Saturday, August 16, 2008

Warning: "System restore is turned off..." when you install Photoshop Elements (4.0-5.0 on Windows)

Issue When you install Photoshop Elements 4.0 or 5.0 you see the warning message, "System Restore is turned off. If you continue Setup, you will be unable to use System Restore to restore the version of Windows Media Player that was included with the Windows operating system that your computer is running. It is recommended that you click Cancel, turn on System Restore, and then upgrade to Windows Media Player 10. F... Read More

Architectural and engineering workflows for Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended

Architectural and engineering workflows for Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
Learn how Photoshop CS3 Extended builds on a long tradition of powerful imaging tools that have been a part of the AEC design process for years. You'll discover how the robust Photoshop CS3 Extended toolset has allowed design and engineering professionals to work seamlessly with digital imagery in their normal des

CD or DVD drive not recognized by Windows after you install an Adobe application

CD or DVD drive not recognized by Windows after you install an Adobe application
Windows 2000, XP or Vista doesn't recognize your CD or DVD drive after you install one or more of the following Adobe applications: Audition Encore Photoshop Album Photoshop Elements Premiere Elements Premiere Pro Production Premium Production Studio Soundbooth Other CD and DVD burning applications, such as Roxio Easy CD Creator, are installed on the computer. Other CD and DVD bur...

Tip - The Volume Browser

Happy Friday everyone. I figured I’d close out the week with a quick tip. One of the new features in Lightroom 2 is the volume browser. I absolutely love it! I use external hard drives all the time and the volume browser finally let’s me manage them in an easier with Lightroom. It’s in the [...]

Happy Friday everyone. I figured I’d close out the week with a quick tip. One of the new features in Lightroom 2 is the volume browser. I absolutely love it! I use external hard drives all the time and the volume browser finally let’s me manage them in an easier with Lightroom. It’s in the Folders panel in the Library module on the left hand side. The volume browser displays what volume (A.K.A. hard drive) you have your photos stored on so if you ever disconnect the drive you’ll be able to see which one to connect to get to your photos. Here’s an example of what I mean.

One of the things that’s cool is that the volume browser displays how much hard drive space you have total and how much is left. But if you right click on it, you’ll see there’s a few other choices like photo count, status, or even none (which I can’t figure out why you’d choose none). It’s a really neat feature so if you haven’t imported any photos from an external drive yet make sure you give it a try. It’s a lot easier now. Have a great weekend!

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Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements 6 crashes when you open more than one image (Windows)

When you open more than one image in Adobe Photoshop CS3 or Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 on Windows, the program closes unexpectedly. There may be no error message, or you may see one of these errors or a similar error: "Adobe Photoshop has encountered an error and needs to close." "Adobe Photoshop Elements has stopped working." "Could not complete your request because of a program error." "An unhandled win32 exception o... Read More

Lightroom 2 - The Day After FAQ

Lightroom 2 has been out for exactly 1 day now and the upgrade response here on the site yesterday was pretty outstanding. But there were also a lot of comments and questions. So I figured I’d answer as many of them as a I can here: Will Lightroom 1 presets work with Lightroom 2? You betcha. When [...]

Lightroom 2 has been out for exactly 1 day now and the upgrade response here on the site yesterday was pretty outstanding. But there were also a lot of comments and questions. So I figured I’d answer as many of them as a I can here:

Will Lightroom 1 presets work with Lightroom 2?
You betcha. When you install Lightroom 2, those presets will automatically come over to the new version. I haven’t come across any of my presets that don’t work in the new version yet.

Will Lightroom 2 work with my Lightroom 1 catalogs?
Yes. When you first install and start Lightroom 2 it will ask you if you’d like to upgrade an existing catalog.

Will my settings, changes, and everything else I’ve done in LR 1 be in Lightroom 2?
Yes, when you upgrade your catalog it’ll take over all of the settings and changes to your photos.

Will Adobe be releasing any of those dot (.1, .2, etc…) updates for Lightroom 2? I haven’t heard any dates or specific plans but if I were a bettin’ man, I’d bet black, 6, 8, the pass line, hard eight, double-down on 11… sorry, I got carried away. What I meant to say is that I’d bet yes - they will release 1 or more dot updates in the future.

Should I wait for an update before purchasing Lightroom 2? I don’t want a Lightroom 1.4 debacle to happen again.I can’t 100% say that you won’t have a problem but I’ll tell you this. I’ve been using the GM version of Lightroom (GM is a term meaning Gold Master which is essentially the shipping version of the software) for about 2 weeks now. Everything has worked fine for me. The sliders as just as responsive as they ever were. I will say that I have noticed using the Adjustment Brush to be a bit processor-heavy but that’s a price I’ll pay to have that kind of control in LR. I’ve adjusted my self to brush fairly slower then I would have in Photoshop. Also, I know brushing on a Mac has always been a bit odd in Photoshop (takes a second for it to render on screen) so maybe it’s the same deal - maybe the PC is very responsive but I haven’t tried it on one yet. Also, I have had one other little glitch in showing and hiding my panels but other people I know running the same version don’t have this so I’m chalking it up to some mix ups with previous betas I’ve had installed. I plan on wiping out all of my Lightroom folders soon and starting from a brand new install again I think that should do it. So, other then the one small glitch, everything is working fine on my end.

