Photoshop
LAST UPDATED:
08 November 2007 18:25:41 -0600
Changes to this page are IN PROGRESS
ZOOM IN, ZOOM OUT
We've been discussing techniques using the New View feature in
Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady. New views are integral to highly
magnified detail work. You can set a new view to actual size and blow
up the magnification in the original view. This allows you to apply
highly specific modifications while still seeing their overall effect
on the image at normal magnification.
To demonstrate, open an image and choose View, New View to create
an additional window. Then set the magnification to 100%. Next,
increase the magnification in the original image view. Now you can
pixel-edit the image in the magnified view while observing how your
changes affect the whole image.
WML, WAP, WBMP
Just when you think you've got a handle on the latest Web
technology and graphics, something new comes along. The latest
platform you'll soon be asked to design for is WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol).
WAP allows people-on-the-go to use wireless devices, such as
cellular phones, to surf the Net. Web pages for wireless devices use
WML (Wireless Markup Language) to deliver content. WML has quite a few
page width, length, and formatting limitations. In addition, WML and
WAP support only one graphics file format, WBMP. Although the WML,
WAP, and WBMP acronyms may be new to you, get used to them--most
likely you'll be designing for this new community of Internet users
very soon.
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WHEN WHITES ARE YELLOW...
"I've installed the Photoshop 5.5 update and uninstalled the
previous version. Now white appears yellow on my monitor (although it
seems to print all right)."
Most likely, you uninstalled the Adobe Gamma utility when you
uninstalled the previous version of Photoshop. The Adobe Gamma utility
adjusts your monitor settings so white appears white and black appears
black. Installing Photoshop 5.5 again should also install the Adobe
Gamma utility and should solve the problem. The Gamma utility will ask
you to set the monitor calibration to your specific monitor.
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WBMP
In our previous tip, we discussed the emerging wireless Web
community and the new technology used to reach that community. As you
may recall, WML is the meta-language you use to deliver content to
wireless Web users. In addition, WBMP is the only graphics format
optimized for WML use.
The WBMP format is a 1-bit (black and white) format. Additionally,
the WBMP image should not be larger than 150x150 pixels. In most
cases, the WBMP images should be much smaller. Nokia phones, for
example, have only a 96x65 pixel wide display.
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VERTICAL TYPE
Although Adobe Photoshop offers you a Vertical Type tool, that
doesn't mean you should use it. From a readability standpoint,
vertical type is always more difficult to read than traditionally set
type. In addition, vertical type is very difficult to display with
consistent leading or proper alignment.
However, if you feel artistically driven to use vertical type,
choose a typeface with letterform widths that closely match. Also,
search for ways to tie the letters together as a word, such as placing
a rule around the vertical type or placing it on a background color or
image.
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USING VIEWS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
One of our favorite features in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe
ImageReady is New View. New View allows you to open multiple windows
to view the same image file. As you can imagine, viewing the same
image through multiple perspectives can be very useful.
To open a new view, launch Adobe Photoshop or Adobe ImageReady and
open an image file. Then choose View, New View. A second window will
appear next to the original image. In the next few tips, we'll discuss
neat ways you can use the New View feature in your Photoshop projects.
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USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 1 OF 4: THE SMUDGE TOOL
Most image-modification techniques center on image-wide changes
using layers, levels, and curves. However, there comes a time when you
must focus your efforts on one portion of an image. When this occurs,
Photoshop has a suite of retouching tools created specifically for
this purpose: the Smudge tool, the Focus tools, and the Toning tools.
Over the next few tips, we'll discuss each retouching tool. Let's
begin with the Smudge tool.
The Smudge tool allows you to grab a bit of color in your image and
drag or push it in a direction, similar to dragging your finger across
a wet painting. When you use the Smudge tool, always begin subtly. Set
the tool options to a very low opacity and begin with a small brush.
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USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 2 OF 4: THE FOCUS TOOLS
In our previous tip, we mentioned that some retouching jobs require
a finer focus than the image-wide approach of most Photoshop
retouching techniques. When this occurs, you should use the suite of
Photoshop retouching tools. Last time, we discussed the Smudge tool.
Today, let's focus (ha!) on the Focus tools--Blur and Sharpen.
As you can guess, you should use the Blur tool to soften hard
edges. However, you can also use the Blur tool to reduce the detail or
obvious pattern in an image area. Use the Sharpen tool to bring areas
of your image into the foreground and focus more of the viewer's
attention. As with the Smudge tool, you should use the Blur or Sharpen
tool gradually build an effect. To do so, set the tool pressure very
lower and be sure to use an anti-aliased (soft-edged) brush.
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USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 3 OF 4: THE TONING TOOLS
In this series of tips, we've been discussing the Photoshop
retouching tools and how to use them to make isolated modifications to
your image. So far, we've discussed the Smudge, Blur, and Sharpen
tools. Today, we'll examine the Dodge and Burn toning tools.
The Dodge and Burn tools mimic photographic techniques of under- or
over-exposing a portion of an image to achieve an effect. Typically,
you would use the Dodge tool to lighten an area and the Burn tool to
darken an area. Both tools can affect only isolated tonal ranges of an
image, highlights, midtones, and shadows. This allows you to adjust
specific areas of tonal range without selecting or manipulating the
entire image. Again, use these tools subtly. Set them to a very low
exposure and apply the tool again and again until you achieve the
desired effect.
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USING THE RETOUCHING TOOLS--PART 4 OF 4: THE SATURATION TOOLS
In this series of tips, we've explained the purpose of the Smudge
tool, the Blur and Sharpen tools, and the Dodge and Burn tools. The
last tool in our discussion of Photoshop retouching tools is the
Sponge tool.
The Sponge tool is actually two tools in one. You can set the
Sponge tool to saturate or desaturate the color in an image.
Typically, you would use the Saturate tool to increase the intensity
of color, possibly to focus more attention toward an area in the
image. You would use the Desaturate tool to decrease color intensity,
decreasing the amount of attention toward an area. As with all of the
retouching tools, you should set the pressure to a very low value and
slowly build your saturation or desaturation effect through several
applications.
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USING FONTS ONLY IN ADOBE APPLICATIONS
You can identify fonts that are to be used only by Adobe
applications. To do so, place the font files in the Adobe Fonts folder
instead of the Fonts folder in your operating system.
In Windows, the Adobe Fonts folder is located in Program
Files\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts. On the Macintosh, the Adobe Fonts
folder is in System Folder\Application Support\Adobe\Fonts.
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USING CURVES
For some reason, the Curves feature in Adobe Photoshop intimidates
many beginning and intermediate users. However, remember that you can
perform most image alterations by adding and manipulating as few as
three or four points on the Curves grid. Adding more than three or
four points to the Curves grid quickly becomes complicated and will
actually hinder your work more than help it.
Another good rule of thumb is to apply very small changes at a
time. Then, continue to reapply until you achieve the desired effect.
In addition, always work on a copy of the original. This allows you to
experiment without caution because you can always revert to the
original image.
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USE LAYER EFFECTS FOR QUICK FX
Photoshop layer effects allow you to apply emboss, shadow, inset,
outset, inner glows, and outer glows to any layer in your image
document. The best part is all layer effects are temporary until you
flatten your image file. Therefore, you can experiment to your heart's
delight without permanently affecting your image.
To apply a layer effect, choose Window, Show Layers to display the
Layers palette. Then select a layer from the Layers palette. Next,
choose Layer, Effects and select an effect from the list. In the
resulting dialog box, set the attributes for the selected effect.
Click OK to close the dialog box and to apply the effect to the layer.
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UPSAMPLING
One of the most common mistakes when resizing an image is
upsampling. Upsampling occurs when you scale an image larger than the
original.
When Photoshop upsamples an image, it must create pixels where none
previously existed. Unfortunately, Photoshop is not an accomplished
guesser and often chooses the wrong color pixel to create. The result
is a loss in sharpness and tone. Therefore, if you must upsample an
image more than 20 percent, it's best to scan the original image at a
larger size.
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UPDATING PHOTOSHOP
Every now and then, Adobe posts a Photoshop update on its Web site.
While we strongly suggest you visit the Adobe Web site often,
remembering to constantly check for the latest update can be a hassle.
That's why Adobe built an update feature into the Photoshop
application.
To use the update feature, first connect your computer to the
Internet. Then launch Photoshop and click the Adobe Online button at
the top of the Photoshop toolbar. In the resulting dialog box, click
the Update button. Photoshop will contact the Adobe Web site and
search for the latest patches or updates.
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UNLOCKING COLORS
In our previous tip, we discussed locking colors in the Color
palette to prevent Photoshop or ImageReady from accidentally dropping
the color as you downsample or save the image for the Web. If you
recall, to lock a color you select a color in the color table and
click the Lock icon.
Unlocking a color is very similar. In ImageReady, choose Window,
Color Table to activate the Color Table palette. In Photoshop, choose
File, Save For Web to open the Save For Web dialog box and the Web
color table. Then select a locked color and click the Lock icon.
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UNLOCKING ALL COLORS IN THE COLOR TABLE
Locking or unlocking colors in the color table gives you more
control over which colors Photoshop and ImageReady decide to keep as
you downsample or save your image for the Web. In the past few tips,
we've shown you how to select a color and lock or unlock that color.
Today, we'll demonstrate how to unlock all the locked colors in a
color table at one time. To do so, choose Window, Show Color Table in
ImageReady or File, Save For Web in Photoshop. Then open the Color
Table menu and choose Unlock All Colors.
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UNITS OF MEASUREMENT
One interface feature common in Adobe PageMaker and other Adobe
products is the ability to enter a value and the unit of measurement
in a dialog box. This feature has been curiously absent from the Adobe
Photoshop interface. Fortunately, it is available in Adobe Photoshop
6.0.
For example, in Adobe Photoshop 6.0 you can enter 5 px for 5
pixels, 5 cm for 5 centimeters, 5 pt for 5 points, etc. For those of
us who can't calculate measurement conversion in our head, this
feature is a huge timesaver. Unfortunately, you still do not have the
ability to perform simple math, such as adding 20 pixels to the
current value of text field. But we hope that will come soon.
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TROUBLESHOOTING PHOTOSHOP STARTUP
The most tenuous moment in Photoshop is while it launches and
initializes all its support files, such as fonts, device profiles, and
so forth. In fact, a common startup error occurs while Photoshop
initializes the ICC engine.
In almost every case, a simple procedure will expose the culprit.
First, move all the .icm and .icc files from the Windows, System,
Color directory to a new folder. Then, restart Photoshop. With all of
the ICC profiles removed, Photoshop should launch.
