of how you overcame your problem, here is what I believe is going on.
In step 3 you said you did the following.
3)So I pull orig. photo back up, use copy, move and paste to recover section of chair I had accidentally cloned over.
‘Probably’ what you did is create a new layer with JUST the pixels of the chair section and the rest of the layer is transparent with no pixels at all. To confirm my suspicions ‘punch out’ the eyeballs on all layers except the new ‘chair section layer’. If most of the layer is transparent then the following will explain why the clone tool does not work.
With the new chair section layer selected you tried copying pixels from other areas of the image you can ‘see’ but those pixels do not not exist on this new layer (they exist on lower layers). So in effect you were trying to copy from an area in the layer with nothing in it, so nothing happens.
Whenever a tool ‘fails’ to function check your layers carefully. Switching off layers except the one you working on sometmies reveals why a tool fails to do what you expect.
In step 5 you said
5)I finally got it to work by selecting original layer in layers palette, using clone tool to selected area to be cloned; THEN back to palette, selected most recent layer (the one with pasted material) and began moving clone tool — that seems to work.
Given my description above, you can now see what you were doing in step 5 is copying from pixels on the ‘original’ or ‘lower’ layer which DOES have pixels you want to copy and applying those pixels onto your new layer with the clone tool. Those cloned pixels from the lower layer will ‘fill’ some of the nothingness on the new layer with new pixels.
JP
Thanks, JP, not sure what you mean by "punch out the eyeballs" ?!? but that does seem to be the situation —
Sounds like there must be a better way to accomplish what I was trying to do — suggestions?
[ie, given this situation:
1) started working on photo that needs background clean-up — used clone (successfully) to clone painted wall in background, removing wires and other clutter. Begins with layer "o", then a layer "l".
2)I saved edited photo, then realized I’ve accidentally deleted too much of the chair subject of photo is sitting in when I was cloning background. ]
KC
If you hit the check box "use all layers" on the options bar, the clone tool will quite happily clone from one layer to another. If this check box is not ticked than the clone tool will only look at pixels on the active layer. Was this the problem? (altho the clone tool does seem to be prone to "going funny" more often than other tools so it may not have been!)
I got a good one. Every so often I pick up my wacom pen and without paying attention to which end is up try to clone with the eraser end. This of course doesn’t work. It is good for a few minutes of what the heck is wrong with my clone tool head scratching entertainment, and a good Homer Simpsoneque "duh".
Susan – thanks so much – the "use all layers" box was NOT checked — from now on, I’ll see that it is — sounds like that will solve the problem. 🙂
Terri – uuhh . . .what’s a "wacom pen" ???
kc
Should I have called it a stylus? Reference was to Graphire 3 Tablet by Wacom.
re"Should I have called it a stylus? Reference was to Graphire 3 Tablet by Wacom."
you probably called it the right thing the first time . . . I’m just totaly unfamiliar with this line of programs and equipment . . . I don’t know what the ‘Graphire Tablet’ is either!
all I did was buy a ‘simple’ photo-editing program, and all of a sudden . . . I’m not in Kansas anymore! lol
kc
Actually in KC. I started out by just wanting a good editing program for my photos and ended up becoming a photoshop junkie. I’ve ended up buying all sorts of gadgets to feed the habit. The tablet is a pad with a cordless mouse, and a mouse that is shaped like a pen. It’s not a necessity just something I like to use. I find it easier to use for creative stuff than the mouse just because it feels like I’m using a pen.
Terri
