Help with Bevel and Emboss - Blending Options

Forum|Forum|2 days ago
August 4, 2026
16 replies
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I use a psd file on a transparent background wor watermarking. I layer this onto the photograph - right click the psd layer and select blending options - that has always then allowed me to control not only the opacity, but the volume / depth of that watermark. I ran a batch process yesterday where it did about 800 of these without error. The next time I went to do one - manually now, blending options would not respond so far as ant of the depth commands would go. All it would do was allow the layer to be flat - it would no longer create that illusion of being embosssed. etc. Nothing has changed to the best of my knowledge and I have assures that nothing is set on 32 bit, no opacity is set to 0, I have no idea why that function has suddenly come up lame. I have reset the styles in that menu, restarted the program, restarted the computer, but cannot get blending options to - Bevel and Emboss. Any ideas or thoughts ? Windows 10 / CS6 / everything the same so far as I know. Wored successfully 1,000 times yesterday. Thank for any help or suggestions - Strene

jane-e

Community Expert

@sterne200

Since it worked for you before, try clicking “Reset to Default in the lower right to get a fresh start.

If you come up with settings that work for you consistently, click “Make Default”.

Jane

sterne200Author

Known Participant

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

Shadow appears to be white with Blend Mode Multiply.

M

menaveed

Participating Frequently

Since it worked for hundreds of files and then suddenly stopped, I'd be curious about a couple of things before assuming the feature itself is broken.

Does the problem occur with every PSD, including a brand-new test document, or only with this particular watermark file?
Is the Layer Style preview updating in the dialog, but not on the canvas, or do the Bevel & Emboss sliders have no visible effect at all?
Has the watermark layer been accidentally converted to a Smart Object, linked instead of embedded, or had any Layer Style options such as Fill Opacity or Blend Interior Effects as Group changed?

One other thing I'd check is whether the document is still in the same color mode and bit depth as the files that worked previously. Since you mentioned nothing has changed, comparing one of yesterday's working files with one that's failing now might reveal a small setting that's easy to overlook.

If you can share a screenshot of the Layer Style (Bevel & Emboss) dialog and the Layers panel with the watermark layer selected, that may help identify what's preventing the effect from rendering.

Making a Difference since 2007 at SmashingApps.com as Founder & Writer

sterne200Author

Known Participant

Again - Thanks to everyone for helping here. Just to be clear - I believe the feature / funtion to be working - I can achieve the desired effect of giving dimension to the psd file ( or just plain type as I tried now to make sure this has nothing to do with smart objects, etc ) my confusion - or perhaps just misremembering ( ? ) - is that as soon as I clicked on - Bevel & Emboss, I would see the thing take form, abd then I would go to - Size - to determime how much or little dimension I wanted to give it. NOW - I have to lower that Fill Opacity before I can begin to see the effects of - Size. I just don’t rmember it as being that ( ? ). Maybe something fell on my head and I’m not remembering correctly, But I don’t ever remember having to first dial down that Fill Opacity to see the effect.

I feel like historically - I just clicked on Bevel and emboss - adjusted - SIZE, and then went back and fooled with Opacity and Fill Opacity ( Blending / Advanced Blending ) to get the desired effect. I don’t ever remember having to make those adjustments first before I could see where I wanted the Size / Px was going to need to be. I don’t remember having to dial the Fill Opacity way down before I could see the effect. In other words - if the ( default ) setting of Size is 5, as soon as I clicked on Bevel and Emboss I would see the selected type start to have dimension. Now, as I say - I have to drop fill opacity to see anyth of that.

Sterne

davescm

Community Expert

See replies further up this thread which explain why, with those settings, you are seeing what you are seeing.
Dave

davidsmforum

Participant

If it worked previously, it's likely a document or layer-specific issue. Check that the layer isn't locked or converted to a Smart Object, verify the document is still in 8-bit RGB mode, and try the same PSD in a new document to see if Bevel & Emboss works there.

sterne200Author

Known Participant

davidsforum / Jeff Arola,

Thank you for your reply. In talking with a friend - he had a thought, a good one it seemed - as the whole thing really only started after running this huge # of files thrrogh a batch process ; that couls somehow the program still be caught in that cycle. ( ? ) Sounds odd to think of - but what I did was set up a small folder of files and then run them trough that same bactch process - at which point the watermarking worked fine. Applied the artwork with the proper dimensional settings, etc.

I then opened an individual file and went to do the process manually - without the batch protocol - And this is what I found ;

I can get it to work and perform as it once did - BUT - Only when I begin dialing down that Fill Opacity, significantly.

My recollection is that in the past - as soon as I selected - Bevel & Emboss - I saw that watermark in a dimesnioned way - such as I show in the second example. But there, the Fill Opacity is dialed all the way down to 16.

That’s all I know. As I say my recollection is that in the past even if Fill Opcaity was set to 100, I would see the three-deimensional quality.

Whether I accidentally toggled something, or need to change something ( ? ) I would n’t know what. I have p[layed with different controls. Restarted the program, restarted the computer, reset defaults ( I believe ) within that Blending Options, operation.

So, really no ideas here. Pls let me know if you see anything, or can think of anything based on screen grabs.

Thank you again, Sorry I walked away for a day there to cool my brain,

Sterne