I bought and downloaded Add-O-Matic for PSE6.  I have now downloaded some
actions with PSE6 closed and thought they would automatically be in PSE6
when I opened it.  They are not.  What am I doing wrong?

Elements 6is a different - read: persnickity - beast when it comes to adding extras to the program. It’s like a kid who won’t eat his vegetables. The database is built differently than all other previous versions, and it rebuilds itself automatically when new items are added and referenced via .xml files. Add-O-Matic creates the required .xml and puts the add-on files in the correct place, but occasionally the database engine refuses to see them. Several folks have asked this question ever since the Add-O-Matic for PSE6 was released last October, and they insist that the files aren’t in Elements. Some are nastier than others - - -

Yep - they’re in there alright. They’ll show up in the Effects palette. Use the drop menu there to show “Added Effects”, and you should see the actions you’ve added in that palette (although they won’t have a thumbnail - to make the Effects’ names show up, check out this video post).

Sometimes, though, they won’t show up immediately. Click away from the effects section (go into Layer Styles, for example), then click back into the Photo Effects palette. Often, they’ll show up then. You could also click into the “Show All” section using the drop menu and then back to Added Effects. Elements is kind of weird about things in that regard…

If they still don’t show, you’ll probably have to force the database to rebuild itself.  It’s pretty easy to do, but does take a few minutes. Here’s how to do that -

• (By the way, the file paths below are for Windows XP - if you’re using Vista, substitute C:\Program Data\  for everywhere you see C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ )

Turn on hidden folders’ visibility first by clicking Start>Control Panel>Folder Options, and choose the “View” tab. Scroll down to the section concerning viewing hidden files and folders, and toggle it ON. Click OK enough times to exit that dialog.

Then navigate to

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0

and locate the file “ThumbDatabase.db3″  - rename it “ThumbDatabase.db3.OLD”

Next, navigate to

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\Locale\en_US

and rename the database file there, too, from “MediaDatabase.db3″ to “MediaDatabase.db3.OLD”

Quit all other programs (email, web browser, etc.) and restart Elements.

Your entire database will be rebuilt, and this will take a bit of time (around 15 ~ 20 minutes or so, maybe a bit more or less depending on computer speed, other utilities running, how much stuff you’ve added to Elements, etc.)

When it finishes, restart Elements again, and all your menus should appear populated.

Let me know if that solves it - and the most important step is to allow the database ample time to rebuild. Turn it on, and go away & do something else for 15 - 30 minutes, then restart PSE -

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i’vegot two more actions for you, all wrapped up in a single downloadable zip file.

These emulate the look of an old faded snapshot, using the same Curves preset setting I uploaded a little while back.

The first action (”Faded Print”, shown with a before-and-after split to the left) simply runs the Curves setting and adds a small white border around your image, while the second (”Faded Polaroid Print”, to the right) goes a bit further, slightly rotating the image and adding a moveable drop shadow to it.

(By the way, both of the images were taken this past July 4th in Chicago - probably the best place in the entire US to spend a Fourth of July! There’s nothing like watching fireworks over Lake Michigan with 1.2 million other people!)

Anyway, throw them at your Add-O-Matic and you’ll be fading your images in no time at all. I like to run the Faded Print action twice on some images, to really give it that old faded look. Use some grunge brushes and your eraser to add some blotches where the fade is more pronounced - experiment with them! There’s really no right or wrong way to use them; they’re just tools to get you on your way.

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The Graffi Bundle Packs are on sale for both Photoshop Elements 5 and 6 - at whopping 33%, too. This is a great way to grab all of the action sets at once: Handy Actions 3, B&W Lab 3, Glam Photo 3, Fun Foto FX 3, and Sketchy-Paint 3 as well as the ever-popular Add-O-Matic. The bundle includes over 240 actions for the Elements 6 version and a staggering 257 actions for the Elements 5 version! (By the way, the Elements 5 version also installs to PSE 3 & 4, too.)

(Unfortunately for Mac folks, the installers are for Windows. Contact me, though, and I can send a “Mac Pack” to you with the install instructions.)

There have been some minor tweaks to each of the packs over the past few weeks. No new actions or effects have been added, but some coding changes were made on the inside. Now they’ll install even more seamlessly than before, especially with Photoshop Elements 6 and its particular database & .xml requirements.

To celebrate (at least I’m celebrating until Elements 7 is released), these action effect packs especially made for Photoshop Elements (which sell separately for over $70) are now going for $47.95.

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Probably the most popular & easiest of all Photoshop / Elements “glamour effects” is a simple Overlay Diffusion.

It’s very simple to do - just duplicate your background layer, change the blend mode to Overlay, and blur it a bit. The result will be a slightly dreamy, extra saturated soft focus effect - perfect for portraits or boudoir photography.

There’s an action for you down below that will do these steps for you. If you like the effect, you really should check out Glam Photo 3 which has another 2 dozen or so glamour-type effects. Best of all, it installs automatically to Elements 5 or 6 with just a click (Windows-only, though - ).

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I’ll

be out on vacation the week of June 30 ~ July 6.

If you have any questions about any of the Graffishop things, I probably won’t get right back to you as fast as usual, since I’ll have limited email access, but I’ll respond as soon as I get back next Sunday.

In the meantime, I put Glam Photo and B&W Lab on sale for 25% off each - enjoy!

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