Crop Tool Problem with CS3

[sanking]

I am suddenly experiencing a strange problem with the cropping tool in CS3. When I use the tool, select the area that should be cropped then apply the action, large files are suddenly reduced to nothing but two or three bytes. It happens with every file I have tried, regardless of mode or original size. Everything was working fine just a few days ago, and the problem appears to occur only with the crop tool. And so far as I can tell there are no problems with the computer, an Intel iMAC running OS 10.4.11. I have been using CS3 on this iMAC for well over 1.5 years with no previous issues.

Anyone have a clue as to what might be causing this problem?

Sandy King

[Jim Becia]

I am suddenly experiencing a strange problem with the cropping tool in CS3. When I use the tool, select the area that should be cropped then apply the action, large files are suddenly reduced to nothing but two or three bytes. It happens with every file I have tried, regardless of mode or original size. Everything was working fine just a few days ago, and the problem appears to occur only with the crop tool. And so far as I can tell there are no problems with the computer, an Intel iMAC running OS 10.4.11. I have been using CS3 on this iMAC for well over 1.5 years with no previous issues.

Anyone have a clue as to what might be causing this problem?

Sandy King

Sandy,

You might check to see if the resolution box (to the right of the boxes where you can set you width and height) is set to your appropriate pixels/inch or pixels/cm.) If that box gets changed, it reduces your file size. I know that ocassionally I somehow have changed it accidentally. Jim

[Jim Galli]

Happened to me once. I think I just needed to hit "clear" up in the tool bar.

[Larry Gebhardt]

Make sure the units in the crop dimensions are in inches or cm and not pixels.

[sanking]

Jim,

Clicking on "Clear" on the top tool bar worked for me as well. I don't have a clue what I did to create this situation, or why "Clear" cleaned it up, but at least I can use the Crop tool again.

Sandy






Happened to me once. I think I just needed to hit "clear" up in the tool bar.

[AJSJones]

Similar problem.
I always use the rectangle selection mode and Image/crop command because I've never figured out how to use the crop tool to do the following: set a rectangular selection with a fixed aspect ratio and crop without having to mess with resolution at the same time. When I tried that before, I got the same result Sandy did : I entered 4W and 5H and got a picture that was 5 x 4 PIXELS.

Is it possible to set a rectangular selection with a fixed aspect ratio and crop without changing anything else at the same time.?

[Donald Miller]

To reset the configuration of CS2 or CS3 to the original settings hold down the control, alt, and shift key while opening PS. A prompt should appear asking if you want to delete the Photoshop setting file to which the proper reply is yes.

[Donald Miller]

Similar problem.
I always use the rectangle selection mode and Image/crop command because I've never figured out how to use the crop tool to do the following: set a rectangular selection with a fixed aspect ratio and crop without having to mess with resolution at the same time. When I tried that before, I got the same result Sandy did : I entered 4W and 5H and got a picture that was 5 x 4 PIXELS.

Is it possible to set a rectangular selection with a fixed aspect ratio and crop without changing anything else at the same time.?

Yes, that is covered in the CS2 book authored by Kelby. I don't have my copy in front of me at the moment but I remember that well.

[sanking]

Donald,

Thanks. Very good pointers.

Sandy



To reset the configuration of CS2 or CS3 to the original settings hold down the control, alt, and shift key while opening PS. A prompt should appear asking if you want to delete the Photoshop setting file to which the proper reply is yes.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Would dumping your preferences help?

[sanking]

I tried changing all of the preferences and that did not help.

What did help was what Jim Gali suggested, clicking on Clear in the top menu.

Sandy





Would dumping your preferences help?

[AJSJones]

Yes, that is covered in the CS2 book authored by Kelby. I don't have my copy in front of me at the moment but I remember that well.

I got the "Image/crop after using a constrained aspect ratio rectangular marquee selection" practice from Martin Evening's book. He didn't mention that it could be done with the crop tool, that's why I was intrigued.

