Jun 22
Answers to small Illustrator and Photoshop problems
2009 at 09.45 am posted by Veerle Pieters
When using Photoshop or Illustrator on a regular basis, whether you are a beginner, intermediate or pro user, you often bump into small problems that you would associate with illogical behavior and where you wonder “Why does this happen? Why doesn’t it just do what I want it to do”. They become little annoyances if you don’t know the immediate answer to.
As soon as you know how to solve them, you see things clearer and differently. Today I though I share a solution to a few problems I encountered myself recently or in the past :
Photoshop CS4
Problem
When you move layers from one document to another in Photoshop, the angle of styles are changed to the default value of 120°.
Solution
Make sure the checkbox 'Use Global Light' is unchecked in the styles options before you start dragging the layers to another document. By default this option is always checked and so Photoshop changes the angle to the default angle is 120° if you drag the layers into a new document. If you're using another angle in your document and you leave this option checked then Photoshop will assume that the value you've entered is the global light angle for your entire document. Dragging layers with this option checked will change the angle to the value that is set in this document.
Problem
When you add a Layer Mask to a Layer that has Layer Styles applied to it, the styles are applied to the way the object is masked, but what you want is that the mask also hides the effects.
Solution
In the Layer Styles options, you can check an option 'Layer Mask Hides Effects' under the Blending Options.
Problem
Hm, maybe not such 'small' annoyance' is when you hit cmd/ctrl + option/alt + shift + S (or go to File > Safe for Web) and you get an error message 'The operation could not be completed'
Solution
I haven't found yet what causes this error because it pops up out of the blue. The only solution I've found so far, well, if you can call it that, is saving your document and relaunching Photoshop. Maybe this is just a bug I don't know?
Problem
When you duplicate layers in Photoshop the name of the layer will be changed with the word 'copy' at the end.
Solution
I don't have a 'good' one I'm afraid. At a certain version (not sure which one, CS maybe?) Adobe didn't touch the layer naming when you duplicate layers, but then in the next version they undid this change and I really wonder why. Why the hell would you want the word 'copy' (plus a number) in the layer name? Not sure about you, but I find this annoying. I always name my layers and keep things very organized. What I sometimes do now to avoid this from happening is: create a new document, drag the layers I want to duplicate in the new document and then drag the layers from this document back into my original document. Ridiculous, right? Call me obsessive, but I just can't stand the 'copy' in the naming and so I do this extra effort if if need to duplicate a bunch of layers.
Illustrator CS4
Problem
For some reason you don't see the gradient annotator anymore and you have no idea why and you don't know how to get it back.
Solution
Choose 'Show Gradient Annotator' under the 'View' menu. For a while I didn't know this was there (was looking in the wrong place, the palette options) and it drove me crazy because I didn't understand why it suddenly didn't show up anymore. I think I was just accidentally hitting cmd/option + G somehow while I probably thought I was ungrouping an object, I'm not really sure. Anyhow it's good that you can hide and show this as it can be in your way sometimes.
Problem
You're trying to join 2 anchor points but you get an error message saying that you must select 2 open end points.
Solution
It is annoying when you get this message, but the message is right: 2 open anchor point is what you need to select otherwise this won't work. If you have selected more then 2 points because there are 2 or more anchor points on top of each other, than here is what I usually do: I temporarily move this extra point out of the way by using the arrow keys, then select the 2 points I want to join and join them, and then move the other point back into its position using the arrow keys. Another option is to temporarily lock (cmd/ctrl + 2) the other anchor points or to hide (cmd/ctrl + 2) them. To unlock hit: cmd/ctrl + option/alt + 2 or to reveal hit: cmd/ctrl + option/alt + 3. Another thing, you can check the 'Don't Show Again' checkbox in the message, but I never do because I want to be informed when this happens.
Interaction between Photoshop and Illustrator
Problem
When placing a SmartObject from Illustrator into Photoshop via copy and paste, some transparent effects are gone. Transparency in gradients are opaque and some transparent modes are changed to normal (instead of multiply, overlay etc.)
Solution
The solution I found is to simply select and drag the illustration from Illustrator directly into your Photoshop document instead of copying and pasting it.
There you have it. Hope some of you had an 'aha' moment when reading this. I'm sure there a lot more of these little problems where it took you a while to get around them. Please don't hesitate to share them with us.
