Patch tool, healing brush tool and layers Problem!!

[slimla]

Helllo all,

I watch a lottt of videos on photoshop as I work on headshots and I'm a photographer.

Here are my problems that I'm having

1. healing brush is so random one time I click it and it works fine and then the other time I click it and all of a sudden there is a color where the healing brush circle is or it has blur on it or black on it and i cant see where I'm going.

other problem is healing brush doesnt work for me I alt click (im on mac) and i see the selection circle then i try to click and heal and it either does nothing at all or it distorts and adds a selection where I dont want.

Basically healing tool is a DISASTER FOR ME!!

I have followed all the presets, i have reset the tool, i have closed and open photoshop. I have made sure all the settings were right according to all the tutorials. but no tutorials explain why it will have colors where i'm trying to see.

I wish i could get the most basic tool to work. and I also dont understand what layer I'm suppose to work on. If i create a new layer and call it blemishes it wont work on anything. so i drag the layer to the top and then it takes away ALL the other corrections that I did...
soo confusing.

2. patch tool. i will make a selection and drag it to the area where i want it replaced and when i release it wont do it. it does it randomly and i have tried reseting and again i dont know what layer to do this on. if i create a new layer it wont work on it and also if i drag the new layer to the top it will remove all the other corrections that i did until i delete the layer or remove it back to bottom....

help! =(

[Konnekt]

i dont know if i understod u right but u cant use this tools on empty layers. just make a copy of the picture u working on so that u got one like backup if u mess it up. hope this helps

[slimla]

i dont know if i understod u right but u cant use this tools on empty layers. just make a copy of the picture u working on so that u got one like backup if u mess it up. hope this helps

Hello thanks for response. That is what I do. make a duplicate of the layer and work on it. then after a few layers my work doesnt show. I will use patch tool and drag and i wont see a change so i will have to go to my other layer for example eyes and then work on the patch tool there which is basically eliminating the use of layers.

sometimes i get so frustrated Im forced to flatten the image and proceed from there. I also have tried vector masks and when i click on the square with a circle in it another layer shows up parallel. I try working on that and no success.

I have watched about 5 tutorials about layers and they just show silly examples of painting or cutting and pasting but never show about any more advanced editing.

I'm sooo frustrated and confused! they use examples like "layers are like sheets of glass" and that could not be anymore misleading because when i work on layers it isnt like that. my corrections will not show when im a few layers deep.
:confused:

[Konnekt]

are u sure that u copy the new layer u worked on? lets say u done the eyes, then u need to copy that layer and continue your work so that u get the eye edit with u on the new layer.. u get what i meen?

[Old Geezer]

The Patch tool only works on the layer that it is taking the Source from, unlike The healing, Clone stamp etc. which can use a blank layer
When you build up layers the top most layer will be the one that shows first so if you have anything on the top layer that is covering the layers underneath you wont see the changes.

To that extent you can put several layers into a group, or take a Snapshot in your History Panel. and work from that each time if you find layers troublesome.
Until you understand any principle you will struggle doing things that you don't understand.

You might be advised to buy a book or DVD. All tutorials do is show you technique and expect you to have a basic grounding in how things work.
We have all been there, so don't be discouraged.Have a look around for specific books and go from there, this will show you how & why things work.
I recommend Kelby or Lynda.com. If it is your job then these will just be another Tool.

[Lesa]

FYI, I covered every possible way to use all of the healing tools in Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual. It's a big ol' honkin' book (800 pages in print, plus another 100 pages in online addendums) that covers literally everything in the program.

If you really need to learn those tools, the book would be a great resource for you. Even if you don't have CS4, it has tons of techniques that work in CS3 :)

[Old Geezer]

I recommend Kelby or Lynda.com. If it is your job then these will just be another Tool.

Or Lesa's book !!!!!!!:o

[Celestemmcknight]

I am having problems with the brush tool. Sometimes it works and other times it doesnt. I have tried on a transparent layer and a white layer. What am I doing wrong?