Thanks
Andy

[jim kitchen]

Dear Sandy,

"Reset Tool" is the most effective... :)

Periodically the tool gets buggered because a small programming code issue exists in PS3, related to memory allocation, and this Photoshop function resets any tool to the original default value. If you have a Mac you can reset a tool in the following manner:

Select the tool you want to reset, click on the blue side bar with the black triangle in the upper left hand corner of the Photoshop Menu Bar, then click on the right facing triangle, which presents the drop down menu. Select "Reset Tool" and you should be fine going forward. I believe that PS3 will perform the same function in any IBM'ish computer too.

jim k

[sanking]

Hi Jim,

I am on a MAC. Very useful information about the tool reset button. I had no clue how to do that.

Sandy





Dear Sandy,

"Reset Tool" is the most effective... :)

Periodically the tool gets buggered because a small programming code issue exists in PS3, related to memory allocation, and this Photoshop function resets any tool to the original default value. If you have a Mac you can reset a tool in the following manner:

Select the tool you want to reset, click on the blue side bar with the black triangle in the upper left hand corner of the Photoshop Menu Bar, then click on the right facing triangle, which presents the drop down menu. Select "Reset Tool" and you should be fine going forward. I believe that PS3 will perform the same function in any IBM'ish computer too.

jim k

[infomercialscams]

For online web pages I often need a picture of exact pixel dimensions, say 100 pixels by 100 pixels. For the life of me I can't figure out how to accomplish that in PhotoShop. A lot of simpler editors simply show the size of the selected window. Why not PhotoShop? How do I accomplish an exact (in Pixels) crop?

[Donald Miller]

For online web pages I often need a picture of exact pixel dimensions, say 100 pixels by 100 pixels. For the life of me I can't figure out how to accomplish that in PhotoShop. A lot of simpler editors simply show the size of the selected window. Why not PhotoShop? How do I accomplish an exact (in Pixels) crop?

You can create a custom crop tool that will do exactly what you want to do. After opening the crop tool, go to the window menu and bring up tool presets. Select current tool only this limits the presets to the crop tool only. Next go to the options bar and enter the dimensions for the tool that you wish to create. In your stated dimension you should be assured that the units selecton in Photoshops Units and Rulers Preferences (Control K on a PC) is set to pixels and not inches.After that you can go back to the tool presets and click on the new tool preset at the bottom and this brings up the new tool preset dialogue and you can name your new preset.

[Donald Miller]

Similar problem.
I always use the rectangle selection mode and Image/crop command because I've never figured out how to use the crop tool to do the following: set a rectangular selection with a fixed aspect ratio and crop without having to mess with resolution at the same time. When I tried that before, I got the same result Sandy did : I entered 4W and 5H and got a picture that was 5 x 4 PIXELS.

Is it possible to set a rectangular selection with a fixed aspect ratio and crop without changing anything else at the same time.?

I located my Kelby book and reviewed this information. To keep from retyping everything, see my reply that precedes this post. By selecting inches instead of pixels (control K on a PC) you can solve your small print problem. You can create a custom tool preset for the crop tool as I have described above.

[AJSJones]

Donald,
Thanks for going back to look. What you suggest meets 2 of my goals : it generates a crop with the aspect ratio defined by the preset tool created (e.g., using the size 4x5 in inches) and it does not create or destroy pixels (aka solves the "small print" problem). However, at the same time, it changes the displayed document info and print size to 4 inches by 5 inches and recalculates the ppi. Specifying anything other than blank for resolution creates or destroys pixels as expected.

By using the constrained selection tool I can keep the ppi fixed, keep the aspect ratio fixed and adjust my selection(crop) creatively while the INFO window monitors the print size at that ppi. This helps when I either don't have a specific print size in mind, or when I might want to print different size prints from the same crop, but specifically tells me how big I can print the crop at my preferred ppi - that's what I don't think can be done with the crop tool. I can certainly implement your suggestion to make some crop tool presets at multiples of (e.g.) 4x5 inches and use those to see how the ppi gets recalculated ...