Merging with a shadow/highlight layer?

Ok, so im totally new to Flash, in fact, im a 3DS Max/Maya animator, so this is all pretty new.
I am fairly fluent in Photoshop, and im trying to figure out a small problem I am having.
I will try to be as clear as possible, so bear with me...
I have created a character (superman) in Flash (action script3) who is divided in many layers.
His eyebrows, mouth, wrinkles, eyes ect are all on seperate layers. I figured that was something you needed to do to allow ease in animation? Keep the head as one solid object, but keep the eyes, eyeborws ect on a different layer to animate... (right?)
After building the face color layer, I added a shadow and highlights layer on top of it. After doing so, I have tried to `merge` them (which i believe is when you make it a `symbol'?) and it gives me a strange result. Either the shaded areas turn black, or the cut out the color of the face, almost like they have become a mask.
Here is a before and after:
So im curious, is there any way I can merge my highlights and shadows layer to the base layer, without this problem? Or is there something I am missing. The shadows and highlights were made just by layering a black, or white, layer with opacity, over top of the solid color layer. I figured it would be as easy as it would be in Photoshop, just merge them in the end, but no. Then again, this is new software all together for me, so I could be missing something.
As you can see, its made up of many layers:
So the other question is:
After I manage to merge the proper layers with each other (Face, face outline (stroke), highlights and shadows to make up the HEAD) how do I cut the rest of it up for animation?
Seeing as his body is one piece, from neck to feet (including arms), how am I going to cut that up and still maintain the vector lines? Or will I need to build the arms totally separate, and then layer it that way...
Sorry if I sound like a total noob, but I am...
Thanks in advance

Sorry, Flash CS5...

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How do i adjust layers below a Shadows/Highlights smart object layer

Hi
In Photoshop CC I have created a number of layers for smart tonal adjustments.
I then created a Smart object Shadow/Highlight layer base upon a copy of all layers below.
However my layers below can no longer be altered as the Shadow/Highl;ight layer is a copy of them.
Is there away to allow me to stack the layers so that i can still make adjustments to my layers below after have created a Shadow/Highlight layer.
Seems impossible.

You can stack SOs pretty much for ever. Just right click the SO with the Shadow/Highlight adjustment, and turn it into a Smart Object. Then you can add a layer mask to make parts of the underlying layers visible. But you mainly need to manage your workflow to avoid this situation, or use the SO as a new Background Layer, and carry on working from there. That is how I tend to work.
Incidentally, as you have CC, do consider using Camera RAW as a filter, on a SO layer, in preference to Shadow/Highlight. S/H was always portrayed as Photoshop magic, but in actual fact it produces nasty artefacts and makes an image look unreal and plastic. When the Camera RAW engine was updated with the Process Version 2012 (PV2012) with version 7.#, it took a big step forward, and allowed drastic use of the sliders without the nasty artefacts this would have cause with earlier versions. AFAIK S/H was not updated, and IMO should have a little skull and crossbones next to it in the Image > Adjust menu. Or better still, removed altogether.

Massive bug by combining Shadow/Highlight and a cross fade

Hi. I found what appears to be a bug by using a cross fade between two clips with the shadow highlight effect. I cross faded two clips (240fps AVCHD from FS700) each with RGB Curves and Shadow/Highlight and sometimes I get this nasty side effect. The side effect is a random white flashing, or rather an erratic application of the shadow/highlight effect. Maybe it's because it is trying to process the effect on footage which is slowly losing opacity due to the cross fade, and as this happens, the colour data changes as a result. This effect may not happen outright when you try it, I think it applies to specific clips, or clips where the shadow number is higher than the highlights or vice versa. It is now happening again in my new edit and this worries me because I like the effect that it gives, but not the buggy side effect.
Here is the video where I first experienced it. It only appears to happen at 2:18, but now in my next video, it's happening in my opening shot.
Rendering with gtx570 & pprocs6.