Any suggestions or tips? I am using CS4.

thanks
Joanne

[KritikSS]

So...I've recently come across the same problem. It seems that when i initially started using the healing brush tool, it was set to proximity. For a brief period I had switched to the spot healing tool and had it creating a texture. Well when i went back to the healing brush tool...which allows you to designate the proximity it derives from (I'm sure y'all know that)...it decides to still create some sort of texture.

healing brush is so random one time I click it and it works fine and then the other time I click it and all of a sudden there is a color where the healing brush circle is or it has blur on it or black on it and i cant see where I'm going.

Simla described it perfectly. I'm almost certain it's a bug...but I'm not sure of how to fix it...or how often it happens to others...

oh well, any help would be appreciated. I often tend to use that tool.

[Lesa]

When a tool seems to be misbehaving, check its settings in the Options bar. Those settings are sticky, meaning once you change them they stay changed until you change them back. Most oftentimes all it takes to set a tool "right" is to change the Options bar settings back to what they ought to be :)

[src]

I teach PS at the University of Tennessee and I've discovered the same problems with the patch too.

I make a selection on the background layer (and I've tried duplicating the bg)
Then make a selection with the patch tool (I've also tried using other selection techs)
The I get the patch tool>click in the center of the selection>and drag it to what I want to patch with.
While dragging I see the new patch...but when I release the mouse button the patch preview goes away and the patched area remains the same.

I've tried everything I can imagine yet nothing seems to work. I've used this tool for years in CS3 but can not get it to work for me in CS4.

I would love to lean of a solution.

Steve

[Silentdiablo]

I keep having the same problem. I think it's a bug. I am doing nothing wrong. I've tried everything under the sun as well.

Then at random sometimes it will just suddenly work. Nothing's changed.

Other time it will suddenly work, then not changing anything stop working again and start doing the same crap.

I'm using cs4 version.

[spritesc]

First of all, I'm a Photoshop CS4 User, so I was having the same problem with the patch tool.

Maybe this could help:

1. After your done with your image, save it. In my case I like to save images as png, but you can use any type of format as long as you don't save it as psd.

2. Open that image in photoshop and select the patch tool.

3. Use it as you normally would and the patch tool should work.

This worked for me just fine. It seems that the patch tool won't work when the image is in psd format. I'm not sure why, but for know this is the only way I have managed to fix this issue.

Chris

[Ammiddeon]

Why dont they give me the option to set the opacity of my healing brush like the stamp? I dont want to have to work on tens of layers, and then lowering the opacity of the layers as I go along.

Just figure it would be nice.

[wdvlannie]

I am having the same problem with the Patch tool in CS4 and it's driving me nuts. It doesn't appear to do anything. I used it in CS3 in the Photoshop class I took at a local college, and it worked fine. I tried the idea of using it on a non-.psd file type (used .jpg), but that didn't work.

I'm on a Windows PC (not Vista), and I swear the tool used to work, but doesn't any more. I already have Lesa's book, and several others, but this is not helping with the troubleshooting. I really am beginning to believe it's an Adobe bug of some sort.

Anyone else have any suggestions???

[ReACTivE]

hello, I have similar problem with patch tool.... I select area which I want to patch and after selecting correct part of image, it kinda replaces it, but not fully, I can see some blured remains of original there...
any thoughts/solutions

see on pictures:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q63/Vilanius/1.png
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q63/Vilanius/2.png
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q63/Vilanius/3.png

[lotstolearn]

hello, I have similar problem with patch tool.... I select area which I want to patch and after selecting correct part of image, it kinda replaces it, but not fully, I can see some blured remains of original there...
any thoughts/solutions

Hello all,

I'm new to Planet Photoshop, driven by the same problem others are experiencing here. Reactive's pictures describe my problem with the Patch Tool perfectly. I've been sitting here for an hour thinking I'm some kind of Patch Tool idiot, but now I see that I'm not the only one with this issue (sorry, not to call anyone a Patch Tool idiot in my first post, clearly the problem is with CS3).

Anyway, if anyone has come up with a solution or work around for this issue, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

[Old Geezer]

I have made a short video to try and explain some of the things you need to know !

Let me know if it works for you and also if you need a more in depth tutorial.

http://www.vimeo.com/7623159

[Old Geezer]

This is an alternative method of replacing parts of photos.

http://www.vimeo.com/7624612