[Mastrap]

On my Mac at home I'm running 10.5.1. I've bought a copy of PhotoShop CS some years ago and it's been doing just fine for home use. I have no real reason to upgrade, especially as I have access to later versions on my Mac at work, should I ever need them.

Last year I bought a copy of Alien Skin's Exposure plug-in for PS. It simulates film grain and other darkroom settings and is a pretty cool tool. Expensive too, for $200.00, but it was worth it for me.

After upgrading to 10.5 the plug-in stopped working. Alien Skin posted a message on their website, telling users to expect upgrades in November. Not ideal, but hey, what's a couple of weeks. I then forgot about the upgrade until tonight. True enough, there's an installer waiting.

I grab it, install the plug-in and launch PS. Nothing shows. I try again, same result. I fire off a mail to support:

I hope that you can help me. I am running PhotoShop CS on 10.5.1
After downloading and installing the Exposure update the plug in has now disappeared completely from my filter menu.

Would you have any idea what might be causing this? I am enclosing a screen shot that shows where the files live.

The answer:

I'm really sorry to say, but our plug-ins are not recognized by
Photoshop CS1 in OS X Leopard. Only Photoshop CS2 9.0.2, CS3, Elements
4.01 and Fireworks CS3 see our plug-ins in Leopard.

What? I reply:

Hi Jerry and thanks for the extremely quick reply.

So I am out of luck? $200 down the drain or back to OS 10.4?

He comes back with:

If you still have a Mac with 10.4, I'll be happy to send you a download
link for a slightly older version of Exposure. Again, I'm really sorry.

And I write back:

I don't - I am running 10.5 and can't, as I am sure you'll understand, keep a Mac around running an old OS only to run a plug-in in PhotoShop.

I also can't afford to update PS at this moment in time.

I am extremely disappointed by your decision not to support CS any more. I do feel that purchasing Exposure has been an expensive mistake on my part. While I understand that software does become obsolete in time I am of the opinion that PhotoShop CS is still widely used and that your decision to abandon those users who have parted with their cash for your product have every right to feel angry and abandoned. I take it that my copy of Snap Art, another $99 purchased six months ago, is also only good for the trash now?

Am I right to be pissed? Is CS really that obsolete? Should I stop whining and just upgrade PS, which for a home machine would be expensive? Should I ask for some money back - that guy has $300.00 of mine for a product that became obsolete less than 12 months after he sold it to me? Is he reasonable? Does it just suck to be me?

What would you do?

[bearcatrp]

I would ask for a at least half of it back.

[TETENAL]

Adobe does not support PhotoShop CS on Leopard, so I think it's unreasonable to expect a third party to support this configuration. It might even not be under their control that it doesn't work.

[Chuckit]

I still use CS as well, but not any Alien Skin products. I wouldn't say they ripped you off, but that is unfortunate.

[moonmonkey]

This thread title is wrong it should read "Adobe drops CS plugin support in 10.5"

Its hardly the fault of a small plugin developer.

[forumhound]

Try running Photoshop in Rossetta mode (in finder, click get info on Photoshop.app). This is how I got some of the other old AS plugins to work. But after getting CS3 I have no cash for any plug upgrades like that. Works with Image Doctor, Splat, and Zenoflex...not sure about the others, but worth a shot. Instead of Exposure, I always liked Digital Film Tools 55MM better. But I think they are owned by Tiffen now and repacked. Same deal there for me, in Rosetta mode it all works. Cheers!