The problem occurs when two clips that both have Shadow/Highlight adjusment with different values are crossfaded. You get this light dark bands of flickering in the crossfade. It looks horrible.
SOMETIMES, disabling GPU acceleration works. Not always.
Setting the clipping amounts to 0, as opposed to the default of .01 will help with the clip flickering, but NOT the crossfade flikering. It will not help
Using Opacity keyframes as opposed to the Crossfade Video Transition Effect will not help.
The only sure way to solve the problem is to make INTER clips. Render the two clips seperately with all shadow/highlight effects, then replace the clips on your timeline with the rendered clips and THEN crossfade them.
Also, for those of you that simply notice the "sky" in your scenes flickering when using Shadow/Highlight Adjustment, make sure to set at least the Black Clip from .01 to 0. This will stop that annoying flicker throughout the entire clip.

Shadow/Highlight workflow - A Quick Tutorial by Mathias Vejerslev

Here's a tip on using the Shadow / Highlight feature of Photoshop. I'll describe my typical established workflow using this tool, in order to help others using it.
Shadow / Highlight is in a special category of tools, based on light zones in your image. You can use it to increase or decrease contrast, or indeed both in one go.
First of all, I wouldnt recommend using Shadow / Highlight on an 8-bit image. You can do it, and it will give you results in a pinch, but the image quality will be much better if you start out with a 16-bit image in a large color space.
[continued, below...]

[...the dialogue continues...]
Mathias Vejerslev
- 2:34pm Apr 19, 06 PST
I should note that my settings for S / H are a bit more extreme than usual for this particular image. That's because its so dull to start with. With highlights closer to the right of the histogram, much less Amount for highlights suffice.
glen deman
- 6:49pm Apr 19, 06 PST
Thanks Mathias, I'll also give this a whirl, I'm not familiar with S/H at all at this point.
Lawrence Hudetz
- 12:37pm Apr 20, 06 PST
You must be reading my mind, Mathias, as I was just wondering if you might come up with some information on your take with S/H.
My problem is the reverse: Too much contrast, and I work with scanned images, so I am not using raw. So, I have set up default S/H thusly:
As you can see, it's for a greyscale, but for RGB I would be using the same settings, leaving contrast and color set to Adobe defaults. This is my starting point, and for many of my images, all that is necessary. Once in a while, I throttle back with the Fade, but very seldom. If it isn't working, I tweak the controls, usually starting with the radius.
I haven't tried your selection mask yet. looks like a splendid suggestion, (as usual!).
On certain images with backlit clouds, I frequently set the highlight radius well above 100.
The most disturbing effects I have noted is the contrast enhancement around abrupt changes in picture elements, like a mountain against a cloud. The edge of the mountain goes dark and the corresponding edge of the cloud goes light. In analog work, this is known as the Eberhard effect, and is the principle problem with Tech Pan. Trying S/H on those negs is trying indeed!
Mathias Vejerslev
- 2:59pm Apr 20, 06 PST
Hi Larry,
Try the luminosity mask. I think it will help the halos you see around contrasty subjects.
For scanning, you can still use the two develops method; Scan two versions into 16 bit with different exposure and merge them in Photoshop. Layer one version over the other, and use the luminosity mask from one layer as the layer mask on the other. The combination will be a bit flat, and will need some contrast. This is one situation where you can use S / H to add contrast.
There's nothing wrong with using S / H to decrease contrast, I think this is its primary intended use. But you have to live with the halos induced by a radius based contrast modifier. You dont have to live with halos using the combine method.
Using S / H with a luminosity mask is my own humble 'invention', but I see that it works well regarding controlling the halo effect. - to a limit. It also helps against accidentally lifing the shadows to much, exposing your use of S / H. Other masks could be used, I'd be very interested in other options or ideas people here might have.
Lawrence Hudetz
- 11:09pm Apr 20, 06 PST
Hi again Mathias,
You have a real insight here. I gave it a try and the Luminosity mask is a jewel. But using it as you describe is only the beginning.
First off, I decided to look at which to use, straight or inverted. That extends the application several fold, as now we have two ways to apply tools. And by tools, I mean far more than S/H.
The next place I tried it was the procedure you call contrast coating (I call it brightup.) here is another place to get into trouble, and the Luminosity mask again proved it's worth. But wait! There's more! Sharpening! Use the mask when sharpening an image and with the right polarity selected, one can really sharpen a fuzzy image. I was able to apply sharpening on the order of an Amount of 300 and a Radius of 3. That decisively sharpened an image which could not be well sharpened without a huge halo problem.
What is actually affected? To decide this, I used Curves to watch what areas were responding. Inverting showed a completely different outcome for the same adjustment.
Most fun I've had since....:)?
Mathias Vejerslev
- 6:44am Apr 21, 06 PST
"What is actually affected?"
You can create an alpha channel from the mask by hitting the Create Channel from selection icon in the channel palette. You can then not only see what areas are affected, but you can manipulate your alpha channel with curves to get just the selection you want. I like the straight highlight / midtone L mask, though.
[continued, below...]