Now for the tedious part. Shut down Photoshop and move, one at a
time, only the profiles you need. After you move a profile back to the
Color directory, launch Photoshop again. Continue until Photoshop
bombs during startup. The last file you move is the culprit. Most
likely, this means the file is corrupted.
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TRANSFORMING SELECTIONS
Everyone is familiar with Photoshop's image scale, skew, and
transform features. However, you may not know that you can use these
features on selections.
To demonstrate, launch Photoshop and open a new 500x500-pixel
document. Then choose the Rectangle Marquee tool and draw a selection
in the image window. To scale, skew, rotate, or otherwise transform
your selection, choose Edit, Transform. Similar to a standard image
transformation, Photoshop places handles around the selection for you
to pull or push to alter your selection.
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TRANSFORMING A LAYER INTO A BACKGROUND LAYER
As you may recall from a previous tip, you cannot transform a
transparent layer into a background layer. While this is intrinsically
true, you can merge or flatten a transparent layer into a background
layer.
To merge a layer into a background layer, simply position the
transparent layer directly above the background layer and choose
Layer, Merge Down. Alternatively, to merge all transparent layers into
a background layer, choose Layer, Flatten Image.
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TRANSFORMING A BACKGROUND LAYER INTO A TRANSPARENT LAYER
Last time we discussed methods of converting a transparent layer
into a background layer. The reverse is not quite as difficult.
To convert a background layer into a transparent layer, simply
double-click the background layer. In the resulting Make Layer dialog
box, enter a name, then click OK. Photoshop converts the background
layer into a transparent layer.
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TRANSFORM A COPY OF A SELECTION
If you're familiar with Adobe Photoshop's Free Transform tool, you
know how much it simplifies normally complex scaling, skewing, and
rotating. To use the Free Transform tool, you select an area of an
image and choose Edit, Free Transform. Or you can press Ctrl-T in
Windows or Command-T on the Macintosh.
In addition to transforming a selection in an image, you can create
a copy of the selection and transform the duplicate selection. To do
so, press Alt in Windows or Option on the Macintosh as you choose
Edit, Free Transform. Or press Alt-Ctrl-T in Windows or
Option-Command-T on the Macintosh.
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TOO MANY VERSIONS
If you're like most designers, working up a new idea creates an
unmanageable number of layers in a Photoshop document. As you know,
the more layers in a Photoshop document, the more resources Photoshop
demands and the slower your machine goes.
Therefore, to combat layer glut, be judicious in your creation of
new layers. If a layer you plan to create takes your design in a
totally new direction, save the Photoshop image and create a copy of
the image document. Then close the original and modify the image
document copy--taking care to delete layers you don't need. Once
you've exhausted the new design direction, save the image and return
to your original. By walking the line between new layers or new
images, you can keep layers to a reasonable amount and prevent
Photoshop from slowing down.
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TOO MANY PLUG-INS, NOT ENOUGH MENUS
In our previous tip, we discussed how Photoshop begins to behave
strangely when it has to load 400 or so plug-ins. We suggested
cleaning out the deadwood in your Photoshop/Plugins directory to
prevent plug-in related behavior problems.
In addition to spring cleaning, you may as well take the
opportunity to organize your plug-ins. You can create new directories
in the Plugins directory and Photoshop will display the directories as
submenus in its Plugins menu. However, keep in mind that Photoshop
also has a Plugins menu limit. Photoshop allows you only 22 submenus.
Therefore, don't create more than 22 directories in the Plugins
directory.
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TOO MANY PLUG-INS SPOIL THE APPLICATION
Sad, but true, some Photoshop users are addicted to plug-ins. They
spend hours on end searching for that new plug-in that will create the
perfect effect and save them hours in production time. Don't get us
wrong--we looooove plug-ins. Like anything, you simply have to have
limits.
More specifically, Photoshop's plug-in limit is somewhere around
400. Once you reach this number, Photoshop begins to behave strangely.
What's more, this many plug-ins cause Photoshop's startup time to
increase dramatically. So, before your Photoshop application reaches
critical mass, browse through the Plugins folder in the Photoshop
application directory and move or delete the plug-ins you don't need.
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TOO MANY LAYERS
A Photoshop TipWorld subscriber recently wrote: "I was creating a
Photoshop image recently and received a system error which prevented
me from continuing Photoshop. Fortunately, I was able to save my
Photoshop image. However, when I restarted my computer and attempted
to open my Photoshop image, I received the following file open error:
Could not open the document because there are too many layers for
this version of Photoshop
My image contained 100 text layers. I don't want to type in all
that text again. What can I do?"
Unfortunately, Photoshop 5.5 has a 99-layer limit. Therefore, you
won't be able to open the image in Photoshop. However, Adobe
ImageReady (which ships with Photoshop) is not as inhibited by the
99-layer limit. Open the image in Adobe ImageReady. Next, merge or
delete some of the layers. Save the document. Then you'll be able to
open the document in Photoshop.
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TOGGLING SLICES ON AND OFF
In our previous tip, we demonstrated how to change the appearance
of a slice label in Adobe ImageReady. However, slice labels, even
modified, can still get in the way. Fortunately, there is a quick way
to turn slice labels off and then back on.
To toggle the slice display off, click the Hide Slices button below
the Foreground Color/Background Color Swatch on the toolbar. To toggle
the slice display on, click the Show Slices button next to the Hide
Slices button. Alternatively, you can press Q in Windows or on the
Macintosh to toggle the slice display on or off.
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THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB
Photoshop is a perfect tool for creating or modifying static images
for print or the Web. However, if you must create interactive, fluid,
and animated presentations, there's a new tool available that's keenly
integrated with Photoshop's superb image-editing features.
Adobe LiveMotion enables you to create interactive user interface
elements using animation, high-quality sound, and complex vector
graphics. You can then export your creation in any number of standard
formats, such as GIF, JPEG, PNG, or SWF (Macromedia Flash.) What's
more, Adobe LiveMotion uses the common Adobe user interface you know
so well from Photoshop. And, like most Adobe products, LiveMotion can
work seamlessly with Photoshop. You can import into LiveMotion, launch
original Photoshop images from LiveMotion, and even apply Photoshop
filters while in LiveMotion.
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THE PHOTOSHOP ACTION WEB RING
The Photoshop Actions Web ring is a great source for FREE action
files. In case you aren't familiar with the term, Photoshop actions
are macros that automatically perform multiple tasks for you at the
click of a button. For example, you could create an action that
automatically resizes an image, downsamples the resolution, and saves
a file as a Web graphic.
The downloadable actions featured in the Web site of the Photoshop
Actions Web ring are a fantastic way to supercharge the way you work.
Plus, you can learn a great deal from examining the action's
construction. To begin exploring the Photoshop Actions Web ring, go to
http://home.aland.net/stormbom/
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THE MARQUEE TOOLS
Some of the most often used tools in Photoshop are the Marquee
tools. The Marquee tools allow you to select areas of your image in a
variety of shapes, such as rectangles, ovals, and free-form polygons.
But have you ever wondered why the selection tools are called Marquee
tools? Marquee refers to the moving dashes or dots that appear as you
select an area, which looks like an old movie marquee. This marquee is
also referred to as "marching ants" or "crawling ants."
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THE INFO PALETTE
The Adobe Photoshop Info Palette can feed you constant information
about your image. For example, you can track color values, find the
exact x and y location of your cursor, and see the width and height of
any active selection or transformation.
In addition, you can even change the unit of measurement for your
document through the Info Palette. To do so, first choose Window, Show
Info to display the Info Palette. Then, click the small arrow in the
bottom-left box and choose a measurement unit.
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THE DUCK BETA SPLASH SCREEN
We've been discussing some of the fun Easter eggs Adobe has hidden
throughout the Adobe ImageReady application. We suppose the duck theme
came from the original splash screen of the beta version of Adobe
ImageReady. This splash screen pictured a small duck peering into
several funhouse mirrors. You could see his distorted reflections in
the mirrors.
Speaking of the beta splash screen, another Adobe ImageReady duck
Easter egg shows you the splash screen. To view the splash screen,
press Ctrl in Windows or Command on the Macintosh and choose Help,
About ImageReady. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl in Windows or
Command on the Macintosh and click the image at the top of the Adobe
ImageReady toolbar.
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THE BIG ELECTRIC CAT AND STRANGE CARGO
Impress your friends and family with this useless Photoshop trivia.
While Photoshop 4 was under development, its code name was Big
Electric Cat. As homage to that creative name, Adobe added to version
4 a secret splash screen with a portrait of a Big Electric Cat. To see
the secret splash screen, press Ctrl in Windows and choose Help, About
Photoshop. On the Macintosh, press Command and choose Apple Menu,
About Photoshop.
While Photoshop 5 was under development, its code name was Strange
Cargo (the Big Electric Cat was placed inside). As before, Adobe added
a secret splash screen for the code name. To see the secret splash
screen, press Ctrl-Alt in Windows and choose Help, About Photoshop. On
the Macintosh, press Command-Option and choose Apple Menu, About
Photoshop.
Apparently, the Adobe folks were too busy to come up with a code
name for Photoshop 5.5, but you can still see the Strange Cargo splash
screen.
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THE BACKGROUND LAYER
As you work with layers, it's important to remember these key
characteristics of background layers:
A background layer cannot include transparent pixels. The opacity
of a background layer cannot be set lower than 100 percent. You cannot
reposition a background layer in the Layers palette. You can have only
one background layer per image. You cannot convert a layer into a
background layer. Deleting a selection in the background layer fills
the selection with the current background color.
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THE ART OF THE ART-HISTORY BRUSH
In our previous tip, we discussed the Art-History brush and ways to
experiment with the brush to quickly learn its capabilities. In
addition to experimenting on your own, keep the following guidelines
in mind:
Begin your painting with a very low Opacity setting. As you further
your painting, increase the Opacity setting to increase paint
coverage. To prevent brush patterns from forming, vary the Brush size
as you paint. To preserve original colors, increase the Fidelity
settings.
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THE ART HISTORY BRUSH
The next time you want to create a very unique visual effect, try
the Art-History brush. The Art-History brush allows you to paint using
stylized strokes, such as tight or loose strokes, dabs, or tight or
loose curls. Like the History brush, the source of your paint is a
current or past history event or snapshot.
The fastest way to learn the Art-History brush is to practice with
it. To do so, open an image in Photoshop. Then fill the image with
white. Next, choose the Art-History brush and set the source to the
history event to the original image. Next, choose Windows, Show
Options to display the Art-History Brush Options.
Next, begin painting with the Art-History brush. To experiment,
alter the Art-History Brush Strokes, Opacity, Fidelity, Area, and
Tolerance settings in the Options palette.
