Failure to plug into photoshop CS5.1

Everyone having this issue: please download and install Filter Forge 3.007. Make sure Photoshop is not running when installing the plugin.

Well, FF 3.007 is an improvement, but still not working as it should. Using Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Adobe Lightroom 3.6, I was able to open FF from LR. Unfortunately, FF did NOT open the image I sent it!

The matter is even worse working from PS CS 5 Extended 12.0.4 x64. I tried to send FF a layer that was a duplicate of the background layer. FF opened, but the image I'd tried to send was still on top It was impossible to apply anything from FF to the image because the image I'd sent was in the way. FF was on top according to the menus, but it wasn't really.

At least it's not crashing, but it's still not working as it should! As a retired developer with over 25 years of experience in the business, I'm very dismayed at the apparent lack of quality assurance for FF 3.007! Did you people really test the new version before releasing it?

Ronald Pollack: Launch FF and go to Tools > Updates

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Craig Lewis wrote: Using Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Adobe Lightroom 3.6

Why did you imagine Filter Forge would work here? Never we've supported LR as a host application.

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Craig Lewis wrote: I tried to send FF a layer that was a duplicate of the background layer. FF opened, but the image I'd tried to send was still on top

We're unable to reproduce it. Please provide step-by step instruction on reproducing it (there are several ways to do that in Photoshop - I need to know yours.)

Note that I am using the "Professional Edition" of FF.

1. Open image in PS CS 5. (12.0.4 x64)
2. Select Filter > Filter Forge > Filter Forge 3...
3. See attachment for result.

Note that FF is shown as the active application. However, the original image is shown on top. Also note that PS's palettes are not visible. Clicking on the image turns the cursor into a spinning "beachball". Clicking in the FF window does not bring FF to the front. Returning to PS via Cmnd-Tab, with FF still active, does not allow the repositioning of the original image, with the spinning beachball still the cursor.

Another indication of my dismay at FF's programmers' knowledge of or willingness to adhere to Mac OS standards is that FF does not respond when an image file is dropped on it in the Finder. Perhaps Finder is not on the list of "supported host applications"? Where on the FF web site is the list of supported applications?

Thanks.

What address should I send the psd?

Are people still experiencing this problem? I had the same issue, but the solution was easier than I first thought... btw I'm using Lion 10.7.3, Photoshop CS5 Extended 12.0 64-bit and Filter Forge 3.007, if that is useful to know. Anyway, read on...

1. Right-click on Filter Forge app folder in Applications -> Get Info -> click the padlock icon in the bottom right corner and type in password to unlock the permissions menu.
2. Sel ect your user from the list. If it isn't there (mine said "loading"), just click the + symbol and add your user. Then choose read and write permission for that user. Click the padlock icon when you're done editing to save your changes.
3. Open the Filter Forge app folder now, and double-click InstallPlugins terminal icon. This will auto-detect your host apps and plug right into them - which the installer, for some reason, didn't do in the first place. Close Terminal again.
4. Open Photoshop, open Filter Forge fr om the Filters menu, type in name and serial (or buy license if you haven't already), and begin using this wonderful plugin.


That's all I had to do to get mine to plug into the host app. Hope it helps you!

- Thomas T.


EDIT: On a side note; my permission menu had three "users", but the top one - my user - only said "loading" in grey letters. I had to select that one, click the minus (-) symbol to remove it, add it again, then choose permissions. Just in case the same thing happens to someone else.

I've given up. I've had the same problem and there has been no communication fr om FF. All was well until I upgraded to a new Mac running 10.7 and CS5. Neither were particularly new releases by then. But FF would not, and will not work. I'd just recently paid for the upgrade to FF3, and, boy, do I feel ripped off. I have wasted hours on this, pouring over the advice in the forums. I have the permissions correctly set. I have uninstalled and reinstalled...if I try to open it in PS, it crashes. It briefly worked, but not well (it would make windows freeze, with FF opening behind everything wh ere I couldn't see it), but now it won't even do that. I've sent pleas for help through the contact form on this site and have not gotten a response. My solution was to go to Alien Skin and by their suite of plug-ins. I used to love FF and would still like to use it, but it's impossible now. It should not be this hard to get it installed. It should not be this hard to get it to work...in fact, it should just work. This is ridiculous. I'm enjoying Snap Art from Alien Skin, seeing as I can't use the Filter Forge I paid for anymore. Infuriating. And ignoring tech support queries on a product that people pay a considerable amount of money for is not ok.

Thanks Craig. Truth is, it's an extremely inconvenient workaround, for me, to use it as a standalone. It used to work so well, altering a single PS layer if I wanted. Now, with the standalone, I can't even open a .psd file. Jpg only. It makes it much harder for me to do what I want to do. The Alien Skin plugins are different, and ideally would make a nice enhancement to go along with FF, if FF worked, but at least the Alien Skin plugins seamlessly integrate into my work flow. It's better than the near-nothing I've got with Filter Forge. But I agree, FF--when it works--can do a lot more.

You explained above earlier, very well, what the problem is with the window appearing and then freezing under the file you're supposed to be working on. I couldn't believe they claimed they couldn't reproduce it and made it sound like somehow it was something to do with a particular .psd file. I'd also written to them about this very same problem. This can't possibly be a rare bug.

I used to love FF so much, I made a point of mentioning FF on Flickr whenever I'd used it in a picture. I followed them on Facebook. I really, really want to like this company and this product. But now... I have enough other things in my life to frustrate me. I don't need this too.

I am genuinely glad for you that you've found a workaround you can use. In a desperate pinch I might do the same, but I'd much prefer to use it as part of my PS workflow. The integration into the other software is what sold me on it.

It's not inexcusable if you accept that FF is Windows-centric and that Mac support is an afterthought. It's a shame that they couldn't figure out how to replicate the problems that some Mac users are having and apparently have dropped the issue from their bug list. The workaround that I use is acceptable to me, but not to others. Maybe when FF4 is released they'll have fixed the issue--probably accidentally.