Digital Light & Color

Maybe I don't fully understand how input and preview images and source brush and target brush work with the clone tool but the side by side display button doesn't seem to work in the 21-August version.

OK, I guess I was confused. If one is working with only one image the side by side button is inactive. It is active if the source image is a different image from the one you are editing.

Your confusion suggests a useful feature, namely being able to clone from the input image to the output image (which is different from cloning from the output image to itself). Then there would be no need for the Overlap option.

My confusion was mostly because I didn't appreciate the significance of selecting a source image. As I now understand, the source image can be the image you are editing or another image entirely. I had used the clone tool several times and had not selected a source image at all!!

Because the clone tool operation can proceed in several ways depending on the images being used, you might consider expanding your help page to expound on this. Or maybe I just need to read what you already have written more carefully!!

To continue beating this almost dead horse, I just did the following experiments.

1. Open an image.
2. Invoke the clone tool.
3. Without selecting a source image, the Display Input and the Display Preview buttons work (i.e. they switch from the input image to the clone image) but the Side by Side button is inoperable. This is what gave rise to my original post.

And now

1. Select the input image as the Source Image.
2. A small thumbnail is displayed beside the Clone thumbnail and the Side by Side button is depressed and the large input and clone images are displayed side by side.
3. Now press either the Display Input or Display Preview buttons. You can now switch between the input and preview using these two buttons but the Side by Side button is no longer operable.
4. Now click on the small source image thumbnail. This gets you back to the Side by Side button being depressed and the input and clone images being displayed side by side.
5. Now back to step number 3 in which the Side by Side button becomes inoperable.

It seems to me that there is an inconsistency in the way these things work, particularly in the Side by Side button becoming inoperable.

My apologies for suggesting above that you further expound on the clone tool. I have reread the help page and I can't see how you could make it clearer. I must say that generally speaking your help pages and your other technical articles are a model of clarity.