Problems with Layers Class # 17

[Shirloreo]

I'm having problems keeping my photo bin open. It automatically closes even when I don't click anything. I can open all the photos for the Layers #17 class and it shows that there are 3 photos in my bin but when I try to move the 'hand' into the beach scene, the hand just appears with its layer and does not allow me to move it onto the beach scene. Plus the bin keeps on closing! I am finding this very frustrating and do not want to go any further until I can figure this out. Please help!
:confused:

[Wendy]

Hi Shirloreo ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

Donlt worry about it ... I'm sure that we will be able to talk you through it ... first thing is are you using a Windows PC or a Mac ??

Wendy

[Shirloreo]

Thanks for responding, Wendy. I am using a PC.

[Wendy]

Ok then lets look at it step by step .. bear with me because I am useing a Mac and it may be a little different.

Matt moves the hand into the beach scene by having them on screen together and then using the move tool to drag the hand into the beach scene ... what happens when you try to do that?

The photobin vanishing ... try Window>Reset Palette locations and see if it happens again. Maybe one of the windows users may have a suggestion about this :)

Wendy

[Shirloreo]

Hi Wendy,
The windows reset didn't work. I'll try to explain my screen. At the bottom of my screen it says there are 3 photos in my photo bin. The photo bin keeps on collapsing without me closing it. I cannot keep it open. I open the bin and when I try to drag a photo from the bin on top of another photo, ie. the hand onto the beach, the beach photo disappears and all I see is the hand. I also see the hand layer to the right but not the beach layer.

[Wendy]

Hi Shirloreo ...

You have done quite a lot of the classes by now so I wonder if you have been able to do the dragging of images into others sucessfully on other days ... or is this the first time you have tried it ?

That photobin closing on its own is something I haven't come across before maybe we should consider deleting the prefs file (but lets give a couple of other thing a try first)

Wendy

[Bayla]

Hi Shirloreo,

Sounds like you've got your photobin set to autohide. Go to Edit>Preferences>General then uncheck the Photo Bin auto-hide box.

Bayla

[willpresley]

Ah! So there is a photo bin auto-hide; I had looked before because I thought of this from another thread but didn't see it the first time through.

[Wendy]

Ummm ....

I can't find anything in General Prefs ... I wonder if the Mac version doesn't have it or if I'm looking at the wrong thing :confused:

Could someone post a screenshot please ... :)

Wendy

[willpresley]

It is on the right at the bottom on PSE 3 -- PC version.
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1HxgDbJhT53lDVr2HdunfivGmlxUpb

[TonyW]

You may not have intentionally done it but what you may have done is right click on the Photo Bin and then clicked Auto Hide on the menu. Check to see if it's ticked and click it off. I remember doing that once by mistake and it caused all kinds of confusion.

Tony

I

[ebsnapper]

closing photo bin - I have the same problem - will look for the auto-hide, but like the writer - I can't get the picture into the working screen. I wrote in yesterday about the problem - I can't even get STARTED on my lessons because I can't get two pictures into the screen. I have one picture and an underlayment of a checkered screen (transparency?) The same thing happens to me as to her - one disappears, and the other appears - not both.ebsnapper

[TonyW]

That sounds like you have the image in maximize mode. Change it to tile (icon at top right of screen or Windows>Images>Tile) and you can have more than one image open at the same time.

Tony

[Wendy]

Hi Will ...

Mine on the Mac is different ...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1PNeBBgIuRIaPPBrCCwvabHYCVR8j9_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1PNeBBgIuRIaPPBrCCwvabHYCVR8j9)

Now I know why I was confused !!

Wendy

[TonyW]

Wendy: there is an OS difference - I looked in the help file (PSE3) and it says:

(Windows only) To manually show or hide Photo Bin, click the Toggle Photo Bin button . To automatically show or hide the Photo Bin, choose Edit > Preferences > General and select the Photo Bin Auto-hide option or right-click in the Photo Bin and choose Auto-hide from the context menu.

(Mac OS only) To resize, close, or minimize the Photo Bin, use the Mac OS Window buttons in the upper left corner. You can also resize the Photo Bin by dragging the lower right corner.

Does sound like they behave very differently :(

Tony

[Bayla]

I can't even get STARTED on my lessons because I can't get two pictures into the screen.

I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the the most frequently asked questions, one of those things that is taken for granted, and is never properly explained in the videos. I think I've answered this question at least four times in the past few weeks. Maybe it might be an idea for whoever is doing the videos to slip in a one liner explaining that to have two or more images in the workspace you need to be in Cascade or Tile mode.

