Photoshop CS4 Crash Using the Pen Tool

We have experienced an issue where creating a line/path using the Pen tool in Photoshop CS4 caused a system-wide freeze, regardless of operating system, other software installed, etc....
Not even a kernal panic, but just a complete freeze.
We found that it only occurred on our white, 24-inch iMacs (2.16 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo). I tried it on 5 different white iMacs, with various builds of Tiger or Leopard, and they all froze up completely.
We had a plain 10.5.8 image on one of the white iMacs, with nothing extra except Photoshop CS4, and it froze up completely using the Pen Tool on a new document as well.
Oddly enough, the workaround was having Photoshop CS4 run using Rosetta, and then the Pen Tool works fine. It is odd considering the iMacs have Intel processors, and not PowerPC that would need Rosetta.
I have not found anyone else with hardware specific issues like this. So, I thought i should share our (hopefully) temporary workaround.

A complete system freeze means a kernel or driver level bug, or a hardware problem.
Rosetta won't process as fast - meaning that the processor is less taxed, and it may call the drivers differently.
Upgrading to MacOS 10.6 might avoid driver problems (that were in 10.5), but hardware issues would remain.
But first you might try disabling OpenGL drawing in preferences (avoiding the most problematic drivers, and reducing the load in the graphics hardware).

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How To Use The Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign CS6 | Creative Suite Podcast: Designers | Adobe TV

In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows how to use the Pen Tool to create Art, Frames and to trace images in Photoshop CS6. If you've never used the Pen Tool before, this is your video!
http://adobe.ly/STegFg

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I'm using After Effects CS6 11.0.2 on Mac OS X 10.8.2. Whenever I use the pen tool to add a vertex, the application crashes. I've submitted several crash reports to apple (they get sent to apple automatically when the app relaunches).
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iMac
21.5-inch, Mid 2010
Processor 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3
Memory 12 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB
Software OS X 10.8.2 (12C60)
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So I have discovered it only crashes when adding a vertex when I'm editing the max a few frames in. When I add vertices on the first frame of the comp I don't have any trouble. I've tried unchecking the box that says preserve constant vertex count, and it still happens.

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I used the pen tool constantly in photoshop cs6 and would often use control + left click to select a different shape while still using the pen tool.
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Message was edited by: Joe Horan

A new problem = Selecting multiple points with control + click + drag is selecting ALL shape layers... Jesus christ, why was this changed????
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Thanks Ned,
I think I worked out the problem; I think that part of the instruction was missing. When I looked at the picture again, I noticed that there were anchor points around the stage, so I guess that was what I missed. I was simply creating the wavy line across the stage, and then clicking on the first anchor point to close the shape. I resolved the problem by creating three anchor points around the stage and then closing the image by clicking on the first anchor.
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Chris

PLEASE tell me there is a way to apply automatic strokes using the Pen Tool.

To apply pencil and brush strokes using the Pen Tool (in Photoshop CC - the version I'm using), I would constantly have to right-click on my path, and on the dialog menu that pops up, select "Stroke Path...," then select which "Tool" (I namely use the Pencil and Brush tools), then hit "OK." And that gets ANNOYING. This is Photoshop CC - which means there should be a way for the Pen Tool to automatically apply the (Pencil/Brush) strokes while I'm creating paths. Illustrator does that - so there should be a way for Photoshop to do that as well. It's a software a majority of artists use; there SHOULD be a way to automatically apply pen strokes. PLEASE tell me there is.

You can do a shape rather than a plain path, and apply a stroke there. But, just plain vanilla; no fancy brush tips or scatter or anything like that.

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I have been using photoshop cs5 and cs6 for a while but I have never encountered this problem. Whenever I use the pen tool to trace an object and I close the traced object, it deletes the object i traced and not the background. It is really anoying and I cant change it. I have spentt a fair amount of time trying to change it but i dont know how. Can someone please help I have also looked online but there is nothin to help.
Thankyou Alex

Hi,
It's probably the path operations setting.
The default setting in photoshop cs6 is Exclude Overlapping Shapes and you could also use Combine Shapes.

Help with using the pen tool

I have a few different problems with the pen tool.
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3. When I have done a path and clicked stroke it is only a thin line. How can I make this line thicker?
Thanks.

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I did have snap vector tools on but it does that without it on.
The next one I was creating a car speedometer so it has lines on the outside, dots inside of that and then, where I've done the blue circle, would be the third path where I then write the numbers in. But I can never write on that third path.
And finally, the pen tool and I think it dd have Shape Dynamics set. I've changed a couple of things and it looks a bit better now so I think that should be ok. Thanks
I know I haven't shown the panels but I haven't got any for the first as it won't go right so I deleted what I was doing. And each thing I've done is on a different layer for the speedometer, all just paths created with the circle tool with the text on.

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This process is becoming very annoying over the course of long projects, and I'm hoping that someone will be able to solve it for my.
(I specifically want the hotkey for Mac, but it would be good if you could give the PC hotkey too for other people looking at this.)

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halp!

In the tutorial they were maybe drawing in "draw inside" mode.
See manual on this mode

Photoshop CS4 Crash Using the Pen Tool

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