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"Index" Image


swimmingly

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I have recently opened some images, and in the layers pallete; instead of saying "background" it says "Index" I have been unable to figure out why it says "index" and cannot do anything to image because every tool is greyed out. Whats up....I must be doing somthing wrong.
Thank you all in advance for any information
 
"Index" is a reduced gamut or colour range. The palette consists of only the colours used in the image. This cuts down file size.

To use these images you first have to convert them from Index to RGB.

Simply go to Image > Mode > RGB.

All tools and filters will now be available.

Al.
 
@Rantin

Hi and thanks for this hint. I found this post useful. ah, and I found this website looking for "index image photoshop" on google, this page appeared the first in the serp!
 
Can't Edit or Move Index Layer Because it is Locked

This question comes up a lot. You have an image that has an index layer instead of a background layer and the pixels are locked. You can't drag the layer onto another image and you can't edit the locked layer.

This is often the case with .gif and .png images that have been saved with a limited color palette to reduce file size. This saves the image in "indexed color" mode.

Changing the image mode to RGB will fix this, or you can use a selection tool to select the image or part of the image and then copy/paste it into a different document. This will work even if you can't drag the layer over to a different document. When the image is pasted in as a new layer it will be converted to the target documents color mode.

yvxBW.png
 
that was one of the first learning curses I encountered, with PS
 
Hello guys. I am very new to Photoshop as you will be able to tell from my frustrations with the software at the moment. I am wondering if there is any way to convert multiple images or even every image that I open from "indexed" or "grayscale" to RGB ? My goal is to be able to batch process multiple .png's from an Android ROM. I just need to be able to change the hue on all the images. I have done this in the past with "Gimp" one image at a time but this takes forever! Please Help !

I have been trying to figure this out all morning. I really want to purchase CS5 but at the moment I just feel like breaking my laptop so buying it wont do me any good...

Thanks in advance.
 
You can record and action to make the mode change on an entire batch of images. If you have a folder with various file types use the Conditional Mode Change function to change just the index images.
 
How come after I change the color mode the image still looks like crap. If I can figure out how to for sure convert them then I can move on and create an action to kick a s s and get hundreds of them done at once. Once I have the color mode to RGB I will need to set up an action to change the hue on a bunch of images like these.

This was sent from my Droid to so please forgive any spelling errors. I need to make four posts in order to post the image I'm haveing troubles with so hold on let me do that. Lol
 
stat_sys_battery_10025.png


Here is one of the battery.png's. I think this is indexed. That's the problem, there are hundreds of images and some are indexed and some are not... Maybe try and convert it on your end and see if you get the same issue as me?

Thanks a lot!
 
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12172h2.png here is what it looks like when its indexed and after I convert it to RGB ?

2s01eu9.png here is what its suppose to look like and what it looks like when I change convert it in GIMP... WTF
 
You have to remember... an index image has less gamut of colors... when converted to RGB it will show less colors thus fuzzy. The reverse has the same effect....
 
Well I guess my new question is why can the cheap not as good program "GIMP" convert these images correctly and the nice expensive, feature rich "Photoshop" not?
 
droidzforlife...I understand exactly what you are talking about. Most of the images in an andriod apk are either draw nine or indexed png's. The draw nine images are easy to figure out. Indexed png's are a different story. Sure, you can do Image>Mode>RGB but the problem happens when you open the image in PS. The image looks correct if you preview it in Windows, for example, but when you open in PS, all the quality is lost and converting to RGB doesn't do any good at that point.

So my question is this: Is there a way to convert an image prior to openingit in PS.

If anyone else doesn't understand what I'm saying about losing the quality when opening the image in PS, I can upload some examples.
 
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Well JoeDirt, if your using a PC, you can open the image in Paint and then do a save as and change the extension to JPG. If your using a MAC like I am, you can open the image in preview and change the extension to JPG.
 
Well JoeDirt, if your using a PC, you can open the image in Paint and then do a save as and change the extension to JPG. If your using a MAC like I am, you can open the image in preview and change the extension to JPG.

I thought about mentioning this in my post but I didn't. Yes you can open it in Paint and change the format. You can also just save it in the same format with Paint. But if your image is all white with a transparent background, then Paint is useless.

I actually just created a new thread with examples and I bring this up in the thread.

Here's the thread: http://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum...660-indexed-images-help-needed.html#post90357
 
"Index" is a reduced gamut or colour range. The palette consists of only the colours used in the image. This cuts down file size.

To use these images you first have to convert them from Index to RGB.

Simply go to Image > Mode > RGB.

All tools and filters will now be available.

Al.
hi and tnx a lotttttttttttttt...
 

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