Text size

[Ohio66]

When I enter text at 8pt (or any reasonably small value) in the project I am editing it ends up being more like 72pt - one inch high when displaying at actual size. What am I doing wrong?

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the Village :)

What size your text looks onscreen does depend on the size and resolution of your image.

Just check what size it is by doing Image>Resize>Image Size and write down the sizes... then post the details here and one of us will check it out for you.

... I suspect taht you are using a small size image at a fairly low resolution ..

Wendy :)

[Ohio66]

I just upgraded from version 4 and nothing works right anymore. Image>Resize>Image Size is grayed-out. Why? All I can tell from the status bar is that my image is about 3x2 inches at 600 ppi. When I enter text at 8 pt I would assume that it should be about 66 pixels high, but it's more like 600.

Why is almost every menu item grayed-out? All I have on the file menu is Close, Save, Save As and Exit. All I have on the Edit menu is Paste.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

OK try this open up a new file ... File>New>Blank File. Choose your size 2 inches x 2 inches and make the resolution 300. Make sure that the Colour Mode is RGB.

Now select a standard font like Helvitica at 8 point and type something in ... does that work OK.

If there is still a problem then I would suggest that you delete the prefs (I would do this anyway especially with the other problems that you are having)

To do that close down Elements then click on the Editor start up icon and quickly hold down the Control, Alt and Shift keys (Mac users: Command, Option and Shift). Continue to hold down all three keys until you get a screen asking if you want to delete Settings ... just say Yes. You do have to be quick holding down the keys so if you have problems with it try holding down the keys with one hand before you click on the icon :)

Hopefully that will sort it out :)

Wendy

[Ohio66]

First, I've got to figure out why all of my menu items are grayed-out. I really don't know how I was able to add text before but I cannot do so any longer.

Here's what I do:

* Open a TIFF file in the editor. All of the menu items are active.

* Attempt to add text and I'm told that I must convert color depth from 16 to 8.

* The TIFF file is quite large so I try to crop it. The crop rectangle appears but it doesn't crop. I try to add text and it appears that I can type but there's no text.

* Next I click on "Save As" and nothing happens. I've discovered this really annoying bug - many things I want to do have to be repeated twice.

* I click "Save As" a second time and save it as a PSD project.

* After saving as a PSD file I am able to crop and add text, but I can't set the text color to anything but gray. No good because I am editing a black and white photo with very little contrast.

* Almost all of my menu items are once again grayed-out.

Something is seriously wrong here, but I admit that it's just my lack of understanding. I have enough experience with version 3 & 4 to know that I can't even begin to comprehend why things are done the way they are in Elements. Everything seems backwards and awkward to me and I constantly struggle with this program trying to get things done - even with a half-dozen third-party books open in front of me.

As for the original problem of the text size: Why did Elements arbitrarily set my project to 3x2 inches at 600 ppi? That's not at all what it is? In fact, the ppi is dependent on the resolution of the display device. My monitor is 96 ppi and printer is maybe 600 ppi.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Well it is now becoming clearer ... it sounds like the original tiffs are 16 bit and if that is so then a lot of the editing feature in Elements will not be accessible to you. That is normal and how Elements works.

Open one of the tiffs up, do Image>Mode and change it to 8 bit ... you will now be able to edit and all the editing options will be there for you to use.

If you do need to be able to edit at 16 bit then you will need Photoshop to do that :)

Wendy

[Ohio66]

Sorry, but it still doesn't work. As I explained before, I DO convert to 8-bit when prompted. Even if I do it explicitly like you suggest the result is the same - no editing capabilities.

[Roln]

Hi Ohio,

I was reading this thread and I see you're having a terrible time.
What results do you get when you open a .JPG file??

[Ohio66]

OK, I figured out the menu problem. The TIFF file was gray-scale in addition to 16-bit so I changed it to RGB Color and now I have my editing capabilities back. I'm used to working with JPG file from my camera but I just happened to start working with Elements 7 using a TIFF file from a scanner.

But I still have the problem with size. Why is my project 3x2 inches at 600 ppi? That's not right at all. My monitor is 96 ppi (I think).

[Nimblewill]

You need to change the image size. Click on Image/Resize/Image size. Check the box -Resample Image. Change the size and note your 2x3/600 ppi image gets larger in inches as the ppi goes down. You file could be 16.67x25 at 72 ppi, 6x9 at 200 ppi are examples.
Don't be concerned about your monitor resolution.
Keep plugging away, one day it will all become clear!

Drew

[Wendy]

Do be careful ... if you check the resample image box then Elements will simply invent pixels or discard them.

I suspect that Drew meant to say Uncheck the resample box

Wendy :)

[Ohio66]

I do understand re-sampling and that's not what I want to do. I don't want to change my pixels at all. I just want the program to interpret them differently.

Let me give you an example. I am a programmer and I quite often write software that uses fonts specified in point sizes. If I use a 10 point font then I expect it to be about 13 pixels high on my 96 dpi monitor, or about 83 pixels when I print it on my 600 dpi printer. In either case that's 10/72 inches. In Elements 7 I have no clue how to proceed entering text other than by trial and error.

I really feel that Elements 7 is limiting me and making my work more difficult by forcing me to use some non-existent ppi and physical photo size.