PSP 9 - Plugins Greyed-out Only Sometimes

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jaytea
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PSP 9 - Plugins Greyed-out Only Sometimes

Post by jaytea »

I have PSP 9 and quite a few plugins/filters. Sometimes the Plugins option under the Effects menu is greyed-out and sometimes it is not.
Why is this?
Thanks,
JT

HaraldHeim
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Post by HaraldHeim »

Many plugins only work with RGB images. So to apply plugins to them you need to convert them to 24-bit RGB first. In PSP 9 this is done with the menu command Image > Increase Color Depth > 16 Million Colors (24 bit).

jaytea
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Post by jaytea »

Oh, that makes perfect sense! I wasn't even thinking that it had something top do with the particular image - I thought maybe it was because I had too many plugins.
Now, I know! Thanks so much for answering my question.
Janet

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Re: PSP 9 - Plugins Greyed-out Only Sometimes

Post by HaraldHeim »

No, there is no way around it if the plugin only supports 24 bit RGB images. But you can convert the image back to its original color depth after applying the pugin.

If the image was 48 bit RGB previously, you loose color information by going to 24 bit and back to 48 bit. But if you do other effects or corrections in 48 bit and apply the plugin in 24 bit as the last step, the loss will be bearable. Almost all displays and printers support only 24 bit anyway and the difference between 24 bit and 48 bit cannot be distinguished by the human eye. 48 bit is mainly needed to compensate the effect of extreme image operations, which are not necessary for every image.

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