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TARGETS
Photoshop has a number of preset gradients you can use to create
simple blends, metal textures, rainbows, and so forth. In particular,
the Transparent Stripes gradient allows you to quickly paint a target.
To demonstrate, open a 500x500-pixel image in Adobe Photoshop. Then
click the Foreground color slot and choose a Red color. Next, click
and hold the Gradient tool and choose the Radial Gradient tool from
the tool submenu. Next, double-click the Gradient tool to activate the
Gradient Tool Options palette. Choose the Transparent Stripes
gradation from the Gradient Tool Options palette.
Now you're ready to paint your target. Position your Gradient tool
in the image, click, drag, and release. As you can see, Photoshop
paints a perfect red-and-white-striped target.
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SUPER SELECTION--PART 1 OF 2
Regardless of your experience level or skill, creating a selection
is core to almost every Photoshop image manipulation. Beginning and
intermediate users love the Magic Wand tool because of its
straightforward function and immediate feedback. Depending on the
tolerances you set for the tool, the Wand begins at the pixel you
click on and selects every adjacent pixel that matches the original.
For quick and easy jobs, this method works fine. However, more
complex jobs require more complex methods. That's why Photoshop pros
use combinations of selection tools, masks, and alpha channels.
Jumping from tool to tool and saving, loading, and modifying
selections as masks and alpha channels allow Photoshop users to create
selections based on shapes, density, color, saturation, and so forth.
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SUPER SELECTION--PART 2 OF 2
In our previous tip, we explained how selection methodology differs
between Photoshop beginner, intermediate, and advanced users.
Regardless of your skill level or the method you choose, there is one
selection tip we can pass on that makes or breaks a successful
selection and image modification.
Whether you use a selection tool, mask, or alpha channel, always
feather your selection. Feathering a selection blends the edges of the
modified and original areas of your image. A properly feathered
selection will prevent any viewer from telling which area, if any, of
your image was modified.
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SPOT COLORS
Although most Photoshop users create RGB (red, green, blue), CMYK
(cyan, magenta, yellow, black), or indexed color images, Photoshop
does have the capability to create spot color images.
To create a spot color, choose Layer, Show Channels to display the
Channels palette. Then, choose New Spot Color from the Channels
palette menu. In the resulting dialog box, click the color swatch to
display the color picker.
At this point, you choose Custom from the Color Picker dialog box
and choose a Pantone spot color. Now, click OK until you close all the
dialog boxes.
As you can see, Photoshop has added a new spot channel to your
image. Any pixels you paint in this channel will appear as the spot
color you chose. However, keep in mind that the display of the color
you chose is only a preview of the final print result. In the end,
it's the name of the spot color channel that is important because it
dictates the ink the printer uses.
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SPEEDING UP YOUR WORK WITH CONTEXT MENUS
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 is out and with it comes several new and
rearranged context menus. You may think there's no point learning
these new keyboard commands when you can simply use your mouse. But,
as incredible as it sounds, taking the few seconds needed to move your
mouse cursor from the image to Photoshop's menu or toolbar, choose a
item, and move the cursor back to the image is extremely inefficient.
Believe us, those precious seconds quickly add up.
To increase your Photoshop efficiency, avoid trips to the menu bar.
The easiest way to do so is to use the context menus. In almost every
scenario, a right-click in Windows or an Option-click on the Macintosh
presents you with a pop-up menu of choices targeted to the currently
selected object.
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SPEEDING UP IMAGE EXPERIMENTS
Adobe Photoshop has a multitude of plug-in filters and image
features that you can apply to your image to achieve an endless number
of effects. Subsequently, complex filter or image techniques often
take an incredible amount of time to generate and test.
When you begin what may be a complex experiment, there is one trick
that will save you enormous amounts of time. Before you apply the
first filter or image feature to your image, create a low-resolution
duplicate of your image--72 dpi is generally an ideal resolution.
Photoshop can apply filters and image features to a low-resolution
image literally in the blink of an eye, compared to the several
minutes it may take to apply the same modification to a
high-resolution image. Be certain, as you continue your experiments,
to take careful notes. When you've achieved the desired effect, open
your original image, refer to your notes, and apply the sequence of
filters.
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SLIM DOWN AND BACK UP
In our previous tip, we explained how to troubleshoot a startup
problem that may be caused by a corrupted monitor profile. In the tip,
we suggested moving all the .icm and .icc files out of the Windows,
System, Color directory and into a new folder. Then, to find the
culprit, one by one, you move a file back into the Color directory and
launch Photoshop each time.
While you troubleshoot Photoshop startup problems, keep in mind
that you don't need every profile originally in the Color directory.
In fact, too many profiles can slow Photoshop's startup time.
Therefore, pay careful attention to the files you place in the Color
directory and use only the profiles you need for the devices in your
office, service bureau, or printer.
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SHARING FILES WITH OTHER USERS
If you share image files with other users, particularly those using
version 4 of Photoshop, be certain to save your image in Lab mode.
Unlike other color modes, the Lab mode format is the same for
Photoshop 4 and 5. Saving your image in Lab mode will prevent
Photoshop from shifting colors if someone opens the file in another
version.
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SEE ALL THE PHOTOSHOP WEB RING SITES
As you may remember, the Photoshop Web ring is a collection of
Photoshop-oriented sites. Generally, you navigate through the Web ring
using Previous and Next links that exist on each Web ring site.
However, if you'd rather pick and choose what Photoshop Web ring
site you'd like to visit, you can usually see a complete Web ring
listing at the following site:
http://nav.Webring.org/cgi-bin/navcgi?ring=psactions;list
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SCALING AN IMAGE IN ANOTHER APPLICATION
In our previous tip, we discussed the dangers of scaling up, or
upsampling, a Photoshop image. As you may recall, upsampling an image
more than 20 percent leads to a loss of detail and tonal range.
Keep in mind that this 20 percent guideline applies to any bitmap
image in any application. For example, never scale a Tiff image in
QuarkXPress or Adobe PageMaker more than 20 percent. If you need to
scale an image to such a degree, use Photoshop Image Size to modify
the original file and import the image again.
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SAVING ADOBE GOLIVE OPTIMIZED CODE FROM THE SAVE DIALOG BOX
In our previous tip, we showed you how to set Adobe ImageReady to
always generate Adobe GoLive-optimized HTML code. However, you may use
other HTML editors than Adobe GoLive. In that case, you wouldn't want
to set Adobe ImageReady to always generate Adobe GoLive-optimized
code. Fortunately, there is a way to generate Adobe GoLive-optimized
code on a case-by-case basis.
To export an image from Adobe ImageReady using Adobe
GoLive-optimized code, choose File, Save Optimized As. In the
resulting dialog box, select Save HTML File. Then, click the HTML
Options button and choose GoLive from the Code list box. Click OK to
close the Options dialog box and continue to export your image.
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RESIZE WITHOUT LOSING QUALITY
How to decrease or increase the size of an image is a basic
function every Photoshop Web user must learn. However, there is one
step almost every beginning Photoshop Web user forgets when attempting
to resize an image. Before you resize a Web image, you must convert a
GIF image from Indexed Color mode to RGB mode.
To maintain sharpness and prevent the dreaded bitmap edges,
Photoshop needs access to a full-color palette as it scales an image.
Indexed Color mode has access only to a specific and short list of
colors. This list does not lend itself well to resizing. The RGB mode,
however, allows Photoshop to pick from any color imaginable in order
to maintain sharpness.
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REMOVING HALOS FROM LAYER OBJECTS--PART 1 OF 3
Regardless of the care we take when selecting and extracting an
object from its background, it's inevitable that artifacts remain
around the edge of the selected object. We typically refer to these
background artifacts as halos--color pixels inadvertently pulled from
the original background of an object. Fortunately, you have several
ways to rid your selected object of these color artifacts.
The most straightforward method to remove the halo from an object
on a transparent layer is to use the Matting Defringe function. The
Defringe function replaces pixels along the outside edge of the
nontransparent pixels in the object. To use the Defringe function,
choose Layer, Matting, Defringe. In the resulting dialog box, enter a
range of pixels to Defringe along the edge of the object. It's best to
begin with a setting of 1 or 2 and reapply the function until you see
acceptable results.
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REMOVING HALOS FROM LAYER OBJECTS--PART 2 OF 3
In our previous tip, we demonstrated how to remove a halo, or color
pixels inadvertently pulled from the original background of an object
and pasted into a new layer with the object. As you may recall, the
most straightforward way to remove the halo is the Defringe function.
The Defringe function asks you to specify a range of pixels to remove
along the outside of the layer object. However, if you're lucky enough
that the background the halo was created from is black or white, you
can simply use the Remove White Matte or Remove Black Matte function.
To remove a white halo from a layer object, activate the
appropriate layer and choose Layer, Matting, Remove White Matte. To
remove a black halo, choose Layer, Matting, Remove Black Matte.
Photoshop determines the appropriate pixel range along the edge of the
layer object and removes it.
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REMOVING HALOS FROM LAYER OBJECTS--PART 3 OF 3
In this series of tips, we've discussed how to remove the annoying
background halo that usually accompanies any select, copy, and paste
of an object from one background to another. As you may recall, the
first two methods involve using the Defringe command to remove a range
of pixels or a white or black halo along the edge of the layer object.
The last method we'll discuss to remove a halo around a layer object
utilizes a layer's ability to blend pixels based on the pixels in
another layer.
For example, to remove a blue halo from an object set on a
transparent layer over a white layer, first activate the layer with
the object. Then choose Layer, Layer Options. In the resulting dialog
box, choose Blue from the Blend If list box. Then drag the White point
slider in the This Layer color scale to the left until the white halo
disappears from the preview image. Click OK to apply the new blending
options.
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READY FOR WINDOWS 2000
Although Adobe isn't saying Photoshop 5.5 doesn't work with Windows
2000, it's not saying it does either. Reading between the lines, some
Photoshop users are experiencing problems running Photoshop 5.5 on
Windows 2000. Adobe has yet to nail down the specific reason, but all
arrows are pointing to Windows 2000. You can read Adobe's official
Photoshop and Windows 2000 policy below or navigate to
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/23dde.htm
Adobe Photoshop 5.5 may not meet your expectations in Windows 2000,
since Adobe did not develop it for Windows 2000.
Adobe Technical Support provides assistance with using Photoshop
5.5 features in Windows 2000 and with troubleshooting issues that also
occur in Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. Technical Support
does not, however, support or research issues specific to using
Photoshop 5.5 in Windows 2000.
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QUICKLY REMOVING LAYER EFFECTS
We've been discussing layer effects and how easy they are to apply.