Want to learn more?
A good and not expensive source to learn more about Illustrator, Photoshop, or web design is by joining the Tuts+ sites. You get access to the source files for just $9 a month. So your ONE membership gives you access to members-only content for ALL the Plus sites. I've written a tutorial for the Vector Tuts section.
39served
1
I’m very grateful for the last solution. My transparency always disappeared. And that is so annoying. Never thought the solution would be so simple.
2
Some very useful tips here, particularly like the “layer mask hides effects” one!
Thanks.
3
“When you move layers from one document to another in Photoshop, the angel of styles are changed to the default value of 120°.”
It took me some time to realize who is “the angel of styles”. :)
4
Hello Veerle,
Nice tips! Thanks. I have another question. When you are using the shapetool in Photoshop and apply some effects to it and you are making another shape (layer), it duplicates the previous effects. Is there a setting to avoid this instead of turning them of in Style. It’s not really a problem but kind of irritating. Thanks anyway.
5
“the angel of styles” is the best typo I’ve seen in years :) If I believed in angels it’s be the angle of style I wanted looking over me.
p.s. never commented before but i love you site; both style and content, brilliant.
6
I hate those stupid duplicate layer titles too. This is especially annoying with creating iterations. At the end of each project I spend wasted time clicking and editing each layer name.
Once I am satisfied with a design, I’ll place all layers in one folder. Often my layer titles already have customized titles with numbers e.g. Button v2. Then I’ll duplicate that folder to make iterations in the same file. In the end, my layers are a total mess with confusing titles like:
Button v2 Copy 3
Button v3 Copy 2
It drives me insane!
7
“The solution I found is to simply select and drag the illustration from Illustrator directly into your Photoshop document instead of copying and pasting it.”
No way! Opens Illustrator and Photoshop. Sets the stage. Selects and drags. It works!
Sorry to have doubted. Thrilled to put this to use. And I’ll be letting the 250+ kids in my classes next year know about this and linking back here. Thanks!
8
re: layer mask hides effects - a solution I like is to put the layer w/ effects in a folder (group), and apply the mask to the folder. This also solves the problem of masks applied to smart objects- for some reason, these can’t be linked, but putting the smart object in a folder, and masking the folder solves the issue.
I rarely apply masks to individual layers anymore for the above reasons, and it forces me to organize my layers a bit more.
9
I’ve seen the “operation could not be completed” error, so very frustrating. I hate error messages that don’t even pretend to be helpful.
10
There’s a scripting option for removing all the ‘copy 27’ stuff from layers. Available on the Adobe Photoshop Forums.
Hope it makes your life easier!
Also, as a front-end developer, let me just send a big thank you to all the designers out there who are conscientious about their layer names. Nothing drives me crazy faster than opening up a PSD to slice it up to build a web site and finding ‘Layer 27 Copy 86’ in there.
11
Up till now i thought i was the only one facing such a technical difficulties “operation could not be completed”
12
Great list, but the solution of “Layer Mask Hides Effects” for masked layers with layer effects was definitely a big help for me. I’ve struggled with that for years!
13
Veerle, if you have more details on the “operation could not be completed” problem please get in touch. I’d like to see if we can track that one down. Thanks.
14
The Smart Object placing via copy/paste from Ai to Ps could have to do with your Clipboard Settings (Illustrator menu -> Prefs -> File Handling & Clipboard). If AICB is checked, it tells you that it does not support transparency.
Try un-checking this and then copy/paste. Not sure if this will resolve the issue, but a good place to start looking.
15
@Problem: When you duplicate layers in Photoshop the name of the layer will be changed with the word ‘copy’ at the end.
Solution: Try this:
script v2
and this:
script v1
16
Aha!... :-)
17
OMG…. Gradient annotator disappearing! I usually just end up redrawing my gradient! Nevermore! TY
18
RE: Duplicating layers in Photoshop
If your only duplicating a single layer, you can use the shortcut (cmd + option + j) which will bring up a dialog box when the layer is duplicated. Thus allowing you to quickly erase “copy” or give the layer a new name.
Unfortunately, the shortcut doesn’t work with multiple layers selected. At least, it doesn’t in CS3.
19
Great list, Veerle! I think the endpoint problem in Illustrator is what always drives me insane. I thought it was just me. ;-)
20
I also hate those annoying “copy” in duplicate layers.