Why is Adobe charging so much extra for international customers?
Folks, I’m gonna tell you the honest truth here - I have no idea. Because of what I do, I get to be on the beta testing team for Lightroom. That means I get to see the features and comment on them but mostly after the feature set is locked. From time to time I may actually get to give input on new features for Lightroom but Adobe, in NO way, comes and asks me or anyone I know, “Matt, what should we charge for Lightroom?”. My main job is to train people on Photoshop and Lightroom and because of that, I really have no idea why they’re charging so much more. I have to admit, it sounds odd to me too and I totally feel your pain. I would be ticked as well. Your best course of action is to go to Adobe’s website and either a) email or mail your feedback to them, or b) call them and express your pissed-offness (sorry… anger). That’s what I would do. :)

Any other price or purchase or license related questions?
See above. I simply just don’t know.

How does the upgrade / installation of LR2 deal with the two separate catalogues (and photo folder structure) when both LR1 and LR2 beta (Silvertone) are installed on your system?Does it merge them automatically into a new catalogue or does the user have to import them separately?I haven’t tried to import my Lightroom 2 beta catalog yet but I’d guess it imports them just fine. I can definitely tell you it won’t merge catalogs though. You’d have to import each one separately and merge/change your folders after the fact.

In some form or another - Can I install Lightroom on 2 machines?
Yes. Even if one is 64-bit and one is 32-bit, you can install on both.

Matt, you mentioned something about PSD files and the way they automatically got created in version 1. Where can I find these PSD files and delete them?See this link from a previous video I created.

Why don’t my PSD files appear back in Lightroom when I work on them in Photoshop?
That’s actually one of the new features. Lightroom 2 doesn’t save the PSD file right away anymore. You’ve got to hit File > Save in Photoshop to save the file so it appears back in Lightroom.

I’m a NAPP member. Where is the discount code?
Here’s the link to the NAPP member website software discount page. You’ll find it about halfway down. I just tried it and it saved $44 bucks on the full $299 version.

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Edit your Encore DVD menus easily by opening them in Photoshop

Edit your Encore DVD menus easily by opening them in Photoshop
See how tightly integrated Photoshop and Encore DVD are, and learn how easily you can edit menus in your DVD project by opening them in Photoshop.

Tip - Adjustment Brush Shortcuts

Tip - Adjustment Brush Shortcuts
Hey folks, it’s time for the first Lightroom 2 tip and I’ve got one of my favorites for you. OK, you know when you start painting with the Adjustment Brush it leaves that little dot on your photo. Well if you hover over it, it shows you a red overlay which tells where you’ve painted [...]

Hey folks, it’s time for the first Lightroom 2 tip and I’ve got one of my favorites for you. OK, you know when you start painting with the Adjustment Brush it leaves that little dot on your photo. Well if you hover over it, it shows you a red overlay which tells where you’ve painted right? But that’s not the tip. The tip is that you can change the color of that overlay. This comes in especially handy if you’re using the Adjustment Brush on something red or close to it. So next time, try this. Move your cursor over that dot to show the red overlay. Then press Shift - O to cycle through different color overlays. Cool huh?

I hope you have a great weekend. Make sure you leave any little tips that you’ve picked up this week in the comments area. Oh, and for all of you new LR 2 users out there. Get off the computer!!! Spend some time with your friends and family. They miss you this week :)


Error "Licensing for this product has stopped working" when you start any Adobe Creative Suite 3 application

Error "Licensing for this product has stopped working" when you start any Adobe Creative Suite 3 application
When you start any Adobe Creative Suite 3 application, you see the error message, "Licensing for this product has stopped working. You cannot use this product at this time. You must repair the problem by uninstallin...

Permanent Press Image Filter - New Photoshop Plugin From Mister Retro

With Permanent Press, a powerful and easy-to-use Photoshop plug-in, you can create professional quality vintage offset printing and ink effects with any design, photograph, type treatment or image. Realizing that printing technology has left printed work without the texture, soul, or the spirit of vintage printing, Mister Retro created the Permanent Press Photoshop Plugin set. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)

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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Lightroom Adobe Certified Expert Exam

Lightroom Adobe Certified Expert Exam
This one kind of snuck by a lot of folks but Adobe actually launched a Lightroom Adobe Certified Expert exam (ACE). I’m planning on taking it soon, but a few projects have put that on hold. I do hope to give you a full review / lessons learned / low-down on the exam as soon [...]

This one kind of snuck by a lot of folks but Adobe actually launched a Lightroom Adobe Certified Expert exam (ACE). I’m planning on taking it soon, but a few projects have put that on hold. I do hope to give you a full review / lessons learned / low-down on the exam as soon as I do. In the meantime, if you’re absolutely dying to take it I can personally recommend the exam prep from Examaids.com. I’ve been recommending their Photoshop ACE Exam Aid for years. It’s simply the best out there. I’ve looked at their Lightroom exam aid and I think it’s spot on.

Anyway, are you thinking of taking the exam or have you already taken the Lightroom (or Photoshop) ACE exam? Let us know why or why not in the comments section.