Removing layer effects isn't as easy--on the surface. Normally, to
remove a layer effect, you'd select the layer, then choose Layer,
Effects with the effect highlighted. In the resulting dialog box,
you'd deselect the Apply check box.
Fortunately, there's an easier way. To remove layer effects from a
layer, first select the layer. Then press Alt in Windows or Option on
the Macintosh and double-click the Layer Effects icon located on the
right side of the selected layer. Photoshop will remove all effects
applied to the selected layer.
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PREVIEWING WEB GRAPHICS IN BROWSERS
As you may know, Adobe Photoshop displays a preview of your Web
graphic before you save it in the Save For Web dialog box. Although
this preview is useful, Adobe recognizes nothing can substitute for
previewing a Web graphic in Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer.
Therefore, it built the ability to preview your Web graphic by
launching a browser from the Save For Web dialog box.
To preview your Web graphic in a browser, first open the Save For
Web dialog box by choosing File, Save For Web. If you've installed
both browsers on your computer, select the browser of your choice from
the Browser list box located at the bottom right of the Save For Web
dialog box.
Photoshop creates a temporary HTML file containing an IMG tag
linking to your Web graphic. Then, Photoshop launches the browser you
select and displays the graphic in the temporary HTML file. In
addition to previewing the graphic, Photoshop also lists the file
specifics of the Web graphic and shows you the HTML it's using to
display the graphic.
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PREPARING FOR CHANGES
Regardless of your skill or experience, you will probably have to
modify every design or image you create based on external opinion
(clients, art directors, etc.). Therefore, take steps to ensure those
modifications are as simple as possible.
To do so, always save a source Photoshop file before you flatten
the image for the final proof. The source Photoshop file should
contain all of the layers, text, and colors. By developing this work
habit, you'll be able to quickly modify the source file and export an
updated image.
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PHOTOSHOP'S ALIGN FEATURE
Getting layer objects to align properly with other layer objects
can involve lots of selecting, moving, and nudging. However, Photoshop
has an alignment option that can align or distribute objects across
layers very easily.
Photoshop's Align feature allows you to align layer objects to Top,
Vertical Center, Bottom, Left, Horizontal Center, and Right. In
addition, you can distribute objects in the same orientations. The
only catch: You must have the target object on different layers and
the layers must be linked together. To align layer objects, choose
Layer, Align Linked, and select an alignment option.
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PHOTOSHOP WEB RINGS
Web rings are Web sites focused toward a like topic linked to one
another. Visitors can navigate the entire Web ring and eventually
arrive at the site where they began their Web journey. The best news
of all is that there are many Photoshop Web rings containing numerous
Photoshop-oriented Web sites.
Each Web site contributes something the Photoshop aficionado
wants--tips, tutorials, actions, samples, and so forth. There are too
many Photoshop-oriented Web rings to mention; however, we'll describe
some of the better ones in the next few tips. But if you want to jump
ahead and explore on your own, go to the Web ring search page and
search for the keyword Photoshop. You can find the Web ring search
page at
http://www.Webring.org/#search
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PHOTOSHOP TAKE NOTE
In our previous tip, we suggested experimenting with a
low-resolution version of an image to decrease the processing time
required for a high-resolution image. Furthermore, we suggested you
take careful notes so that you can later reapply the
image-manipulation sequence to your high-resolution image. Today,
we'll discuss how to automatically apply the effect you created in the
low-resolution image to the original high-resolution image.
To do so, create a Photoshop action that mimics all the steps you
applied to the low-resolution image. Then open the original,
high-resolution image and apply the action. As you may know, Photoshop
actions are macros you can use to automate almost any function in
Photoshop. There are two ways to create an action from the Actions
palette. First, you can choose the features you want Photoshop to
apply to your image. Alternatively, you can direct Photoshop to follow
your every mouse move and record every feature or filter you apply to
an image. Either method allows you to replay an action to another
image in the click of a button.
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PHOTOSHOP SERIAL KILLER
As you probably know, the following codes appear on a sticker on
the Adobe Photoshop Upgrade registration cards:
PSW500U or PWW500U (Photoshop 5.5) PSW500U7 or PWW500U7 (Photoshop
5.0.x) PSW400V or PWW400V (Photoshop 4.0.x)
Take note that these codes are not serial numbers, but upgrade
control codes. (Adobe uses these control codes internally.) However,
because the codes were placed on a sticker on the registration card,
many folks attempted to enter the code as the serial number in the
Photoshop installer.
Inevitably the Photoshop installer rejects the internal code and
returns the error
[Control code] is not a valid Adobe Photoshop [version] serial
number. Please re-enter your serial number.
To properly register your Photoshop upgrade, use the serial number
you have for the previous version.
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PHOTOSHOP HELP
Regardless of skill and experience, every Photoshop user needs a
little help and guidance every now and again. Before you break out the
books or pester your coworkers the next time you have a question or
quandary, consult the all-knowing Photoshop Help files.
The Photoshop Help files are an indexed, searchable, electronic
version of the Photoshop manuals, and, in most cases, they can answer
your Photoshop-specific questions. To open the Help files, choose
Windows, Help Topics in Windows.
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PHOTOSHOP HAS TROUBLE WITH THE ILLUSTRATOR 9 FORMAT
If you've updated to Adobe Illustrator 9, you may have experienced
difficulty when opening an Illustrator 9 file in Photoshop. Photoshop
has trouble parsing the new format and often will return the following
errors:
Could not open the document because the parser module cannot parse
the file.
Could not open the document because Photoshop cannot recognize the
file extension.
When these errors occur, you have the following options:
Export the file from Illustrator in Photoshop 5 (PSD) format and
then open it in Photoshop. Save the file in Illustrator as PDF and
then open it in Photoshop. Save the file in Illustrator using a
previous version of the Illustrator EPS or Illustrator format, and
then open it in Photoshop.
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PHOTOSHOP EFFECTS
Although Adobe Photoshop doesn't have layer-effect styles like
Adobe ImageReady, Photoshop does have layer effects. These layer
effects allow you to quickly apply special looks to text and images
without affecting the original text or image.
Photoshop layer effects include Drop Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer
Glow, and Bevel and Emboss. To apply a Photoshop layer effect to a
layer, first select a layer from the Layers palette. Then, choose an
effect from the Layer, Effects menu. Once you choose an effect,
Photoshop applies it to the contents of the selected layer. Notice
when you apply a layer effect, an "f" icon appears to the right of the
layer's name in the Layers palette.
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PHOTOSHOP AND INDESIGN
A Photoshop tips subscriber wrote:
"I use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. Since both products are
made by Adobe, why can't I copy an item in Photoshop and paste it into
my InDesign document?"
Although Adobe is trying to build that type of close integration
between Photoshop and the rest of its product line, the
Photoshop-InDesign relationship has yet to be brought up to speed. The
reason you can't copy from Photoshop and paste into InDesign is that
InDesign 1.x can only paste items from the Clipboard that are in the
AICB (Adobe Illustrator Clipboard) format. Currently, Photoshop does
not copy objects to the Clipboard in that format.
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PHOTOSHOP AND FLASH
Before you save an image in Photoshop to import into a Macromedia
Flash animation, be sure to choose the right file format. We've found
that PNG files are the best format. JPEG and GIF, while compatible,
often bring odd color casts that show up when you save the Flash
movie.
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PHOTOSHOP AIN'T A WORD PROCESSOR
While I'm still in heaven over Adobe's inclusion of a real Type
tool in Photoshop, I can still complain about the lack of the most
basic word processing features. Therefore, when you must input any
amount of text larger than a word, we suggest opening a word
processing program, entering the passage of text, and copying the
text. Then open your Photoshop image, choose the Type tool, and click
in your image. In the resulting dialog box, paste the text directly
into the Content section.
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PDD OR PSD
A Photoshop TipWorld subscriber wrote: "I'm new to Photoshop, but
your tips have gotten me up and running quickly. Photoshop can work
with so many types of files, it's a bit confusing remembering all the
file types associated with Photoshop. What is the difference between
PDD and PSD files?"
PDD is a native file format for Adobe PhotoDeluxe. PSD is the
native file format for Adobe Photoshop. However, you can convert any
Adobe PhotoDeluxe PDD file to a Photoshop file. Open the PDD file in
Adobe PhotoDeluxe and choose File, Export, File Format. In the
resulting dialog box, choose Photoshop. Name the file with the
appropriate file extension.
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PAINTING A 3D CYLINDER
Although 3-dimensional objects aren't Photoshop's forte, you can
certainly paint the illusion. In today's tip, we'll show you how to
use the Smudge tool to paint a 3-dimensional tube.
To begin, launch Photoshop and create a two-layer image document.
Fill the bottom layer with black. (Although not completely necessary,
the effect does look better on a black background.) Now, choose the
Smudge tool and select a brush size from the Brushes palette. Take
note of the brush size.
Next, choose the Rectangle Marquee tool and click and drag a square
selection roughly the size of the brush size. Now, choose the Linear
Gradient tool and click and drag a black-to-white gradient inside the
square selection. Now choose Select, Deselect to deselect the
selection.
Here's the fun part. Select the Smudge tool again. Position the
brush in the middle of the black-to-white gradient. Click and drag the
tool around your document. The Smudge tool pulls the gradient tones
around the image, creating a 3-dimensional tube wherever you drag the
tool.
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ORGANIZING YOUR IMAGE LAYERS
Although a phenomenal tool, the Layers palette can be a
double-edged sword. True, layers allow you to composite complex images
easier than ever before, but the amount of layers in your image grows
so quickly, an image can easily become too unwieldy to use properly.
Therefore, when you use layers, always take the time to name each
layer something descriptive for easy identification. Also, move layers
with related objects close to each other. Using these methods, you can
jump from layer to layer and object to object without having to sort
through the entire layer palette list. Both of these methods will make
your life with layers much more (excuse the pun) palatable.
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OPTIMIZING ADOBE IMAGEREADY
If you use Adobe GoLive as an HTML editor, you should customize
Adobe ImageReady to generate HTML tailored to Adobe GoLive. There are
many benefits to setting Adobe ImageReady to generate HTML and
JavaScript code in the Adobe GoLive style. For example, Adobe
ImageReady JavaScript will appear as editable objects in Adobe GoLive.
Further, GoLive will maintain all of the linked image references Adobe
ImageReady set.
To set Adobe ImageReady to generate Adobe GoLive-compatible HTML
code, launch Adobe ImageReady and choose File, Preferences, HTML. In
the resulting dialog box, choose GoLive from the Code list box. Click
OK to close the dialog box and save your changes.
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OPENING JPEG FILES
"Every now and then, I receive a JPG file from a customer. However,
when I attempt to use Photoshop to open the file, I get the message
Could not open A:\Image.JPG because JPEG marker segment length is
too short.
