When I select the composite layer button and use my arrow key to navigate through the different options (Max, Min, Edge, etc) using the arrow key nothing happens. It does not move to a diffrent choice. If I set the layer choice manually to a different option, lets say from Replace to Min or Max, nothing happens either. There is no interaction between layers. The image is frozen. There seems to be a bug in 5.512. I opened my earlier version 5.4 and it works fine. Is there sometrhing I can do to fix this issue? I sent in a bug report and have not heard back. Thanks.
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As i told you in my email responce to this question last night, we changed the specific control widget used in lists for popup controls in V5.5.5. It used to be a combobox in previous V5.5 versions, it is now a custom menu push button in V5.5.5.
So we are talking about Composite in the Layers palette, as well as TG and IO editing popups in the MSG Advanced Editor. The popup controls in the main Editor are different, because hat isn't really a list, it's a groupbox.
We made this change because those combobox popups did not work reliably on windows, especially on Surface devices. So this bad behavior with those popup controls in lists on windows was a known bug we wanted to correct in V5.5.5.
And the change in the kind of popup control we are using in V5.5.5 does fix the bug issue on windows.
But the current incarnation of this new popup control (in lists only) does work a little bit differently. The change you make in the setting does not become active until the interface focus leaves the control. So when the popup control is highlighted, the control has the focus. When the highlighting goes away, then the control no longer has the focus.
So try clicking in the popup, change the setting, then either hit the return ky for the value to enter, or click in the layer at the far left (below the - header). In either case, the edited value becomes active and you will see the effect of that editing change in the user interface.
To make sure I understand: I need to change the composite layer manually, lets say from Min to Edge 1 (without using the arrow keys at all).. then hit the return button and I then see a change in colors etc. To see the next composite, from lets say Edge1 to Edge 2, I need to manually change from Edge 1 to Edge 2 and push the return key again. I did that and it does respond. I see a "new" image.
However I could never test the appearances to the alternatives from Min though Modulate Inversion in anywhere approaching the speed and ease of what I have done in the past. It would take me forever and effectively bring my creative process to a standstill. I could not use SA effectively. This also affects other creative choices and steps I make. Sometimes I mask an area (A), lets say a rectangular region, then Lum on the inverse region (B) to White. Then Inverse the mask for the layer beneath A and Lum that region (B) unprotected by the mask. to white. I can then combine those two to get a collage for the two layers in a minimum of time. To see the combinations of those two layers as one image of A&B together I would again need to hit hit return. I would never get anything done. We are not talking a about a small change.
If I only had push the return key once and could scroll though the rest of the composite choices to see the resultant changes, that would be not be so much to deal with. But to do it for every composite option manually would be virtually impossible.
Since SA3 I have used this composite method from everything from my Coney Island images, Jimmy GoGo to my current imagery. I love SA for what I have been able to accomplish usng it. But this new approach saddens me because it would make my color and collage imagery almost impossible to create.
Is it possible to create an option box to check for Mac or Windows for composite layer work in the same manner that one can use Classic Workspace or not in Photoshop?
So i totally get where you are coming from. Lets see what we can do.
We could make it switchable. But then it's a switch thing that only works on the mac, since you can't switch it on windows right now.
We're still dealing with resolving a fast minute vectorizer issue that is holding up the finalizing pf the new preset folder since it effects a bunch of them, so i will spend some time seeing if i can modify the new custom controls behavior to get closer to what you are looking for. So we can compare notes again on any change si make to the behavior.
Thanks!
I wanted to point out that we could just flip the popups in list behavior back to the old code (so using the comboboxes like we did before) on the mac side only. We can't revet to the old code on windows, because the version of the framework we use doesn't seem to really support comboboxes in lists anymore, they don't work properly, which is why the problem existed on windows in V5.5.4.
I made a conscious decision not to do that in the V5.5.5 late betas and final builds, because i wanted mac people to be forced to use the changes we made as well as the windows people, both for the purposes of testing the new approach and associated code in the new custom control, as well as taking into account that whenever we can use the same code pathway on both platforms, it is a better option from many different perspectives.
We can try to make some changes to the new popup controls to improve their behavior based on user feedback like this post. Obviously i would prefer 'live edit' behavior, it is my personal preference. I am also living under the constraint of not making any code changes to V5.5.5 that could propagate and effect the overall stability of V5.5.5. So whether those changes happen before the current release we are trying to get out the door very soon, or later, we can try to iron out any issues people have with the behavior.
No one here really uses the arrow keys the way Paul is describing, so that feedback is good. I'm unclear on how many people approach it that way, vs lets say just changing it to what you want. Having to hit return to have it become active is an extra step from the previous behavior.
This whole issue is fixed on mac and windows now.
Great!
JDs Synthetik is unbelievably!