Why is stuff always greyed out? Its really annoying. Usually there is some thing I have to do to make it not grey. what do I do!

And how can I make a layer a selection? Im still trying to transfer from using the gimp...

It is :(

no its rgb 8bit.

Moved to Graphics Help


When you made a new document, was the background content set to "Background Color" ?

I think the problem was just that it cant modify the selection when it is the whole thing. Because I clicke ctrl+a and then it was grayed.

When I do CTRL+A on Photoshop, the same thing happens to me. I think it's because you've used the entire canvas, and therefore many of the Select tools don't work (Expand and Feather). But I don't see why Smooth or Contract doesn't work. Weird...

Also, your selection isn't the regular "marching ants" selection. You see those tiny boxes on each of the four corners + edges of your selection? Usually that indicates that you're either on Crop or Free Transform, which usually limits the choices in Select. I don't know if this is contributing to the problem though.

I don't know why Ctrl+A does that but I would suggest taking the rectangle selection tool and selecting the document manually from now on, instead of doing CTR+A, and make sure you don't select the whole canvas.

Ya and even the shrink selection doesnt work. weird. and thanks.

I think that it's because you're using the selection tool on an empty layer which is both a bug, and anti-work mechanism. Photoshop doesn't allow you to select something that doesn't exist. Therefore, it won't let you use the same set of tools on selections that something is selected. If you're just trying to get a selection of the image with padding, then use the crop tool.

^ I just opened a photo and tried CTRL+A. Nada.

As Gigi said, have you tried doing whatever you're doing NOT in transform mode?

Can't you just hold CTRL and click on the layer thumbnail to select that layer?

^ That has nothing to do with the problem. There's no issue with selecting, but rather that some tools aren't usable when the canvas is fully selected.

I'm convinced you accidentally stumbled into some mode and the Select features aren't within the parameters for this strange mode. Did you try quitting and opening it up again? Dumb question, I know but this isn't a ton of information to go off of either.

^ Nah, I don't think that's the case since I have the exact same problem. Can someone else try the CTRL+A thing and see if the options are available?

EDIT// You should check this out. The posts #5 and onward are helpful. Says that CS4 "changes how selections behave when they touch the edges of the canvas". If you want to modify your selections for a full canvas, you should use the Rectangle Marquee Tool, set your feathering and do your stuff in Refine Edge, then make the selection (which, IMO, is a pain in the ass).

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2186432%3B...98E021DDE.node0

When I hit CMD + A it'll only have the border feature, however when I select an area with the rectangular marquee, not the whole canvas but just an area, all of the Select features are available for me to use.



EDIT: CMD = CNTRL (I have a mac)

^ Yeah same here. As long as I have even ONE pixel of the canvas not selected, I have all those options available again. I think Joseph has the same problem too. It's probably just a new (useless, annoying) feature in CS4.

Most likely yes. It is incredibly annoying though.

Or, what about make a selection randomly, right click on the selection with the Rectangular Marquee tool, choose "Transform Selection", then manually expand the selection to the entire canvas?