How do I correct this problem?"
Unfortunately, you can't correct this problem. It sounds like the
JPG file is corrupted. This corruption could have occurred during
transfer, or it could be the image application they used to create or
save the JPG file. Your only option is to ask the customer to send the
JPG to you again.
To guard against online corruption, you should ask your customers
to compress the images before attempting to transfer the files online.
Typically, compressing the JPG with WinZip in Windows or Aladdin
Stuffit on the Macintosh will prevent such corruption.
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ONE MORE ALIGN CAVEAT
As we've mentioned in the past few tips, to use the Align or
Distribute feature in Photoshop, you must have objects on different
layers and those layers must be linked. In addition, the Align or
Distribute feature works best on layer objects with more than 50
percent opacity.
One final caveat. Although the Align feature works perfectly with
two linked layers, due to the nature of the Distribute feature,
Distribute must have three or more linked layers to function
successfully.
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NO TIME FOR DESIGN
If you're a beginning Web designer or you simply don't have time to
create a full-fledged Web design, try StudioVII Design Packs.
StudioVII Design Packs are prepackaged Web design and development
tools you can use to quickly get a site up and running.
Each pack contains editable graphics and HTML. For more information
about StudioVII Design Packs, visit
http://www.projectseven.com/dreamweaver/
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NAME FILES ACCORDING TO THE WEB SERVER
Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady allow you to name files
anything that works on your operating system. However, before you take
advantage of those broad naming guidelines, be certain the Web server
you plan to move your site to is just as forgiving.
For example, if you take advantage of the filenaming features of
Windows 98--which allows long filenames, mixed case, and spaces--and
then move your site to a Web server on a UNIX system--which doesn't
allow special characters and is case-sensitive--the image and
hyperlinks in your site will be broken.
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MODIFYING CMYK IMAGES
As you probably know, CMYK stands for a four-color image consisting
of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Unique to a CMYK image, you can
create black by applying color to the Black channel or by applying
heavy tones to the same area of the Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow
channels.
Therefore, to prevent a sudden influx of black into your image,
avoid modifying all four plates at one time. Apply modifications to
the Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow channels or to the Black channel.
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MIX AND MATCH FONTS AND SIZES WITH CHARACTER FORMATTING
With the new Photoshop Type tool, you can mix and match fonts and
sizes of characters or words in the same text layer. To do so, select
the Type tool from the toolbox to open the Type dialog box. Enter some
text in the text area. Then, select a portion of the text and change
some of the font attributes, such as font typeface and size. As you
can see in the preview, Photoshop renders the multi-formatted text.
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MATTING YOUR WORK
As you work on complex images in the palette-heavy environment of
Photoshop, you can often lose sight of the overall look and feel of
your image. Therefore, develop the habit of hiding the clutter,
stepping back, and reassessing your work.
Photoshop has a couple of excellent features that make doing so a
breeze. To demonstrate, to temporarily hide the cluttered Photoshop
desktop of the many palettes and tools, press Tab. Then to see only
the currently active image on a neutral background, press F to place
Photoshop in full-screen mode. You can quickly return to your
workspace by pressing F a couple more times and then pressing Tab to
display the Photoshop palettes and tools.
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MAKING YOUR TYPE POP
You may have noticed that some typefaces and type colors aren't as
visible as they should be. For example, Blue Times New Roman on a gray
background is very difficult to read.
Fortunately, there's an easy fix for these type and color problems.
To make your type pop, you can insert a halo of another color between
the type and the background layer. To do so, create a new layer and
position it between the type layer and the background layer. Then
select the new layer and load the type as a selection. To do so,
choose Select, Load Selection. In the resulting dialog box, choose the
Type layer transparency and click OK.
Next, slightly blur the selection edges. To do so, choose Select,
Feather; enter
3
in the Feather text field; and click OK. Finally, fill the blurred
selection with another color. To do so, choose Edit, Fill. In the Fill
dialog box, choose a color and click OK. As you can see, the halo
helps to define the edges of the type, making it easier to see and
read.
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MAKE A COPY OF YOUR DEVICE PROFILES
Here's one final tip when dealing with device profiles and
Photoshop. Once you have paired down the Windows, System, Color
directory to only the profiles relevant to the devices you use with
Photoshop, make a copy of the Color directory. This way, you can
easily restore the profiles if one becomes corrupted.
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LOOKING FOR A PLUG-IN
Photoshop's power and ease of use continually make it the number
one graphics application available. However, one application can't be
the perfect answer for every need. Expanding Photoshop's feature set
is where plug-ins come in.
Adobe plug-ins allow you add new or enhance existing Photoshop
features. To find out how far you can take Photoshop, go to the Adobe
site and check out the extensive list of third-party plug-ins at
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/plugins.html
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LOCKING COLORS
Some of us simply don't trust Photoshop or ImageReady to keep the
correct colors as we save or downsample an image for the Web. To
prevent Photoshop or ImageReady from downsampling a color out of your
image, you can choose to lock certain colors in the Color palette.
Once a color is locked, Photoshop or ImageReady will include it in the
Web-ready version of your image.
To lock a color in ImageReady, first choose Window, Show Color
Table. Then select the color you want to lock and click the Lock icon
at the bottom of the palette. To lock a color in Photoshop, choose
File, Save For Web. In the resulting dialog box, select a color from
the color table and click the Lock icon. Both Photoshop and ImageReady
place a white square in the lower-right corner of the color swatch to
denote a locked color.
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LOADING LAYER TRANSPARENCIES AS SELECTIONS
As you probably know, you can load a layer's transparency as a
selection. To do so, choose Select, Load Selection. In the resulting
dialog box, choose the layer transparency and click OK.
However, you may not know that you can bypass the Load Selection
dialog box and quickly load a layer's transparency as a selection with
a click of your mouse. To do so, press Ctrl in Windows or Command on a
Macintosh and click the layer in the Layers palette.
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LIMITING THE PHOTOSHOP COLOR PICKER TO WEB-SAFE COLORS
If you've used Photoshop for any amount of time, you're probably
familiar with the Color Picker that appears when you double-click a
color swatch. However, you may not know that you can limit the colors
the Color Picker displays to Web-safe colors.
To do so, double-click the Foreground Color Swatch to display the
Color Picker dialog box. Then select the Only Web Colors check box at
the bottom of the dialog box. Photoshop will filter the color display
to show only Web-safe colors.
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LEADING SET TO 0
An Adobe Photoshop TipWorld subscriber recently wrote: "When I use
the Type tool to create a text layer, to begin I enter the text in the
Type dialog box. The text appears fine in the dialog box. However,
when I click OK to dismiss the dialog box, each line of text appears
on top of each other. What's wrong?"
Most likely you have set the leading to a value below the type
size, such as 0. To correct this problem, double-click your text layer
to edit the text. In the resulting dialog box, select the text and
enter a larger value in the Leading text field.
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LAYERING LAYER EFFECTS
In our previous tip, we discussed layer effects and how you can
quickly and easily apply and remove effects in your image. However,
you don't have to limit yourself to just one layer effect per layer.
You can apply more than one effect to a single layer to build your own
layer effect.
To do so, select Layers, Effects and choose an effect. In the
resulting dialog box, set the attributes of the effect you chose and
then select another effect from the list box. As you'll see, there are
an infinite number of combinations for you to experiment with to
create your own layer effects.
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LAYER STYLES--PART 1 OF 2
As you may know, Adobe ImageReady ships with several layer-effect
styles you can use to quickly change the look of a background, text,
or other image object. Most layer-effect styles add depth and a drop
shadow to objects in the selected layer.
You apply layer-effect styles to a layer through the Styles and
Layers palettes. To display these palettes, choose Window, Styles and
Windows, Layers. To apply a layer-effect style to a layer, select a
layer in the Layers palette and double-click a style in the Styles
palette.
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LAYER STYLES--PART 2 Of 2
In our previous tip, we explained how to apply a layer-effect style
to a layer in Adobe ImageReady. Layer-effect styles allow you to
quickly change the look of a layer object such as text or an image.
As you may recall, to apply a style to a layer, you select a layer
in the Layers palette and double-click a style in the Styles palette.
Another way to apply a style to a layer is to drag a style from the
Styles palette and drop it on a layer in the Layers palette.
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KNOWING PHOTOSHOP'S LIMITS
Lately we've been discussing layers. Although Photoshop allows you
to create layers to hold images, type, and color and tonal
adjustments, it's important to keep in mind that every layer you
create in a Photoshop document requires more hard drive space, RAM,
and processing resources.
In addition to limitations of your computer, Photoshop has a limit
to the number of layers it can handle in one image document. Photoshop
cannot create more than 100 layers per image document.
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KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR PHOTOSHOP SCRATCH DISK
If you're using Photoshop on a machine with a small or almost full
hard drive, performance can decrease dramatically as Photoshop gobbles
up more and more of the scratch disk. Here's a tip that will let you
keep an eye on how much scratch disk Photoshop is using and how much
is left.
In the bottom-left corner of the Photoshop window, there's a menu.
Click the menu and choose Scratch Sizes. To the left of the menu,
Photoshop will display the scratch disk amount currently in use and
the total scratch disk amount available.
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KEEP A HANDLE ON ANIMATION SPEED
Adobe ImageReady allows you to create animated banner GIFs.
However, to keep the cells in the animated banner from flashing by too
quickly to read or view, you can maintain a minimum 2-second frame
rate.
To set the frame rate for all the cells in your animation, press
Shift and select each cell in your ImageReady document. Then choose
Other from the Frame Delay Time menu. In the resulting dialog box,
enter
2
in the text field and click OK.
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JUMPING TO THE RIGHT HELP FILE
In our previous tip, we sang the praises of the Photoshop Help
file. Using the Help file, you can search through a table of contents
or an index, or search for a topic.
However, if you don't feel like searching through the Help file,
Windows users have another option. There is a Help shortcut that
allows you to instantly launch the Photoshop Help files and jump to a
Help item. To do so, press Shift-F1 and click on the item or object
you want to know more about. Photoshop will open its Help files to the
most relevant topic it can find.
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INTERLACING ISN'T FOR EVERYONE
In our last interlacing tip, we discussed how to create the
illusion of faster download rates by creating interlaced GIFs and
PNGs. Interlaced images immediately display a low-resolution image and
gradually build to the full-resolution image.
However, interlaced images are not the perfect solution.
Interlacing an image can slightly increase file size. In addition,
some older browser versions do not properly display interlaced images.
In other scenarios, interlaced images offer no benefit. For
example, since background images or table background images won't
display until the image is completely downloaded, interlacing a
background image serves no purpose.