Bayla

[ebsnapper]

I have found the auto reset. One thing conquered. NOW - this picture thing. I found the multiple windows, also the cascade under Windows, and the File Browser. Whew - how slow can a person be? I still need to get these open pictures from the photobin to the edit window in something resembling what Matt is working on. I get the big orange flower in, but when I click on the daisies, they take over the screen and leave me with a small inset of the orange flower. How many wrong ways are there to do a thing so simple. EB snapper.

[Bayla]

Have you got both pictures open in the workspace like this?


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/13ICdl6Dn5pttuBu8GHjPDQbrbmZQ1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=13ICdl6Dn5pttuBu8GHjPDQbrbmZQ1)

Top left I have highlighted in yellow with a red arrow pointing to the move tool. Select this, then click on the daisy picture and drag it onto the other picture. It will probably fill it, but you will be able to move it over to the right. Then take your eraser tool & start erasing bits of the daisy image to reveal the orange flower underneath.

Bayla

[TonyW]

I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the the most frequently asked questions, one of those things that is taken for granted, and is never properly explained in the videos. I think I've answered this question at least four times in the past few weeks. Maybe it might be an idea for whoever is doing the videos to slip in a one liner explaining that to have two or more images in the workspace you need to be in Cascade or Tile mode.

Bayla

That's a very good point. Having just been doing some Elements coaching I've realised that many things that you take for granted when you've got some more experience aren't at all obvious to someone starting out. There's a good case for a "Getting Started" video that deals with the basics like this and assumes that you've just opened Elements for the first time. Wouldn't be easy to do because it's hard to forget the things you now do automatically but it would be very useful for those getting started.

Tony

[Shirloreo]

Thanks for the information regarding the Auto hide box. I was able to keep the photo bin open. The problem still is that when I drag the hand onto the beach photo, the beach photo disappears in the layers palette. It still shows in the photo bin but I cannot bring it up to move the hand into it. All I see is the hand layer and the move icon only moves the hand within that layer. When I click on the beach layer, it is on the screen alone. I cannot get the hand layer to move onto the beach layer.
Still confused

[Shirloreo]

I've finally got it! Yes, now that I opened the Windows option, then images, then cascade, I am able to move the hand photo onto the beach. Thanks to everyone for your help. This forum really works!

[mrod]

Tony,

This is well-said and quite insightful:

Wouldn't be easy to do because it's hard to forget the things you now do automatically but it would be very useful for those getting started.

I've taught middle-school computer classes for several years, and I have to constantly remind myself of this, not just with Elements, but with every application I teach. Each year, each semester, I basically have to start over (here’s how you log on, here’s how to make a folder, save a file, etc.) and it’s hard not to skip stuff and get impatient.

Anyway, since this is always something I am asked to do, you got me thinking with this:

There's a good case for a "Getting Started" video that deals with the basics like this and assumes that you've just opened Elements for the first time.

What if we started soliciting a list of some Getting Started topics? I'll qualify this offer with an "as time permits" but I would be willing to record some short videos based on that list. Perhaps others would be as well? I know there are some other people around here who do that sort of thing.

The hurdles for me would be time and server space for the videos, but if the logistics of that could be worked out, it might be interesting to give it a shot and see how it goes, if there's an interest for that sort of thing...

Mike

[Bayla]

I think the problem is that many of us try to jump straight in when we first install PSE (& I'm as guilty of this as the next person) & consequently aren't picking up the basics before going on to do quite complicated stuff.

I had to make a conscious decision after about 6 months of messing around and not fully understanding how things worked to back off, get a good book (I chose The Missing Manual) & work my way through it from beginning to end. Even after that I can't say I understood much of what I'd read but at least I'd picked up on a lot of the basics. I've since gone back & redone the first two courses I took (Workflow & Retouching) & have got far more out of them second time around. The Layers course has been the icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned, the first time I'd properly understood what was going on.

Now, one year later I intuitively do certain things, use certain shortcuts, & feel like I'm in control, but I wish there'd been a VERY basic course for me right back at the beginning!

Bayla

[Wendy]

If you go here:

http://www.arraich.com/elements/psE_intro.htm

Then scroll down you will see some sections that are very basic:

Elements Basics

Then best of all (its for PSE2 but easy to follow)

Pre beginner I
Pre beginner II

I suggested them to a friend and after a couple of days she felt confident enough to move on bigger things :)

Wendy