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I’m sure I’ve missed something obvious, but whenever I create an adjustment layer and then want to erase part of that layer, nothing is happening. I’ve tried painting to lighten or darken and tried the burn and dodge tool, but nothing happens.
What have I missed? I’m working just the same as in CS3, but with no results.
Caveat: I very often miss the obvious, so hitting me over the head with the obvious might just work. 🙂
Paint on the mask …….not the layer
activate by clicking the layer mask icon in the palette
An adjustment layer is a layer that involves some adjustment like Curves of Hue/Saturation. What are you attempting to erase on this type of layer? Are you wishing to modify the mask for an adjustment layer? If so, make sure you have the mask selected.
make sure you have the mask selected
Yes, depending on your display, it can be tricky to see whether Mask or Image thumbnail is selected.
Hi Wolf and John.
Thanks very much for your responses.
I do have the mask selected. Even tried double clicking. I am trying to erase the curve and levels effect on part of the adjustment. Tried to paint with black/white and burn/dodge too. And I have erased PKS effects(Halos around certain parts of an image)in the past as well. For some reason it’s just not having an effect since switching to CS4. The layer is not locked in any way that I can tell.
I cloned the edges of a sharpening effect last night, but boy that’s tedious. 🙂
I believe your issue is with the graphics card and OpenGL. I am having the same issue. My tablet does not show up for the same functions… when I switch to a wired mouse, it reappears… are you on a tablet?
Hi Kevin. I am not using a tablet. My card is a Radeon X600 w/256MB hypermemory. My system is a couple of years old at this point, so I can imagine something in there might not be up to requirements for CS4.
The X600 does not support shader model 3.0 that is required by CS4
Thanks for the info David. I don’t know what a shader model is, but I’ve been thinking of upgrading my system, so that’s certainly a prod in that direction. And I’ve often read that a video/graphics card is a likely suspect when a version of PS doesn’t operate properly, so I would think that might be a prime suspect. The last couple of days CS4 has just shut down for no apparent reason, so something not compatible does seem to be going on here.
Hi Stephen,
Sounds like a good setup. The 8 gigs of ram will be very nice. I would also ask them if they include back up disks that contain the operating system. The last Dell I bought came with disks but that was 3 years ago. I am not sure what there policy is now concerning disks. Maybe someone else can chime in that has bought a dell recently.
Modifying the mask of a layer does not require OpenGl capabilities. The inability of the OP to paint on the mask has nothing to do with the graphic card.
I was wondering about that.
Stephen, do the painting, burn and dodge tools work on a normal image (not a mask)?
BTW you will of course get Vista 64-bit for your new system? You can get Vista Business 64 from Dell. All the power without the media frippery.
Thanks Wolf.
Hi John. The tools won’t work on an adjustment layer at all as a mask automatically opens when I create an adjustment layer and the tool is unavailable unless I’ve selected the mask. But it does nothing.
If I make a duplicate layer of the original, or work on the original, with any effect chosen through the drop down menu, then the tool works. I made a dupe then tried USM and curves and in both cases I was able to erase part of the effect. I also could burn using that method.
This is confusing me, so I beg your indulgence.
The ONLY thing you can do on the new adjustment layers (with the automatic mask) is to use a black or white paint brush (try setting it to 100% opacity to be sure and see changes/if it’s working) to mask out/leave in the changes from that particular adjustment layer.
You can’t burn or dodge an adjustment, nor can you use the eraser (or any other) tool on a mask.
To burn or dodge you’d simply create a duplicate layer – do your dodging and burning and then create a layer mask to modify the adjustments.
Again, I apologize if this is all obvious. I’m just trying to wrap my head around your issue, and the wording of your posts has me a bit confused. Not that an unusual a state for me, I can assure you. 😉
And I’m trying to establish whether the brushes work (or don’t) on a simple image. Just to help diagnosis.
To burn or dodge you’d simply create a duplicate layer – do your dodging and burning and then create a layer mask to modify the adjustments.
a dupe layer is not necessary
an alternate way to do non-destructive dodge/burn
you can make a layer above the image
fill with 50% gray then put that layer to overlay mode
burn and dodge on it
Harold. In the past, if I sharpened (always using PhotoKit Sharpener)I could then create a mask on that layer(which PKS automatically creates) and then erase the edges if I’ve been a bit too aggressive and want to rid the halos. This is the main thing I’m trying to recreate in CS4 and cannot. However, in the past I was also able to erase parts of curves adjustment layers, etc. This I cannot do anymore. The tool is unavailable unless there is a mask, but then it has no effect. And believe me, we share the same ease of confusion. 🙂
John
I just opened an image. If I just work with the original Background layer and no other layers created, then the paint brush works with white or black to control exposure. If I open a duplicate image with no mask, I get the same result. However, when I add a mask to the duplicate layer, the brush effects show on the mask, but there is no change in the actual image. So the brushes will work on duplicatre layers as long as no mask is created. The brush and eraser tools are not available on adjustment layers unless I open a mask, but then they have no effect. If this is the new behavior then I’ll have to figure a work around, but I was always able to use these tools on adjustment layers in past versions.
Very mysterious. As you said at the beginning It may be something obvious.
However when things get this odd it’s normally time to try resetting your preferences as described in the FAQ.
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http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.ef4a07f/1>
You either have to physically delete (or rename) the preference files or, if using the Alt, Ctrl, and Shift method, be sure that you get a confirmation dialog.
This resets all settings in Photoshop to factory defaults.
Excellent sleuthing John. It was something obvious! When going to the thread, I saw Len Hewitt’s recommendation to reset the particular tool. That did it. Resetting the eraser tool makes it do what I expected. I have no idea how it got in a state where it needed resetting, but…
Thanks so much for sticking with me and helping find the cure.
And thanks too to all who also pitched in. Very much appreciated. 🙂
alas poor Len, we hardly knew ye! 🙂
Glad you got it sorted, that was a strange one.
I’m glad you saw Len’s note Stephen. It occurred to me afterwards to mention it (it saves having to work through all the preference dialogs, putting your own options back in).
It is a good idea to keep a copy of the complete settings folder so that you can copy them over if needed in the future.