Therefore, keep interlaced GIFs or PNGs in mind for Web graphics,
but limit their use to simple graphics displayed in an HTML page.
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INTERLACING GIFS AND PNGS
As you've probably seen on the Web, images download and display
top-to-bottom. However, the second-or-two wait for the full image to
render can lose the attention of your Web visitor. Fortunately, there
is an easy-to-use alternative that immediately displays a
low-resolution version of an image and gradually displays the full
image as the download completes. As you can imagine, this creates an
illusion of a faster download.
To set your images to display as we described, simply save your
images in the interlaced GIF or PNG format. To do so, launch Adobe
Photoshop and open your image. Then, choose File, Save For Web. In the
resulting dialog box, select GIF or PNG-8 or PNG-24 from File Type
list box in the Settings section. Then, select the Interlaced check
box and click OK. Next, name your file and click Save.
To test the Web display of your saved image, open a Web browser and
enter the image file path in the Address field. As you'll see, a
low-resolution version of the image appears first. In the next second,
the full-resolution version appears.
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INSTALLING 5.5 AND REMOVING 5.0
You may have noticed that installing the 5.5 Photoshop update
leaves the previous version on your computer. Be careful how you
choose to remove the previous version. If you use the Add/Remove
Windows Control Panel, Windows may very well remove the Adobe Gamma
utility. This can result in some odd display color variations.
If you've already uninstalled the previous version of Photoshop and
you notice 5.5 is exhibiting odd behavior, we suggest reinstalling the
5.5 Photoshop upgrade. Reinstalling the upgrade should set everything
in Photoshop to normal.
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INSTALL PROBLEMS
Some Photoshop users (mainly those with an AMD K6 processor) have
experienced Invalid Page Fault errors as they try to install
Photoshop. The quickest workaround for such a problem is to copy the
install folder from the Photoshop CD to your hard drive. Then, reboot
your PC in Safe Mode and install Photoshop from the hard drive.
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IMPROVE YOUR PREVIEW
Most Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady features and functions
give you the option of previewing their effect on your image before
actually applying the effect. However, the accuracy of the preview
depends on the current image magnification. Larger or smaller
magnifications can make the preview appear darker than the final
result.
For the truest preview, set your image to 100 percent magnification
before you preview a change. To set your image to 100 percent
magnification, choose View, Actual Size in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe
ImageReady. Alternatively, press Ctrl-Alt-0 in Windows or
Command-Option-0 on the Macintosh.
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IMPORTING TEXT INTO A PHOTOSHOP IMAGE
All right, we're fibbing. Photoshop doesn't currently have a
function that you can use to import text into an image. However,
there's an easy workaround.
To begin, launch Photoshop and open a new document. Then choose the
Type tool and click in the image. Once the Type dialog box appears,
switch to a word processing application, open your text document,
select all, and copy. Then switch back to Photoshop, insert your
cursor into the text area of the Type dialog box, and paste the copied
text. We know, kind of cheesy. But until the text import version of
Photoshop comes along, this technique is faster and more accurate than
typing.
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IMPORTING A MICROSOFT PUBLISHER FILE INTO PHOTOSHOP
A Photoshop TipWorld subscriber recently wrote: "I want to bring a
Microsoft Publisher page into Adobe Photoshop. How would I do that?"
The easiest way to bring a Microsoft Publisher page into Adobe
Photoshop is to transform the Publisher page into an Acrobat PDF. To
do so, you will need Adobe Acrobat Distiller. Open your Microsoft
Publisher document. Set the document to print a PostScript file. Then,
launch Acrobat Distiller (or Acrobat Exchange) and transform the
PostScript file into an Acrobat PDF document. Now you can open the PDF
document in Adobe Photoshop.
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ILLUSTRATOR/PHOTOSHOP PASTING WORKAROUND
You may have noticed that copying a shape from Adobe Illustrator
and pasting it into Adobe Photoshop often has inconsistent results.
Sometimes the shape will insert into your Photoshop document just
fine. Other times, areas of the pasted shaped are cut off or appear
incorrectly.
A simple way to avoid this problem is to place a no-fill, no-stroke
rectangle around the shape you plan to copy. Then, select the
rectangle along with the shape and copy. When you paste into
Photoshop, your shape will appear correctly.
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HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP FILTERS IN ILLUSTRATOR
Photoshop and Illustrator work so well together that you can even
use Photoshop filters in Illustrator. However, since Illustrator is a
vector, drawing-based program and Photoshop is a raster, paint-based
program, you must first convert your Illustrator drawing into a bitmap
graphic before you can apply a Photoshop filter.
To convert, or rasterize, your drawing in Illustrator, choose
Object, Rasterize. In the resulting Rasterize dialog box, choose your
target color model and resolution, and click OK. At this point,
Illustrator converts the drawing to a bitmap graphic. Now you can
apply a Photoshop filter.
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HOW TO ALIGN OBJECTS
In our previous tip, we discussed using Photoshop's Align feature
to align objects across layers. To demonstrate how to align objects,
launch Photoshop and open a new document. Then create three layers. On
each layer, create a selection and fill it with a color. Before we
align the objects, we have to link the layers to one another. To do
so, choose Windows, Show Layers to activate the Layers palette. Select
the layer you would like the other layer objects to align to. Then,
click the Link box in the other two layers.
At this point, all three layers are linked. To align the layer
objects, choose Layer, Align Linked, and an alignment option. As you
can see, Photoshop uses the selected layer object as the base to align
the other layer objects. To distribute the layer objects, choose
Layer, Distribute Linked, and a distribution option.
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HISTORY HOUSEKEEPING
In the last few tips, we've been discussing how Photoshop's History
palette records every modification you make to an image. As you can
imagine, this can consume an enormous amount of your computer's
resources. Therefore, to prevent low memory errors, it's a good idea
to purge the list of History events every now and then.
To purge the events in your History palette from memory, choose
Edit, Purge, Histories. While you're there, you may as well purge the
other memory-intensive features, such as the Clipboard, Patterns, and
Undo. To purge all memory-intensive features at once, choose Edit,
Purge, All.
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HIDDEN TOOLS ARE EASIER TO RECOGNIZE IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 6.0
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 has solved a user interface problem that many
novice Adobe Photoshop users have complained about. To find the name
of a hidden tool in previous Adobe Photoshop versions, you must select
the hidden tool and then place the cursor over a tool and wait for the
ToolTips label to appear.
In Adobe Photoshop 6.0, Adobe found a way to list both the name and
icon of hidden tools in the toolbox submenu. Now when you click a tool
to display the hidden tool submenu, you can see the tool icon, tool
name, and even the keyboard shortcut for the tool.
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HIDDEN MENUS AND FUNCTIONS
Photoshop has so many features, Adobe couldn't find a place for
them all in the drop-down menus on the application menu bar. Some of
the most useful commands are hidden away in context menus. Typically,
the commands in a context menu relate directly to the active object,
layer, channel, path, or tool. To display a context menu in Windows,
right-click on an object. On the Macintosh, press Option and click on
an object.
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HIDDEN BLENDING MODES
As you probably know, blending modes control how pixels in the
image are affected by a paint or editing tool. Typically, the same set
of blending modes is available to every tool in Photoshop's toolbox.
However, two blending modes are not available in the Blending Mode
menu on the Layers palette: Clear and Behind.
The Clear Blending mode is available only through the Options
palette for the Paint Bucket tool. If you set the Blending mode of the
Paint Bucket tool to clear, any color you click in your image will
become transparent.
The Behind Blending mode is available only through the Options
palette for the Pencil tool. If you set the blending mode of the
Pencil tool to Behind, you can draw only in the transparent areas of a
layer.
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GRAPHICS FILES LOCKED
"I create graphics on a development Web server running Microsoft
Internet Information Server. Often, I will modify a graphic and
attempt to save it, only to receive an error message stating that the
graphic is locked and cannot be modified. My only recourse is to close
the Photoshop document, open the graphic again, and redo changes. Any
suggestions?"
This type of behavior can happen when you attempt to edit a graphic
while your Web server is running. Although there isn't much you can do
to prevent file locking without your system administrator's help, be
aware that you don't have to lose all your changes simply because you
can't save your document to the open file. Save the graphic as a new
file. Then open the original file and copy and paste your
modifications into it.
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GOING FORWARD IN HISTORY
In our previous tip, we introduced you to the History keyboard
command. As you may recall, Ctrl-Alt-Z in Windows or Command-Option-Z
on the Macintosh will move you back through the steps recorded in the
History palette.
In addition to moving backward through the History palette, you can
also move forward. To move forward through the History palette, press
Shift-Ctrl-Alt-Z in Windows or Shift-Command-Option-Z on the
Macintosh. Keep in mind that you can move forward if you are currently
in a past History step.
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GOING BACK IN TIME
In our previous tip, we introduced you to the History palette. The
History palette records every modification you apply to an image.
Furthermore, it allows you to navigate to any recorded version of your
image with a click of your mouse.
In addition to a mouse click, a keyboard shortcut allows you to
jump one step backward in the History event list. To do so, press
Ctrl-Alt-Z in Windows or Command-Option-Z on the Macintosh. Keep in
mind that you can undo as many times as there are steps in the History
palette.
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GLEANING INFORMATION FROM THE TITLE BAR
Knowing the specifics of an image you're working on is central to
efficiently modifying that image. Therefore, it's very helpful that
both Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady display a wealth of information in
the image window title bar.
As you probably know, the window title bar displays the image's
filename. However, you may not have noticed that Photoshop also
indicates the display magnification you're currently viewing, the name
of the active layer, and the image color mode.
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GETTING TO KNOW PHOTOSHOP'S COLOR MODELS
You're probably familiar with the Bitmap, Grayscale, Indexed, RGB,
and CMYK color models available through Photoshop. If your color model
familiarity stops there, you're missing a great resource--the LAB
color model.
The LAB color model is a color model defined by three values: a
Lightness channel and an A and B color channel. This model contains
colors that span both the RGB and CMYK spectrums. In fact, Photoshop
uses the LAB color model internally as a template for converting one
color model to another.
The LAB color model is ideal for independently adjusting the
luminance or color of an image. In addition, you can create superior
grayscale versions of your color images if you convert the image to
LAB, isolate the Lightness channels, and apply the Sharpen filter.
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GETTING MORE RANGE OUT OF THE BLEND IF LAYER OPTION
In our previous tip, we discussed how to use the Blend If Layer
option. The Blend If Layer option allows you to control how pixels on
one layer interact with pixels on another layer. In our previous
example, we demonstrated how to remove the blue background halo from a
layer object. As you may recall, to do so you move the white point
along a black-to-white tonal value scale. As you move the white point
toward the opposite black end of the scale, any pixel to the right of
the white point is removed.