How do you Whiten an off-white background in PSE (pic of a person with a shadow)?

I have PSE10 on my PC. I use it to edit photos I take of people in a studio set up with a white background and white vinyl on the floor.
Currently I whiten the BG and floor by, 1) using a Levels layer (to darken the image) and then 2) apply the Dodge tool (set to highlights) to the original image.
It is good (a bit time consuming) but when I get to the shadow of a person I don't know how to edit the shadow of the person. If I leave the shadow alone, the photo then looks odd!! Currently I use the Dodge tool (set to Shadows at about 75%) and go over the shadow to lighten it a bit which seems okay but I wanted a method from someone that was familiar with editing studio pics of people...ideally something that was a guided/automatic edit but any manual method would do.
2 examples I have seen thus far are;
Using Curves in CS to whiten the background (which is quick and easy and automatically lightens the shadows of the subject to provide a natural look) but only 'Colour' Curves is available in PSE and I am not sure if this will do the same job?
Using Set White Point in Levels and then use the mask and paint brush to paint the subject back in but I am not sure of every step and don’t know how well this works and if it is of any use when it come to the shadow of a person?
Please provide a step by step guide on your method of doing this.
Thanks in advance :-)

Have you tried Enhance...Adjust Lighting...Shadows/Highlights?
Ken

Dip to White Transition and Shadow / Highlight creates flickering. Workaround?

Here's what my layers look like:
Top
- Adjustment Layer including MANUAL Shadow / Highlight with some static values -
- video clip 1 - dip to white - video clip 2 - dip to white - video clip 3 - etc... -
Bottom
When it renders, there is a discoloration and a flicker on every single transition. This does NOT happen with the dip to black transition.
I believe what's happening is that the Shadow/Highlight is doing its thing on the transition itself. S/H continually tries to bring out detail in the highlights as the frame is being whited out. What there SHOULD be is an option for Shadow/Highlight to only be applied to video clips but ignore any transitions that are applied to the clips.
I do NOT want to drag Shadow/Highlight into each clip separately because the settings for it are way easier to manage in one adjustment layer than in 50+ individual clip settings.
Does anyone have a good, efficient workaround for this?.

the Shadow/Highlight is doing its thing on the transition itself.
Adjustment layers work on everything below, so yes, that's precisely what's happening.
there SHOULD be is an option for Shadow/Highlight to only be applied to video clips but ignore any transitions that are applied to the clips.
There is. Apply the effect to the clip, rather than to an Adjustment Layer. It's the only way, regardless of effect, because like I said, adjustment layers work on everything below. (That's kind of their purpose.)

Changing colors of shadow/highlight

How can I achieve this effect? I assume it has to do with the shadows and highlights...anyone have any tutorials on how to do this?

