CS4 Filter Availablity

I have CS4 installed on my iMac and have a problem that I don't have with CS3 on my PC laptop.

My workflow starts with a RAW file converted to a .dng file and taken into Lightroom 2.0 where I make certain adjustments depending on the image. From there, I export the file to Photoshop where I do "more advanced" processing before saving the image back to Lightroom as a .tif. This is my basic work flow on both the iMac/CS4 and PC laptop/CS3.

When I go into CS4 on the iMac, I always find that only certain filters are available to me while others are not. Available filters include some but not necessarily all of Blur, Distort, Noise, Render, Sharpen, Stylize, Video, Other. UNavailable filters include all of Artistic, Brush Stroke, Pixelate, Sketch, Texture.

To the best of my knowledge, this does not happen on the PC/CS3 combo. Any idea what's up?

EdV wrote in post #9006354
I have CS4 installed on my iMac and have a problem that I don't have with CS3 on my PC laptop.

My workflow starts with a RAW file converted to a .dng file and taken into Lightroom 2.0 where I make certain adjustments depending on the image. From there, I export the file to Photoshop where I do "more advanced" processing before saving the image back to Lightroom as a .tif. This is my basic work flow on both the iMac/CS4 and PC laptop/CS3.

When I go into CS4 on the iMac, I always find that only certain filters are available to me while others are not. Available filters include some but not necessarily all of Blur, Distort, Noise, Render, Sharpen, Stylize, Video, Other. UNavailable filters include all of Artistic, Brush Stroke, Pixelate, Sketch, Texture.

To the best of my knowledge, this does not happen on the PC/CS3 combo. Any idea what's up?

There were some items missing from my CS4 when I installed (ie. Extract). I had to install them from the discs again. They're under "Goodies." Not really sure if this is the same issue you're having, but it fixed mine.

The filters that you mention are standard mostly in CS4. I would think that you have exported and saved your image as a 16bit image which does grey out a number of the filters. Check that under yoru Image-mode menu choices and change to 8 bit and you will have all of the filters that are standard. There are some scripts that you have to grab from the goodies folder of your install disks. One example of this is the contact sheet II.

ssim wrote in post #9006543
The filters that you mention are standard mostly in CS4. I would think that you have exported and saved your image as a 16bit image which does grey out a number of the filters. Check that under yoru Image-mode menu choices and change to 8 bit and you will have all of the filters that are standard. There are some scripts that you have to grab from the goodies folder of your install disks. One example of this is the contact sheet II.

That was it. Thanks. Any simple answer to why it has to be 8-bit for the filters to works? What good is 16- or 32-bit then?

ssim wrote in post #9006543
The filters that you mention are standard mostly in CS4. I would think that you have exported and saved your image as a 16bit image which does grey out a number of the filters. Check that under yoru Image-mode menu choices and change to 8 bit and you will have all of the filters that are standard. There are some scripts that you have to grab from the goodies folder of your install disks. One example of this is the contact sheet II.

Now that I re-read the OP, I see what he was talking about. I mis-read it. Makes sense, now.

EdV wrote in post #9006609
That was it. Thanks. Any simple answer to why it has to be 8-bit for the filters to works? What good is 16- or 32-bit then?

32 bit files are, as far as I know, used with HDR, not with "normal" files. But in general, the 16 bit files and the 32 bit files retain the wider range of tonal values that allow some latitude in smoother adjustments and range.

I generally do all I can in 16 bits and, depending on the project, likely save a 16 bit "project" before converting to 8 bits for "specialty" things. I may or may not save an 8 bit tiff, depending on the amount of work and how it affects the final jpeg output.