As you can imagine, this can cause some bitmapping problems. To
minimize potential problems, Photoshop allows you to set a range of
values to blend. To do so, activate a transparent layer with an object
and choose Layer, Layer Option. In the resulting dialog box, press Alt
in Windows or Option on the Macintosh and drag the white or black
point toward the middle. Notice Photoshop separates the pointer. The
space between the left and right edge of the pointer indicates the
pixel tonal range of the layer Photoshop will blend with the pixels in
lower layers.
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FINDING THE NUMBER OF PIXELS SELECTED
A Photoshop TipWorld subscriber recently wrote: "I use Photoshop as
I develop applications. It would be very helpful if Photoshop could
show me how many pixels I select when I use the Lasso tool to create
an odd shape selection."
To see the number of pixels selected in a selection, first open an
image in Photoshop. Then, use one of the Selection tools to create a
selection. Next, choose Image, Modify, Histogram. In the resulting
dialog box, Photoshop will list the number of pixels selected.
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FILTERS AND LAYERS
As you may know, many of the Photoshop filters are not applicable
to an empty layer. Fortunately, you can quickly fill a layer with
content.
To do so, select the contents of the layer and fill it with white.
More specifically, press Ctrl-A in Windows or Command-A on the
Macintosh. Then (assuming white is in the background color slot),
press Shift-Ctrl-Delete in Windows or Shift-Command-Delete on the
Macintosh. Photoshop will fill the layer with white.
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FILL IT WITHOUT SELECTING
In the previous tip, we told you about the Fill keyboard shortcuts
that allow you to fill a selection or layer with the color in the
foreground or background color slot. By adding another key to the
shortcut, you can expand the Fill feature to fill only the pixels on a
transparent layer. This means you can fill an object on a transparent
layer without selecting the object.
To do so, press Shift-Alt-Delete in Windows or Shift-Option-Delete
on the Macintosh to fill the pixels on a transparent layer with the
color in the foreground color slot. Alternatively, press
Shift-Ctrl-Delete in Windows or Shift-Command-Delete on the Mac to
fill the pixels on a transparent layer with the color in the
background color slot.
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FILL IT WITH HISTORY--PART 1 OF 2
In the past few tips, we've been discussing the Fill feature in
Photoshop. Up to this point, we've discussed some very useful, but
rather standard, features. Now we're going to discuss a very cool
aspect of the Fill feature.
In addition to filling a selection with a color, Photoshop can fill
a selection or layer with the last saved version of your image.
Imagine going a bit too far with the Burn tool and ruining a part of
your image. With the Fill feature, you can select the area and fill it
with the same area in the last saved version of your file.
To do so, simply create a selection and choose Edit, Fill. In the
resulting dialog box, choose History from the Fill menu and click OK.
Photoshop fills the selected area of your image with the content from
the last saved version of your image file.
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FILL IT WITH HISTORY--PART 2 OF 2
In our previous tip, we discussed how you could fill a selected
area or layer with the contents of the last saved version of your
image file. However, you aren't limited to just the last saved
version. You can create snapshots during your image's development and
pick which snapshot to use as a source for your History fill.
For example, suppose you open an image that requires significant
modifications. You begin simply and complete the overall tonal
adjustments. At this point, choose Window, Show History. In the
History palette, choose New Snapshot from the palette menu.
Moving on, you complete the next several modifications on selected
portions of your image. However, the modifications cause too great a
loss of detail in one area of the image. Using the Fill History
feature, you can fill only that area with content from your last
snapshot.
To do so, first select that area with a Selection tool. Then, set
the target of the Fill History feature to your snapshot, and select
the History Source check box next to the snapshot in the History
palette. Then, choose Edit, Fill and choose History from the Fill list
box in the Fill dialog box. Now click OK. Photoshop fills the selected
area with the content from the snapshot.
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FILL IT WITH COLOR
While lower-end paint applications limit you to crude tools such as
a paint bucket to fill image areas with color, Adobe Photoshop offers
a more sophisticated approach. The Adobe Photoshop Fill function
allows you to fill a selection or layer with the foreground color,
background color, white, black, or gray. Further, Fill allows you to
set the opacity of the fill and to choose a fill mode.
To use the Fill feature, use the Selection tools to create a
selection in your Photoshop image. Then choose Edit, Fill. In the
resulting dialog box, choose the color, opacity, and mode to fill the
selection and click OK. Photoshop fills the selection with the chosen
color.
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FILL IT FASTER
In our previous tip, we discussed some of the many options of the
Photoshop Fill feature. As you may recall, choosing Edit, Fill in
Photoshop opens a Fill dialog box that you can use to fill a selection
with the color in the foreground or background color slot.
As with most Photoshop features, there are keyboard shortcuts that
allow you to achieve the same goal in a quarter of the time. For
example, to fill a selection with the color in the foreground color
slot, press Alt-Delete in Windows or Option-Delete on the Macintosh.
To fill a selection with the color in the background color slot, press
Ctrl-Delete in Windows or Command-Delete on the Macintosh. It's
important to note that pressing the keyboard shortcut without an
active selection will fill the entire layer with color.
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FILE MANAGEMENT
Working primarily in Photoshop all day long, all week long quickly
builds quite an image collection. When you reach a certain number,
remembering which file contains which image or source art is not an
option. One great way to browse through your collection of images is
to use ACDSEE.
ACDSEE is a browser program very similar to Windows Explorer.
ACDSEE allows you to browse image files and immediately see their
content in a preview pane. To learn more about ACDSEE, go to
http://www.acdsystems.com/index.htm
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DUCKS GALORE
Everyone likes to have fun in his or her job, and the folks at
Adobe are no exception. Why else would they hide Duck Easter eggs
throughout Adobe ImageReady? The Easter egg easiest to see is behind
the image at the top of the Adobe ImageReady toolbar. To see the
Easter egg, press Alt in Windows or Option on the Macintosh. Then,
click the image. The image at the top of the Adobe ImageReady toolbar
switches to an image of a duck. To return the image to normal, press
Alt in Windows or Option on the Macintosh and click the image again.
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DUCK GRID
In our previous tip, we demonstrated just one of the Duck Easter
eggs the folks at Adobe hid throughout Adobe ImageReady. Another fun
Easter egg replaces the default grayscale block grid with a grid of
ducks.
To see this Easter egg, first you must have the Transparency grid
display turned on. To turn the grid display on, choose File,
Preferences, Transparency. In the resulting dialog box, choose Large
from the Grid Size list box. Then, click OK.
Now you're ready for the Easter egg. Create a new image with a
transparent layer. To do so, choose File, New. Then, select the
Transparent checkbox from the Contents Of The First Layer section and
click OK. At this point, you should see an image with a light gray
block grid. To transform the block grid into a grid of ducks, type the
word
duckerboard
on your keyboard.
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DRAWING AND SELECTING FROM THE CENTER
You know that in order to create perfect squares and circle
selections, you press the Shift key as you drag the Rectangle Marquee
or Oval Marquee Selection tool. You may also know that to cause a
selection to originate from the center, you press the Alt or Option
key. Likewise, pressing the Spacebar as you create a selection allows
you to move the selection around the screen.
What you may not know is that any of these selection modifier
tricks complements the others. For example, press the Alt or Option
key and the Shift key to draw a perfect circle with the Oval Marquee
Selection tool. As you create the selection, press the Spacebar and
move the selection an inch to the right. Release the Spacebar and
continue creating the selection. The ability to use these modifier
keys in conjunction with each other really comes in handy when you're
creating a complex selection.
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DON'T STOP AT THE WEB-SAFE COLOR PALETTE
While creating images for the Web, many designers downsample their
images to the Web-safe color palette (216 colors) and stop there.
However, reaching the 216 colors of the Web-safe color palette is only
the beginning.
In many cases, you can further reduce the colors in the image color
table without degrading or dithering the image. Remember, always push
your image downsampling to the ultimate extent. The colors you remove
have a direct correlation to the download and render speed of the Web
images.
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DETERMINING WHAT PROFILES YOU NEED
We've been discussing the .icm and .icc profiles in the Windows,
System, Color directory. As you may recall, Photoshop attempts to
initialize these files as it starts up. However, having too many
profiles in the Color directory can seriously impede the Photoshop
startup process. What's more, a corrupted profile can cause Photoshop
to stall or bomb when it launches.
In the past few tips, we've suggested ways to troubleshoot the
Photoshop startup process. In addition, we suggested reducing the
number of profiles in the Color directory. However, to adequately
reduce the number of profiles, it's helpful if you know what device a
profile describes.
Sometimes you can discern the true device profile from the profile
filename. Fortunately, there's an easier way. Simply right-click an
.icm file in Windows and choose Properties from the context menu. In
the resulting dialog box, select Profile Information.
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DEALING WITH MULTIPLE WINDOWS
At any given time, even low to medium users have multiple images
open simultaneously in Photoshop. With all of the toolbars and
palettes, even a few open image windows can become disorienting.
Instead of grabbing and moving each image window out of your way, let
Photoshop arrange the windows.
Photoshop can tile all of your open image windows to the available
screen space, or Photoshop can stack the open image windows in a
cascade. To tile windows, choose Window, Tile. To cascade windows,
choose Windows, Cascade.
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DEALING WITH DITHER
Dithering uses various amounts of noise to try to produce colors
and gradients not in an image's color range. In most cases, you want
to avoid dithering. However, some Web images demand a certain amount
of dithering to produce satisfactory results.
When you decide to use dithering in a Web image, it's best to save
the image as a JPG instead of a GIF. JPG compression is better suited
to dithered images and will produce a smaller file size.
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CUSTOM-CONVERTING A COLOR IMAGE TO GRAYSCALE
As you probably know, you can easily convert a color image to a
grayscale image using the Image, Mode, Grayscale command. However,
this command is pretty much a sledgehammer approach. There are no
conversion controls to adjust, so you have no control over the tonal
adjustment Photoshop decides to make to convert the color image into a
grayscale image.
If you want more control over the color-to-grayscale image
conversion (and what designer doesn't?), we suggest using the Channel
Mixer command. The Channel Mixer lets you create a monochrome version
of a color image using a mix of the current color channels. This
allows you to dynamically pick and choose how much of each color
channel influences the final monochrome image. To use the Channel
Mixer, open a color image in Photoshop and choose Image, Adjust,
Channel Mixer. Then, in the Channel Mixer dialog box, select the
Monochrome check box and adjust the channel sliders until you're
satisfied with the preview image. Then click OK.