Highlights and Shadows are not the right tool for this it is better done with curves or levels as far as the two colors in AI this is easy just a color filled rectangle path for the background and the grayscale on top and select the grayscale image then a color, don't like that color then change the color and then again and again.
Not so simple in Photoshop so in this case they might want to do this in AI then bring the AI file as a smart object into Photoshop that way all the user has to do is click on the smart object change the color in AI save and back to Photoshop with the update.
So here they have the best of both. But keep in I would in this case the grayscale colored file without the background color filled path which I would do on a separate layer in Photoshop so the colors can be control separately for the back ground and colored image.

Shadow/Highlight Flickers when layered

Last post I saw was ArtsForHearts 12/8/09 having the same problem. It seems as though the use of the Fx Shadow/Highlight on two layers above each other with different settings make one of them flicker. If all the values are the same you are good to go. I like to use it to give a better look to talking heads where the lighting was not the best. I track matte an area over a face with a little Shadow/Highlight. Or multiple layers are used to airbrush zits and enhance the lighting look. It has to be a software problem. Anybody use Shadow/Highlight this way and get flicker and wierd shaded boxes?

You are entitled to your opinion, regarding the forums. I happen to disagree completely, but then that is MY opinion, and is not really germane here.
encouraging that maintenance by users, merging threads, marking solutions
Let's take a look at these:
Non-MOD's cannot maintain the forums. The only exception is that several Adobe employees have MOD consoles, and CAN maintain the forums, but they are not officially MOD's.
They do merge and also branch threads, and quite often.
Only the OP can mark a thread as "Answered," or award points. Even MOD's, and Adobe employees cannot do that.
This forum has NONE of those virtues, and Adobe looks lame as a result despite their disclaimers. So criticism is absolutely appropriate, notwithstanding the potentially good intentions of people who may or may not be volunteering their time with zero compensation of any kind.
Fair enough, though still your personal opinion. However, these product forums are not the appropriate place to point up the issues with the forums. There is a special location for that, the Forum Comments forum, which is fairly active, and is frequented by Adobe-Admin (John C.), who basically runs the forums. John C. is not a MOD, but I feel that he has a MOD console. Jochem van Dieten is the MOD. Any complaints that you have with the forums is best posted there, as they will be seen by people, who run the forums.
Note: sometime in Sept., if things hold, there will be new forum software, though I am not sure if the changes will impress you. Only time will tell.
I'm not sure what the caption "Community Professional" means, though, for Mr. Bellune. Professionals get paid as far as I understand the term.
The Community Professional is a badge awarded to fhose, who have taken and passed either one of the ACA tests, or the ACE test, or the ACI exam. Jeff is a video professional, as producer, videographer, and editor, plus an author of still the best book on Adobe Encore. He is not paid by Adobe. He might get an Adobe baseball cap, or sweatshirt, from time to time, but he gets nothing for his volunteer work on all of the PrPro sub-forums, plus the Encore forum. Besides his real-life business, his tutorials, and his MOD duties, he is also a highly valued contributor to all of those forums.
Lastly, I have no idea why you and Jeff keeping linking over to the help file for the Shadow/Highlight effect. There is absolutely no bit of information there that could lead to any resolution of this issue. It's an example of why people can get so inflamed here; the regulars purport to offer answers (a) without thinking about whether it will actually address the problem; (b) defending Adobe as a starting point; and (c) taking the easiest path of citing already-established generalities.
While I cannot speak for Jeff, my intention was to make sure that you had all of the necessary details on the Effect, so that when you file the Feature Request/Bug Report, you are not reporting OE, regarding a setting. As that does not appear to be the case, then I would file that Bug Report, with all pertinant details. As I said, that will very likely land on Todd's desk, and he will then be able to comment directly on what is being done to fix the Bug.
This is a bug, plain and simple. It dates back years. I have submitted repeated bug reports. Many, many other users have too. This is a simple case of Adobe letting the issue slide. Like a billion others. One tiny example: ever wondered what those Auto Black Levels and Auto White Levels buttons do in the Fast Color Corrector? Absolutely nothing. That's been the case for several years now. Great job, Adobe.
Per your suggestion, I did Google this Bug, and other than the posts, to which you replied, plus one other, did not find the many, many others.
"Billions," are your normally prone to hyperbole, or is this a one-off instance?
If all of the people, who you claim have filed Bug Reports, if there is a fix, I find it so very odd, that Adobe has been dropping the ball, and since forever. I have seen Todd, Dennis, Kevin, Jeremy, Wil and others, jump onto Bugs, and usually within an update, or perhaps two, things get ironed out. I'd file that Bug Report for however many times it is now for you, and then watch those PrPro threads, to get Todd's comments on getting things fixed. Be sure to give all possible details, so that Adobe can duplicate the Bug, and then begin working on it. Unlike some frustrated speculation, I know that Adobe takes Bug reports very seriously.
Good luck, and let's hope that Adobe finally comes through for you.
Hunt

