please help–can’t understand clone tool

David Hughes wrote:

I’ve been trying to use the clone tool to repair a photo; I followed the "recipe" instructions but for some reason when I try to paint the duplicate image, the tool doesn’t work right–instead of applying the duplicate image spot, I notice it applies a _moving_ spot that it picks up about a half inch above and to the left of the spot I’m trying to paint with. The instructions say _nothing_ about this crap, and it makes it impossible for me to fix my photo. Is there a switch or something that I don’t know about that would cause the sw to do this (why anyone would _want_ it to do that is beyond me!)
Hope some kind person will be able to explain what’s going on here. I admit I am a total dummy when it comes to Photoshop–I’ve tried to use it before and failed completely (cropping and brightness/contrast are the only features I can use) but I bought this PS Elements and thought it might be easier. Wrong guess on my part.

Thanks in advance…

The clone tool is working properly. This is the way it was designed to work, and there are a number of reasons for it to work that way. As you use the tool more, the thinking will become more obvious to you. I also had much trouble with learning to use this tool, but now find it indispensible.
Just keep working with it, and keep an open mind about how it works, versus how you thought it should work.

On 1 Jul 2004 18:33:57 -0700, (David Hughes)
wrote:

I’ve been trying to use the clone tool to repair a photo; I followed the "recipe" instructions but for some reason when I try to paint the duplicate image, the tool doesn’t work right–instead of applying the duplicate image spot, I notice it applies a _moving_ spot that it picks up about a half inch above and to the left of the spot I’m trying to paint with. The instructions say _nothing_ about this crap, and it makes it impossible for me to fix my photo. Is there a switch or something that I don’t know about that would cause the sw to do this (why anyone would _want_ it to do that is beyond me!)
Hope some kind person will be able to explain what’s going on here. I admit I am a total dummy when it comes to Photoshop–I’ve tried to use it before and failed completely (cropping and brightness/contrast are the only features I can use) but I bought this PS Elements and thought it might be easier. Wrong guess on my part.

Thanks in advance…

David,

Are you aware that there is an "Aligned" checkbox on the Option bar above thework area, when using the clone tool? When "Aligned" is checked, the selected reference point (alt/left-click) retains the same relative position (distance and angle) to the mouse cursor, and also moves with the cursor if the mouse click is held and the cursor dragged.

When "Aligned" is unchecked, the reference point stays the same even if the mouse is moved between clicks. However, if the mouse is left-clicked and the click is held and dragged, then the reference point moves with a fixed relative position to the mouse cursor (from that new spot) in the same manner as when "Aligned" is checked.

I hope that doesn’t further confuse you.

Also, the following info may help you to get a better response to your requests for assistance. As I understand it:

1) There are two different "arenas":
the Adobe Forum, and the Newsgroup (adobe.photoshop.elements).

2) Posts to the Adobe Forum, are seen in both the Forum and the Newsgroup.

3) Posts to the Newsgroup are seen only in the newsgroup.

Note that most of the (very helpful) "regulars" read only the Forum posts, and therefore do not see your posts to the newsgroup.

4) You must register (free), and establish a username and password, in order to post on the Adobe Forum. (In the newsgroup, you can Identify Forum posters by the "@adobeforums.com" following their username (most of the time).

5) You can access the Forum (after registration), either by web browser (www.adobeforums.com), or with a news reader through the news server "adobeforums.com"

6) If you use a different news server (e.g. your ISP), you can read all posts, but your posts will not be seen in the Forum.

If you use the Forum browser or the Forum news server, your posts will be seen by all, but you will not see the non-Forum posts.

I hope this helps you and potentially others who I am sure have experienced this confusion.

OldnSenile

Ron Hunter …

David Hughes wrote:

I’ve been trying to use the clone tool to repair a photo; I followed the "recipe" instructions but for some reason when I try to paint the duplicate image, the tool doesn’t work right–instead of applying the duplicate image spot, I notice it applies a _moving_ spot that it picks up about a half inch above and to the left of the spot I’m trying to paint with. The instructions say _nothing_ about this crap, and it makes it impossible for me to fix my photo. Is there a switch or something that I don’t know about that would cause the sw to do this (why anyone would _want_ it to do that is beyond me!)
Hope some kind person will be able to explain what’s going on here. I admit I am a total dummy when it comes to Photoshop–I’ve tried to use it before and failed completely (cropping and brightness/contrast are the only features I can use) but I bought this PS Elements and thought it might be easier. Wrong guess on my part.

Thanks in advance…

The clone tool is working properly. This is the way it was designed to work, and there are a number of reasons for it to work that way. As you use the tool more, the thinking will become more obvious to you. I also had much trouble with learning to use this tool, but now find it indispensible.
Just keep working with it, and keep an open mind about how it works, versus how you thought it should work.

Ron,

Thanks for your response; unfortuneately, the way it works makes it of little use to me. You may have figured out a work-around for this flaw in PS, but I (so far) have not. I quote from the PS "help" (which, in general, is about as useful as a second navel) "Position the pointer on the part of any open image you want to sample, and Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS). This sample point is the location from which the tool duplicates your image as you paint." Ah, would that it would actually function as Adobe claims. Or maybe someday they’ll get around to rewriting their help so it’ll actually describe their product…

Perhaps someone knows of another brand of editing software?