Problem with "Making a Seal" in PSE5

[DanielCoffey]

I was running through Wendy's "Making a Seal" tutorial in the subscriber section and I came across a minor problem which I think is down to differences between PSE5 and whatever version the tutorial was designed for.

In step 10, we are advised to apply an Inner Shadow - High style then change the Shadow Distance to 10 in the Style Settings window. Unfortunately in PSE5, there does not seem to be an option to adjust this value.

Would one of you mind having a quick look at the tutorial and letting me know if I am doing something wrong please.

Thanks,

Daniel.

[wcwtp]

I don't have version 5 but if you look in the layers palette after you have applied the shadow, there is an icon that looks like a little "f" in a circle. Click on that and you can change the shadow distance. (at least in version 3 that is how it works)

[DanielCoffey]

I have seen pictures of what you mean, but if I am thinking of the same thing, in PSE5 it's a stylised sun or starburst icon instead. It still opens the style settings panel but there is nothing to adjust for the Inner Shaddow style.

[wcwtp]

As I mentioned, I am not familiar with PSE 5 but does the star icon appear in the layers palette on the active shadow layer? Hopefully someone using 5 will know what the problem is.

[Wendy]

Hi Daniel ...

I am on the Mac at the moment so I can't try this out ... hopefully one of the PSE5 users will try it out and once I know the situation I will come up with a workaround for you :)

Wendy

[GeoR]

Hi Daniel: I tried it in my version of elements 5 and it worked ok. After you apply the high shadow style look to the right on your highlightd layer and you should see a starburst. Click on that & it will bring up the shadow style box. Below the drop shadow checked box are size-distance & opacity. Highlight the size in the distance box and change the value to 10. You should see the shadow change if the preview box is checked. Hope this helps you - if not post back. Geo

[troush]

I just looked, I applied an inner shadow, and there is no distance setting. There is a "Size" setting, and then changing the direction to up or down. Maybe just play with the size setting? I found that it really affected the look quite a bit. (Sorry, not a subscriber, so I don't have the tut.)

(There was only a Simple Sharp Inner or Simple Inner or Inner Ridge. Maybe the Inner Ridge one would give you more the look you are looking for?)

-Trish

[DanielCoffey]

I am still not able to sort this out...

When I apply "Layer Styles - Inner Shadow - High" to the centre layer, I see the starburst appear in the layer pallette.

Doubleclicking on the starburst opens the Style Settings Window. I see the Preview box (checked), the direction wheel (120 deg) and four unchecked boxes for drop shadow / glow / bevel / strike.

There is no control for the Inner Shadow settings.

Clicking on the right-arrow under Drop Shadow reveals the (greyed out) sliders for size, distance and opacity.

(WinXP / PSE 5.0)

Any ideas?

[GeoR]

Hi again. Go back and try again. But instead of clicking the right faceing arrow to the left of drop shadow click the checkbox to the right of the arrow. I tried clicking the right faceing arrow & yes it did bring up the greyed out boxes. Also when you click on the starburst to bring up preview box all the drop shadow styles default to just drop shadow. Hope I explained this properly for you. Geo

[DanielCoffey]

When I click the checkbox next to the "Drop Shadow" label, it applies a Drop Shadow. When I move the sliders it only affects the newly appeared Drop Shadow, not the original Inner Shadow. I hid the Rim layer to better see what was happening and I could clearly see the Drop Shadow on the image.

What I think is happening is that I may have found a bug in PSE 5.0... let me explain...

In the Style Settings screen, there are settings to adjust Glow:Inner and Glow:Outer. I *think* they meant to add sliders for Shadow:Drop and Shadow:Inner but instead just added settings for Shadow:Drop (and called it Drop Shadow, omitting the sliders for Inner Shadow).

If one of you can verify this behaviour, I am happy to submit this to Adobe as a Bug Report. Let me know what you think please.

==
Daniel

[DanielCoffey]

UPDATE : After reviewing this behaviour with my wife, I have decided to submit the following bug report on the official Adobe PSE5 technical forum...

==============================

BUG : Style Settings for Inner Shadows in PSE 5.0.2 / WIN

Daniel Coffey - 02:39pm May 22, 2007 Pacific


BUG REPORT : Under Photoshop Elements 5.0.2 WinXP, the Style Settings to make changes to the Size and Opacity of *Inner* Shadows are missing.

To reproduce the problem :

1. Create a New Blank File and create a New Layer in it.

2. Place a circle in the centre (Elipse Marquee Tool, shift-drag) and fill it with a solid colour other than black.

3. Apply the Layer Style - Inner Shadow - High to the circle

4. Double-click on the sunburst icon in the Layer Palette and the Style Settings window will appear. You will see the Preview checkbox, the Angle Wheel and four UNCHECKED boxes, one of which is Drop Shadow. There is no option to affect the Inner Shadow style.

If you tick the Drop Shadow checkbox and play around with the sliders, you will clearly see you have created a new *Drop* Shadow and none of the sliders affect the *Inner* Shadow.

Below, you will also see options to change the style settings for Glow:Inner and Glow:Outer. I am of the opinion that there should have been a dropdown called Shadows with sub-options Shadow:Drop and Shadow:Inner. The Shadow:Drop should have had Size, Distance and Opacity and the Shadow:Inner should have had Size and Opacity. Instead, there is only a single checkbox for Drop Shadow and none for Inner Shadow.

Please can you review this isse and let me know if there is a workaround or if a fix is forthcoming?

Many thanks,

Daniel.

=====================================

I will keep you all informed of any response.

[Wendy]

Hi Daniel ...

Try this as a workaround ... it a little cluncky but it should work.

Create a new layer above the Centre Layer and call it "Inner Shadow"
Go to the layers Palette and Control Click (Mac Command Click) on the Rim Layer to regain the selection BUT make sure that the new "Inner Shadow" Layer is still the active layer.
Set your foreground colour to black and do Edit>Fill Selection>Foreground colour
Go back to the Layers Palette and Shift Control Click on the Centre Layer (that means that your selection now includes both the the Centre Layer and the Circle Layer
BUT the new "Inner Shadow" Layer still need to be the active layer
Now do Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur ... and adjust the blur size until the shadow appears in the same place as mine did.

Sounds a bit complicated but its easier than it sounds :)

Wendy :)