Why cant I get my Move Tool to work?

Hello,

I have a trial version of CS6.
I was trying to put together a little sports poster for my son's basketball team and I am having issues with the move tool. Not content aware but the "regular" one.

I had the JPEG file open for the background. I selected the players from individual images and made "cut-outs". I then dragged them onto the background file but after that I was not able to move them around the image. They are just stuck.

There is a strong possibility that my old PC is just too slow and old for this but I was able to move the "Cut-outs" on the original file at first but even that stopped working once I dragged them over to the "poster". So it very well may be the user error.

What do you all think?

Are the players on the layer named "background"?

I don't believe that layer can be moved. If that's the case, you can click on the background layer in the layer pallets, pres Ctrl+j to duplicate it and then delete the layer named "background".

After you put them in the layer over the background, select that layer, have your Move tool selected, and do a Ctl-A (Select All) and see if that doesn't help...?

Robert, yes those layers are named background. I am also having the same problem with a team name I created as a layer on the background file. So not sure that's it.
I just got home and will give it a shot anyway.
Thank you both.

doidinho wrote in post #15651393
If that's the case, you can click on the background layer in the layer pallets, pres Ctrl+j to duplicate it and then delete the layer named "background".

No real need to do all that, just double click on the Background layer and choose OK in the New Layer popup window.

In CS6 if I try to move the Background layer it gives a popup saying it can't be moved because it's locked.

OK.

Layers with cut-out players are named Background copy. I just duplicated one of them and still was not able to move that one. None of them are locked (at least as far as I can tell) except for the background one.

tony
Ctrl+A selected whole canvas. I wasn't trying to move the whole thing. only individual players that are on their own layers.

Make sure you click the layer you want to move (the thumbnail of it) in the layers palette.

It sounds like you may have the background layer selected (which can't move).

Perhaps "click the thumbnail of the layer you want to move" would make more sense than saying select.

Can you do a snapshot of the Layers window so we can see what you have there as far as icon?
I say that because you say that you aren't sure if it's locked, "as far as I can tell", maybe we can see something.
Make sure the LOCK icon is unlocked, you may have inadvertently locked it somehow.

Randy

I know exactly what you mean Robert and its not working.

Randy: no lock on any of the layers in question.

Here is the shot of the layers panel

Mike, let's start with your background image, and say you want to copy and move part of that image:

Open the "background" image.

Select the element you would like to make a copy of (Ctl-C)

With the background layer selected, do a Paste (Ctl-V)

With the "Layer 1" (the layer with the pasted object) Select the Move tool, and then drag the object over to another part of the image.

Did that work?

[COLOR=Navy]I don't see anything at all wrong, so it at least appears to be O.K. in the Layers part. Maybe it's something in your Preferences, it's been so long since I worked on a Mac that I might be missing something. One thing I know for sure, I have heard of this in the past, but I can't remember the outcome... Getting old sucks.

EDIT: Is your "Use Shift Key for Tool Switch" in your Preferences checked?
Another thing too, have you had this working before, or is this one of the first times this has happened? The reason I ask is we need to know how long you have had this program and how long this has been going on, in other words, are you a newbie at this, or experienced? That can make a difference...

Randy

Why are your layers containing the "cut outs" named "Background Copy"? If I open a JPEG (your Background image, for example) and then open a second JPEG (an individual player picture from which you are going to extract at "cut out") and select a piece of the 2nd image and drag it into the 1st image, the drag and drop creates a new layer in the 1st image, above the "Background," called "Layer 1" - the generic name for a new layer.

So how exactly are you bringing your "cut outs" into the "Background" file? I can see your layer stack screen shot, but all of those layers named Background Copy... I'm not clear on how they got those names. There are a bunch of different ways to create a layer with a cut out from one file and then bring that cut out into a another file with the cut out transparency preserved, but none of them rename the new layer in the destination file "Background Copy" - it is Layer 1 (or another indexed number). For example, that layer with the little icon that looks like a sheet of paper - that's what you get when you "Place" a file into the destination file. Not that it should matter, because that Placed layer should still act like a layer, with the ability to move it, etc.

Have you tried clicking on the Lock (position) or Lock all button and clicking on it again (to unlock) and seeing if that frees up the layer?

kirk

WOW

I just closed the file and shut down CS6. Reopened it and now everything works again.
I know I have done this before.
maybe the computer was out of resources?

I feel stupid now having to bother all of you only to get it to work with something so simple.

Thank you very much for taking your time.

Sometimes the proverbial CTRL-ALT-DEL solves everything.

kirk

smyke wrote in post #15652689
WOW

I just closed the file and shut down CS6. Reopened it and now everything works again.
I know I have done this before.
maybe the computer was out of resources?

I feel stupid now having to bother all of you only to get it to work with something so simple.

Thank you very much for taking your time.

At least it wasn't something really mysterious or unsolvable.
If you have an old computer it can do stuff like that, (and more) but more often it might be avoided if you have your scratch disk set-up correctly, (separate hard-drive) or, enough RAM. I don't know what you have set-up, but it'd be a good idea to check that out now, if you can.

I'm glad that you got it going though.

Randy