Importing a .psd file - getting weird effects with drop shadows!! HELP!

Hi all,
I'm trying to import a psd file as my site and then animate each page.
I have each page set up as a different layer and am importing each page as a movie clip so i can animate each one separately.
The problem is that i have some images on each page that have drop shadows ( i have flattened these in photoshop so there is no longer the blending options layers attached). When flash imports all the layers it obviously has all of them visible at the same time initially.
When i then go through and separate each page to show at different points in the timeline, the images with drop shadows are now showing the image that was underneath it on import, instead of the drop shadow. Difficult to explain, but if you imagine a page with a square in the middle. That square has a drop shadow along two edges which is a slight shading. On a different page (on the layer underneath) there is just a big image of the sea (could be anything). When i import them, the page with the square is sitting directly on top of the page with the image of the sea. I separate these in the timeline so they show at different points, but when it's just the page with the square showing (the page with the sea isn't showing at this point), instead of the nice shading for the drop shadow, in it's place is the thin part of the image of the sea that was initially under the shading for the drop shadow....
Can anyone suggest what is happening and why, and how to quickly fix it in Flash. It took me AGES to import the whole site and all the pages, but now all the movieclips are completely useless because all the drop shadows are messed up with the images that were importing underneath them???!
I'm in a real rush here too, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

How was the original art created? Was the original RGB or CMYK? What is the resolution of the Photoshop file? Flash only works well with RGB and 72 pixel per inch resolution. If your original art is not set this way, then Flash will attempt to convert it as it imports it. Flash uses the sRGB color space. You'll get the best color translation if your Photoshop file is using this color preference.

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I have specific question about merging with Oracle BI Administration Tool.
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How to place multiple images in batch with drop shadow effects on room backgrounds at the same position?

I want to place multiple images of hand paintings with drop shadow effects on room backgrounds to make them look as if the paintings are hanged on the room walls. I know how to do it one by one, but that takes time and I want to do it in batch at once.
I am quite a beginner for adobe photoshop CS6. I belive such an automated task is possible through 'Automated Batch' function and/or 'Create Droplet' function. Kindly share your expert opinion.

If you want to go with Batch I would recommend creating an Action of more or less these steps:
• set the resolution to the same as the background image’s
• change the image from Background Layer to regular Layer if necessary
• convert it to a Smart Object
• add a Drop Shadow Layer Style to the image (do not use Global Angle)
• place the background image (File > Place …)
• move it behind the image layer
• Image > Reveal All
• make Selection from that layer’s transparency (cmd-click its icon in the Layers Panel) and use Image > Crop
• select and transform the image layer to fit the intended position
This would naturally work out best if the images had the same size and proportions.
For the reflection on the floor duplicate the image, flip it vertically, move it in position and reduce its opacity to maybe 10%.
Realistically you may have to hide it partially behind the pillows, a Vector Mask would be an option.

How to place multiple images of hand paintings with drop shadow effects on room backgrounds?

