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Nik Silver Efex Pro question...

Lisa

New member
I just got Silver Efex Pro, and have a problem with it. (I emailed Nik tech support almost a week ago, but haven't gotten a response yet, so I'm trying here.) From within CS5, I open SEP, tweak the image to my liking, and then click the "OK" button. However, my changes don't show up in the image - it looks the same as before. There are no additional layers (I checked), and SEP shows up in the History (I checked that too), but the image is still color. What gives? Am I doing something wrong?

Lisa
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
In Silver EFX settings do you have it set to process out to a separate CS layer?
 

simonclivehughes

Active member
Lisa,

I just tried it on my setup (CS5) and mine works fine. There don't seem to be any visible settings that might account for this. If you haven't already done it, I'd suggest re-downloading the SEP file and reinstalling it. That might cure it, and I suspect that when Nik gets back to you that they suggest this anyway.

Best of luck,
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Be sure you're applying the filter to a copy of your original background layer. The background layer is locked. typically I will make a copy of the background (command + J), apply whatever adjustment layers I want, select the copied original background and all the adjustment layers together and create a merged layer (command + E) THEN apply the Silver Efex to that merged layer.
 

Lisa

New member
Ahhhh, TRS, that would do it. I've been trying to apply it to my background layer. (Yeah, I know I don't use layers nearly as often as I should.) I'll give that a try when I get home, but that's almost certainly the problem.

Jack, I haven't delved into SEP's preferences, manual or tutorials yet. I've been trying to just get a first-order feel for the software on my own first. I'll delve into the preferences to look for what you suggest, and figure out how to set it up to work best for me.

Thanks much!

Lisa
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
The "prefs" are really basic and there isn't much to learn, but your issue is common and why I suggested setting prefs under "settings" to "separate layer." Here's the screen shot of the dialog I'm referring to. By setting this way, Silver FX will automatically created a new layer above the currently selected layer in CS:
 

Lisa

New member
Thanks for the suggestion, Jack, that's exactly what I want it to do. I'll change that and try it again.

Lisa
 
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