I like to mantain all well organized in groups and well named layers, but that makes me work extra.
21
tom said:
I know what you mean, and so far I haven’t found a way to avoid this from happening.
David Howe said:
OK, will do. I’ve only encountered this once so far. I use ‘save for web’ (using the shortcut) a ton of times. If I notice a pattern I’ll sure let you know.
elliott said:
This was the case in CS3 (not being able to link SmartObjects to a mask) and I did the same, using a folder to link the mask, but this got resolved in CS4.
George Coghill said:
This was the first thing I tried, because I know this setting influences the way you copy and paste files from Illustrator. So I also thought my problem would have been solved, but it didn’t, the result was exactly the same. I also relaunched Illustrator to be absolutely sure the new preference settings are used. New CS4 gradient effects (using transparency) are broken and become 100% opaque. Dragging and dropping helped me out. Also double clicking the SmartObject and re-applying the effect in Illustrator, saving and go back to Photoshop fixes it. Of course, if you need to fix a ton of effects it’s not a solution.
22
nice tips
this is a great site!
more power
23
Another error i run in to frequently, is that i get a popup that says
“could not use X because of a program error”
or
“could not complete due to a program error”
I have found in both these cases, it is because i have accidentally not selected any layer in the layer panel to apply the action i am trying to perform, selecting the correct layer fixes the problem.
Its annoying because to begin with you don’t understand why it is happening as the error isn’t clear at all.
hope this info helps someone else!
24
Nice writeup, Veerle. One nitch: Use Littlesnapper or the system screen capture tools (CMD+Shift+4, then spacebar) to capture a window intact, with corners and shadow and transparency. It’s so… cut off right now :)
25
Joana said:
Yes it’s CS4 related, there is no Gradient Annotator in CS3. I used ‘Illustrator CS4’ as a title, though some of the things mentions are the same for other versions (e.g. joining points). Sorry for the confusion.
Sebastiaan de With said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but this time I didn’t bother fixing the corners. I understand what you are suggesting, but I use already border on all my images and so I don’t really like ‘the frame within a frame’ effect you get if you know what I mean. I just like to show the window, nothing else no shadow or part of the desktop/background etc.
26
And I thought that moving points with the arrow keys was my own secret discovery!
27
My problem with photoshop came in while i was trying to watermark folders of images at a time. Problem: the watermark every few pictures would show up in different locations too big or too small although there were the same size. never figured out the exact problem, but i found a little help with your tip for copying over layers. Great post and will bookmark it for future ps roadblocks
28
Thanks for the useful tips, have had continual headaches working out some of these solutions.
29
For the “The operation could not be completed.” error - I’ve found it happens quite a bit when I’ve saved to a usb, ejected the usb and then tried to ‘save for web’ again.
Solution: plug the usb back in!
Hope that helps…
30
Excellent solution, definately had an ‘aha moment’
many thanx
31
I can definitely relate to the Illustrator error message about selecting two open end points. I have seen that many times when I was trying to join a path, then what is frustrating is that you think you did select them and you try to join them, only to get the error again. Thanks for covering this one - it really helps!
32
You can use an AppleScript for duplicating layers too:
tell application “Adobe Photoshop CS3”
tell the current document
set myLayerName to the name of the current layer
duplicate the current layer with properties {name:myLayerName}
end tell
end tell
33
I use photoshop a lot for my Web Design Company. Recently I have been running into issues myself. But your website and this post is very helpful. I will continue to follow you on this.
34
You will get this message also if your guides are not lock and you have selected the points plus the guide. So lock your guides unless you really need them unlocked.
35
That annoying “could not be completed” error when saving for web happens, I think, when the last file saved for web is no longer where PS thinks it is. It seems that PS is looking for the last file that was saved and just falls apart when it can’t find it. It happens to me several time a month when working. I will save to my desktop, copy or FTP it somewhere else, then delete it. My next attempt to save for web results in that stupid error. It’s not a new error, it’s several versions old.
36
I think Nick is correct, I’ve ran into the Save For Web “could not be completed” bug a few times. Usually when I’ve deleted the folder of the last place I’ve saved an image.
37
For the “copy” name problem, when duplicating a layer hold down the “Alt” key when dragging down to the “new layer” button. (this unfortunately does not work for multiple layers, but I’m on it ;) )
38
nice solution, thanks.
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