I want to place multiple images of hand paintings with drop shadow effects on room backgrounds to make them look as if the paintings are hanged on the room walls. I know how to do it one by one, but that takes time and I want to do it in batch at once.
I am quite a beginner for adobe photoshop CS6. I belive such an automated task is possible through 'Automated Batch' function and/or 'Create Droplet' function. Kindly share your expert opinion.

If you want to go with Batch I would recommend creating an Action of more or less these steps:
• set the resolution to the same as the background image’s
• change the image from Background Layer to regular Layer if necessary
• convert it to a Smart Object
• add a Drop Shadow Layer Style to the image (do not use Global Angle)
• place the background image (File > Place …)
• move it behind the image layer
• Image > Reveal All
• make Selection from that layer’s transparency (cmd-click its icon in the Layers Panel) and use Image > Crop
• select and transform the image layer to fit the intended position
This would naturally work out best if the images had the same size and proportions.
For the reflection on the floor duplicate the image, flip it vertically, move it in position and reduce its opacity to maybe 10%.
Realistically you may have to hide it partially behind the pillows, a Vector Mask would be an option.

Shadows/highlights is really welcome.

Surely, new LR yet looks great. Including shadows/highlights function which is in Photoshop would do some great job and I can explain why.
First of all it is important to see great difference when we apply this operation before special effects or after.
For example, I save a lot of time using new super features of LR3 like Sharpening and Grain adding. Pictures look just great. And what they need often is applying SHH. But if I do this in Photoshop after conversion it will also bring a lot of dirt and noise. I suppose that applying SHH together with sharpening and grain adding in LR could be done with much higher quality than after in PS.
Yes, nobody dies without it, but for now Grain feature looks really useful considering SHH.
I hope my thoughts are clear (sorry for my English)

Surely did, but it is totally different thing.
Recovery and FillLight are good the way they are.
In SHH it is possible to control radius and tonal width even separately of each other plus midtone contrast.
SHH itself maybe is the most important invention for digital photography during last years. It can bring back details hidden in dark and light areas without loosing contrast in those areas where you need it. For this you set radius. Recovery smooths the contrast which also is really important. It does not allow bright areas easily blow out while you can increase brightness. Together those functions are just the killers.
Recovery/Filllight cannot replace SHH.
I can still use it in Photoshop, but I will have to skip using new Grain feature, because SHH together with details also will bring back a lot of noise.

Shadow from layer behind

I have an image of a block pary with 38 people. Naturally the image of some people had to be changed or deleted or added, etc. The first and last layers started out as duplicates of the whole picture.
I needed to remove the face of someone standing in front of green shrubs. To do this, I
a. created a mask on the first layer removing the the face in question
b. copied a area of green shrub lager than the face removed
c. put that on a layer between the 2 layers
and, voila, the face disappeared into the shrub.
However, the part of the shrub on the second layer, which was larger than the masked face, appears as a faint shadow on the top layer!!
This was very disconcerting!! In order to complete the picture, I was forced to make the mask on the first page exactly the same size as as the patch of shrub on the second page!! Hence, no overlap, no shadow!!
The obvious question is why does the faint shadow appear on the top page from anything underneath it???
Chuck

Hi,
Thanks for the response.
I tried to get some screen shots but was unable. My cursor is inop
(subject of another query yesterday) . I tried redoing it on
another, smaller photo with only 4 people. I could not reproduce it
in that photo(???).
Will try again in original group shot when I resolve the cursor problem.
Chuck
>Re: shadow from layer behind
>created by
><http://forums.adobe.com/people/c.pfaffenbichler>c.pfaffenbichler in
>Photoshop Windows -
><http://forums.adobe.com/message/3946521#3946521>View the full
>discussion
>Could you please post a screenshot with the pertinent Panels visible?
>But basically if a lower Layer is discernible even though another
>Layer ostensibly covers it, that covering Layer must
>* be somewhat transparent of have a opacity or fill opacity below 100% or
>* have a Blend Mode other than Normal
have an edited Blend If-setting in the Blending Options

Merging with a shadow/highlight layer?

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