Mike,
(By "flood fill" do you mean the Paint Bucket tool?)
I cannot duplicate the trouble you describe.
With an image opened containing only a background layer, I make a selection with the Magic Wand (or any other selection tool), and then click with the Paint Bucket tool, and the selection is filled with my foreground color.
I also tried Edit > Fill and am successfully able to fill the selection that way, as well.
If that’s what you’re trying without luck, you may wish to reset Elements’ preferences. Hold CTRL-ALT-SHIFT (if you’re on a PC. Mac uses other key names) as you start PSE. Keep the keys held until you get a confirmation screen to reset preferences.
HTH,
Byron
This sounds suspiciously like pilot error, which is to say I’ve experienced this sort of thing before. 🙂 Usually the issue is that the active layer isn’t the layer that I thought it was, so I made a selection that wasn’t actually targeting the correct layer. Repeated attempts to fill had no apparent affect. Eventually I discovered that a layer lower on the stack was active, and when I turned off the intervening layers my fill was dutifully occurring; it just had been out of sight.
I would suggest that you make sure that your active layer is the layer your intend. This usually solves these sorts of problems.
Mark
Thanks for your interest and comments Byron and Mark.
As far as it being a different layer, I have only one "background" which is not locked. But I quite agree that it must be pilot error (in the UK we usually call it finger trouble) because I get the same problem in PhotoShop 7 and ACDSee 6 and PaintShopPro 8. The curious thing is that in PSP8 I did manage to fill one bubble but the second and subsequent ones on the same image refused to fill!!!
I’ll certainly try resetting the preferences – in fact I’ll try anything anyone can suggest as I’ve tried RTFM and got not very far.
Again many thanks for you help.
Hey Mike, sounds like your ready for a change of pace. Try this: in the custom shapes look for ‘talk bubbles’….got to be one there that you can use to cover up the existing ones on your image. Then go ahead and type away 😉
Just a freeform way of saying " friggit I’ll do it myself "
Thanks Jodi, I just love a pragmatic approach to a problem. Your solution is brilliant!! Haven’t tried yet, but you can bet I will.
Jodi,
I found "custom shapes" and "speech bubbles" (using XP Pro search) but when I open the file I get the last PSE image I opened but no sign of a selection of bubbles. How do I see these bubbles and make a selection, please?
It’s OK I found them, but I’d still like to know why Fill doesn’t work – or, more correctly, what I’m doing wrong!!
Mike, I don’t know. You can send me the file if ya want and I’ll check it out. Click on my name up here for my email adress.
Hello Folks,
Just to let you know that I’ve finally found a way to make Flood or Bucket fill work.
The secret seems to lie in the fact that my files are scans with speech bubbles containing handwritten text and these bubbles seem to look like two "layers" – one with the bubble on and a second with the text on it. I discovered quite by accident that, having selected the bubble with the Magic wand tool, the Eraser tool wiped out the bubble "layer" while leaving the text on its "layer". I then Deselected the bubble and could then erase the text sparately. The Magic wand then selected the bubble and Bucket fill filled it.
Of course, with hindsight, I now realise that Fill appeared to not work only because the text stayed there (on its own little "layer").
I need hardly say that the Layer palette shows a single Background layer.
Thanks again to all, but especially Jodi with her "friggit, I’ll do it myself" suggestion which made me persist.
