Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:22 am 1: Filters....
Changing the preview mode? is it possible? if so how?
With CS 2 (and it may have been the case with CS 1 but I skipped that version) I notice there are two ways that filter effects preview.
The First is the type with filters such as "Unsharp Mask" and "Gaussian blur" were both the preview window and the main image render the the preview based on the current view that the user has, so you can see the effect as it applies to the working layer AND all the other visible (non working) layers. so you can see how the effect works with your whole rendered image.
The second is with the Artistic, Distort and a few other categories were it opens a new (large) preview window that only shows you the layer you're working with and all the other visible non working layers are not rendered in the preview. Now this is a royal pain in the butt particularly if you are "freestyling" rather than working to a known "work flow", even more so if your working on a layer that's a partial selection of another layer e.g. selecting highlights and coping them in to a new layer to do, say, a displacement glow, often the selection is a small area and even that is mostly translucent, it's hard to judge the overall effect on the total image.
Can this be changed so that with filters that preview the second way preview the same way as the first type?
My work around is to transform the selection in to a mask, merge the visible layers in to a single new layer, apply the filter, experimenting with settings then going back to the original unmerged layers and applying using the "redo filter" command so it applies the same settings to the working layer.
The second is is it possible to do a "masked opacity layer adjustment" By this I don't mean a overall opacity percentage such as you do by just pulling down the slider in the blend mode or using the "blend if layer" options... I mean were you can set a mask were 100% alpha is 100% transparent and 0% alpha is 0% transparent (or direct invert of Alpha/transparancy)
the way I do it, and there must be an easier way, is to creating a mask (maybe based on luminance or colour and often, for me, a hand drawn/painted or adjusted mask), adjusting that mask using, say curves, then using the mask as a selection to copy this layer to a new layer (and make the original layer invisible) if I don't like the blend with the other layers I need to go back in to the original readjust the mask and copy and paste back in to another layer (or the same original copied layer).
not a major issue but given the power of adjustment layers just wondering if there was some work around for this.
Other questions will no doubt follow
