Clone Stamp Help

[Pudge904]

I have been using PSE 5.0 for about one year and suddenly my Clone Stamp stopped working. I have read other posts with possible solutions including putting the disk back in and using the repair function in Windows. I have checked all the settings such as mode and opacity and I have tried resetting the the tools. I am using Windows Vista. Does anyone have another suggestion?

[Jeff Perry]

Pudge904, can you explain "not working"? Is it throwing an error?

Are you setting the target first with the ALT key? If not you will get an error.

Forget about the the PSE Install Disk "Repair" option. It doesn't work as 1/2 way thru it asks for a new CD which does not exist.

Have you tried the three-fingered start-up? With Elements NOT running, hold down the Shift, CTRL, and ALT keys at the same time and restart Elements. Hold the buttons down until the dialog box comes up.

When the dialog asks if you want to "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements Settings File?" answer yes.

Jeff

[Tina_B]

Try resetting the tool There is a reset the tool icon right on the tool bar.
It should be the first icon on the tool bar. Click on it and it and you can choose reset the tool or all tools. It does not hurt to rest all the tools once in a while when they start acting whacky!!
Tina B

[Pudge904]

What I mean by "it doesn't work" is that I hold the Alt key down and select the target area, but when I try to cover an area with the target area, nothing happens. I don't get an error message and I see the crosshairs in the target area but nothing gets cloned. In other words, everything looks like it should, but nothing is cloned. I have tried resetting the tools, but that didn't do it either. I tried the shift, control, alt start-up but that didn't work either. Again, everything seems normal but it won't clone either.

[Tina_B]

make sure the caps lock is not on
Tina B

[Jeff Perry]

After targeting your source area with the ALT key, what size brush are you using? Hit the right bracket key "]" to enlarge the brush. I assume you have opacity at 100%, right?

Make sure you don't have the Pattern Stamp Tool selected instead of the Clone Stamp Tool. The Pattern Stamp is the one with the little blue X in the upper-left corner of the tool icon.

Jeff

[Pudge904]

The caps lock is off, the opacity is 100%, the clone stamp is picked and I have changed the brush size up and down and it still doesn't work. This is really puzzling. I have use this tool for a year with no problems. Maybe I should uninstall the program and reinstall it. What would this to the Organizer? Would I lose all the links?

[ljameso1]

You may have already checked this cause it's so simple, but often times easy to overlook simple stuff. Which layer is active when trying to clone. Unless use all layers is checked, if you are using a blank layer nothing will happen. Here's hoping it's that simple.

[Jeff Perry]

Very puzzling indeed. I can not offer an opinion about the problems (or lack thereof) related to reinstalling an its effects on Organizer as I don't use Organizer.

I assume there is a way of backing up/duplicating the catalog files, and saving them for safe keeping. Perhaps someone else can offer some advice. Usually, good uninstall programs do not delete data files created by the programs, and reinstalling should recognize the existing database, kind of like and upgrade installation.

Your problem is very strange, and may require a reinstall, unless someone else can offer some steps to try. it sounds like you have tried and checked everything. Sorry I have no further advice.

Jeff

[Pudge904]

Jeff,

The three fingered start-up worked with Elements running but the Editor not running. Holding the Shift, Alt and Control buttons down I started the Editor and that did it. This was very frustrating and I appreciate everyone's efforts to help me out.

[Jeff Perry]

All of us have been there (more often than we would care to admit)!

Jeff