Action Palette Text Effects Stuck ON!

[angelique...@adobeforums.com]

Help! I wanted to add effects to text. The "help" feature said that the easiest way is to use the text effects in the Action palette.

The instructions were very sketchy. I tried, and didn't see any effect, so I closed that particular file and went on to something else.

Well, I guess I did SOMETHING, because now those effects seem to be permanently stuck ON. I've tried everything that I can think of. I even deleted all effects from the Actions palette (apparently you can restore the defaults later.) No effect!

The effects that are haunting me are "rippling water" and a shadow. Also, if I click anywhere in a .gif with the text tool, instead of creating a new text layer, it "highlights" the entire image.

What can I do?

[angelique...@adobeforums.com]

UPDATE!

Okay, I now appear to have a .gif problem! I restored my original Actions palette, and somehow that seemed to take away effects for .psd and .jpg files. However for .gifs, this is what happens:

If I open .gif file, the text has the effects.

If I CREATE a brand-new .gif file, I still have a problem, but of a different sort! The text is greyscale and the background is coral! No matter what!

[Ed Hannigan]

A!re you sure you are using the Actions palette? Sounds like Layer Styles to me. I can't make much sense of your post.

[angelique...@adobeforums.com]

Yes, it's actions. After reading more about Photoshop on the web, I see that it makes far more sense to use Layers for text effects. However, if you ask Photoshop's Help feature about text effects, they suggest using the Action palette. You get to it through Window: Actions.

[Ed Hannigan]

Yes, but it doesn't make sense that doing something to the Actions palette would reverse what is done to a file by an action. An action is just a series of operations that are performed in a certain sequence.

And of course, once applied and Saved and Closed, you can't undo anything. There's no turning them on and off.

[jca...@adobeforums.com]

And it may need to be said here, but actions are really just a series of layer effects. If you apply an action to a layer then go back and make changes to the action itself, that will have no effect on anywhere you used that action previously.

As Ed said, if you aren't working with layers when you apply any action, it's permanent unless you undo it before saving and closing the file. The same holds true if you are working in layers and the action you apply is not to a smart object layer.

If you're just messing around trying to find a look you like, it's always a good idea to keep a copy of the file you're working on in a different folder.

[Ed Hannigan]

Welll...Actions don't have to have Layer Effects in them. Any series of operations can be recorded as an Action.

[BJNicholls]

The new CS4 help feature is a dog's breakfast and you never know what kind of misleading or non-applicable tidbits it'll disgorge into your browser.

[John Joslin]

Did that help anyone?

[jca...@adobeforums.com]

Oh right. Sorry, Ed. Got a bit confused with all the stuff PS can do. Guess I was thinking Styles. Everything else is still right, right?

[L_Wh...@adobeforums.com]

I understand what's going on because I'm having the same problem. I used a filter from the effect's palette. Now the effects palette stays permenantly "on" -- for example I can no longer nudge my pictures. I click on the move tool, and then click on my picture and then try to nudge them using my arrow keys -- but instead I am seeing the different effects thumbnails highlight back and forth as I go back and forth with the arrow keys. I can not get "out" of the effects palette without shutting photoshop off and starting it agian. My help also will not load at all.. I click on it and nothing happens, which I know is not normal. Do I just need to unistall and reinstall photoshop? I'm about to that point.