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CREATING AN ARROW IN PHOTOSHOP
Often the simplest tasks take the most time. Take an arrow, for
example. It's a very simple shape, but if you are forced to create an
arrow with the Photoshop selection or shape tools, it could consume a
lot of your time.
Fortunately, Photoshop offers an easy way to create an arrow. To do
so, double-click the Line tool in the toolbox to display the Line
Options palette. Then click the Arrowhead Start or End checkbox. Next,
click and drag the Line tool in your image document to create a line
with an arrowhead in your document.
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CREATING A WBMP IMAGE IN PHOTOSHOP
Last time, we explained the out-of-box version of Adobe Photoshop
does not yet support the WBMP format used in wireless Web surfing.
Further, we told you about a free BMP-to-WBMP converter, located at
http://www.gingco.de/wap/
which you can download until Adobe issues a WBMP update for
Photoshop.
Macintosh Photoshop users won't have to wait until the next
Photoshop update; Macintosh users can download a WBMP plug-in that
allows them to save Photoshop images as WBMP files. To download the
plug-in, go to
http://www.creationflux.com/laurent/wbmp.html
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CREATING A WBMP IMAGE
In the last few tips, we've been discussing the WBMP graphics file
format WML (Wireless Meta Language) uses to display images to the
wireless Web community. As you may recall, WBMP is a 1-bit (black and
white) format no larger than 150 pixels wide or high. Currently, core
Adobe Photoshop does not support the WBMP graphics file format.
However, there are BMP-to-WBMP converters that can convert a Photoshop
1-bit BMP to a WBMP.
To download a free BMP-to-WBMP converter application, go to
http://www.gingco.de/wap/
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CREATING A TRIANGLE--PART 1 OF 2
As we often mention, there are at least ten different ways to
accomplish everything in Photoshop. Today, we're going to describe one
method you can use to quickly create a triangle.
To begin, launch Photoshop and open a new document. Then choose the
Rectangle Marquee tool from the Toolbox. Next, click and drag your
mouse to create a rectangle selection. (Remember that you can press
and hold Shift to force the selection into a perfect square.)
Now, choose Edit, Fill to open the Fill dialog box. Choose the
Black option and click OK to fill the selection with the color black.
At this point, you have a solid black rectangle. Now transform the
rectangle into a triangle. To do so, choose Edit, Transform,
Perspective. Notice the eight points Photoshop places around the
selection. Click the top-right corner point and drag it to the
top-center point. As you can see, Photoshop brings the top-left and
right corners of the rectangle together to form a triangle. Finally,
press Enter to apply the transformation.
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CREATING A TRIANGLE--PART 2 OF 2
In our previous tip, we described how to create a triangle in
Photoshop. As you may recall, the tip directed you to use the
Rectangle Marquee tool to create a rectangle selection, fill it with
black, and use the Perspective Transform function to reshape the
rectangle into a triangle. Today, we'll discuss another way to create
a triangle in Photoshop.
To begin, launch Photoshop and open a new document. Then
double-click the Line tool in the Toolbox. As you can see,
double-clicking the Line tool accomplishes two things: It makes the
Line tool the active tool, and it activates the Line Tool Options
palette.
Now, select the Start Arrowhead check box and click the Shape
button. The Width and Length attributes in the Shape dialog box
determine the proportions of your triangle. To create an equilateral
triangle, enter
100
in the Width and Length text fields; enter
0
in the Concavity text field; and click OK.
Now, enter the width value in the Line Width text field in the Line
Options palette. The width value determines the size of the triangle.
Finally, click and drag the Line tool on your image document. Drag the
Line tool until the triangle is almost fully formed. At this point,
you can move the cursor to rotate the triangle to whatever degree you
like.
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CREATING A TRIANGLE
In our previous tip, we mentioned that simple tasks can deceptively
take a lot of time. Creating a triangle in Photoshop can be one of the
simple tasks. Since Photoshop only has a rectangle- and an oval-shaped
tool, creating a simple triangle can be challenging... unless you know
the trick.
To quickly create a triangle in Photoshop, double-click the Line
tool in the toolbox to display the Line Options palette. Then click
the Arrowhead Start or End checkbox. Next, click and drag the Line
tool in your image document to create a line with an arrowhead in your
document. When you see the arrowhead and the arrow line appear, simply
drag your mouse back into the body of the arrowhead. Align the bottom
of the arrow line with the bottom of the arrowhead and release the
mouse button to create your triangle.
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CREATING A FLATTENED DUPLICATE OF AN IMAGE
In our previous tip, we advised you to keep a source Photoshop file
that has all layers and text intact. This allows you to easily make
changes to your image and export a new version very quickly. However,
we didn't mention how you can quickly export a flattened version of
your source file.
To do so, choose Image, Duplicate. In the resulting dialog box,
select the Merged Layers Only check box and click OK. Photoshop will
place in a new image a flattened version of all the viewable layers in
the source image. At this point, all you have to do is save the
duplicate image.
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CREATING A BACKGROUND LAYER
As you may recall from our background layer guidelines in our
previous tip, you can have only one background layer per image and you
cannot transform a layer into a background layer. However, if your
image doesn't currently have a background layer, you can create one.
To create a background layer in an image without such a layer,
choose Layer, New, Background. Photoshop will place a background layer
at the bottom of the layer palette.
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CREATE A LOW-RESOLUTION VERSION OF YOUR IMAGE FOR A QUICK DOWNLOAD
Download time is always a concern when you're creating Web
graphics. However, sometimes you simply have to use an image that is
slow to download. When this occurs, always try to provide a
low-resolution version of the image so the Web visitor has something
to see while the real image downloads.
To create a low-resolution image, first create a duplicate of the
original image. To do so, open the original image and choose Image,
Duplicate. Then convert the duplicate image to a bitmap. To do so,
choose Image, Mode, Grayscale. Next, choose Mode, Bitmap. In the
resulting dialog box, choose Diffusion Dither and set the screen to 75
dpi.
Next, choose Mode, Grayscale to convert the image back to a
grayscale image. Finally, save the image as two-color GIF. Then insert
the LOWSRC tag in the Image SRC tag of your HTML document.
Now, when someone views the HTML page, the low-resolution image
downloads quickly and displays until the larger image downloads and
replaces it.
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CONVERTING LAYER EFFECTS INTO LAYERS
Although Photoshop's layer effects allow you to quickly apply
special effects to a layer, adjusting an effect is a bit more limiting
than run-of-the-mill layers. Fortunately, you can easily convert a
layer effect into its component layer pieces.
To convert a layer effect into layers, select the layer with the
layer effect from the Layers palette. Then choose Layer, Effect,
Create Layer. Photoshop removes the effect from the selected layer and
creates new layers that have the same effect.
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COMBINE LAYER EFFECTS
At first glance, layer effects may seem somewhat limiting; after
all, there's only a handful to choose from. However, you can combine
layer effects to create some very sophisticated results.
Unfortunately, the only way to learn what you can do with layer
effects is to open an image and start experimenting. Begin with just
two or three effects on one layer. Play around with the Effect options
to get a feel for what each effect can do.
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COLOR DIFFERENCES IN PHOTOSHOP AND IMAGEREADY
If you use both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady, you may have
noticed some slight color variation as you edit the same image. This
is due to Photoshop's ability to display in more than one color space.
Adobe ImageReady uses only the monitor RGB color space.
To maintain color display consistency between Photoshop and
ImageReady, launch Photoshop and choose File, Color Settings, RGB
Setup. In the resulting dialog box, choose Simplified Monitor RGB from
the RGB list box. Click OK to close the dialog box.
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COLOR CORRECTING
As you probably know, any type of channel operation can be a fairly
intricate process and require you to switch from channel to channel
hundreds of times. Even though Photoshop provides a Channels palette,
no one wants to click that many times if they don't have to.
Fortunately, New Views allow you to create a new window for each
channel in your image. This lets you simultaneously see each channel
in your image operations.
To demonstrate how to create a view for each channel in an RGB
image, first open an RGB image and choose View, New View three times.
Set the original image view to the RGB (composite) channel. Then set
an additional view to the Red channel, another view to the Green
channel, and the last view to the Blue channel. Now you can select the
view to quickly perform your channel operations.
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CHECKING YOUR IMAGES ON A MACINTOSH AND WINDOWS
In our previous tip, we discussed how to view your image in
multiple windows. As you recall, to see your image in a new view,
simply choose View, New View.
A great application for multiple views of the same image is using
Adobe ImageReady for Web-image production. As you know, Macintosh and
Windows can present Web graphics very differently. One way to check
for image discrepancy is to open a Macintosh view and a Windows view
of your image.
To do so, choose View, New View twice to create two additional
views of your image. Now activate a secondary view and choose View,
Preview, Standard Macintosh Color. Next, activate the other secondary
view and choose View, Preview, Standard Windows Color. Now you can see
how your original image will appear on a Macintosh and on a Windows
computer. In addition, you can make changes to the original image and
immediately see the effect in the Macintosh and the Windows views.
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CHANGING THE ANGLE OF A LAYER EFFECT
If you recall our previous Photoshop tip, we explained Photoshop
has several layer effects you can apply to text and images in a layer.
To apply an effect, you select a layer from the Layers palette and
choose an effect from the Layer, Effects menu.
As you can guess, there is a faster way to apply effects to a layer
in Photoshop. To do so, right-click the layer in Windows and choose
Effects from the context menu. Then, in the resulting Effects dialog
box, choose an effect, select the options you want, and click OK.
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AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTING AN IMAGE'S CONTRAST
Each new version of Photoshop makes its previously complicated
tasks a bit easier. Case in point: Photoshop 5.5 has an Auto Contrast
command to automatically adjust the highlights and shadows in an
image.
First, the Auto Contrast command maps the lightest and darkest
pixels in the image to 99.5 percent white and 99.5 percent black.
(That .5 percent prevents the image tonal quality from becoming too
extreme.) Once Photoshop remaps the lightest and darkest pixels in the
image, other image highlights seem lighter and other image shadows
seem darker. To apply the Auto Contrast to an image, choose Image,
Adjust, Auto Contrast.
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APPLYING A TRULY RANDOM PATTERN GENERATION
As you may know, you add detail to blurred or under- or
over-exposed areas of an image by applying a slight noise texture.
However, the Add Noise filter often generates too even of a texture
fill. For better control over the noise pattern, use a selection tool
to select the area of the image you want to add detail to. Then use a
Paint tool with a brush set to a very wide spacing value to paint a
texture into the selection.
To demonstrate, choose the Pencil tool and double-click a small
brush size. When you double-click a brush, Photoshop selects that
brush and opens the Brush Options dialog box. Set the Spacing option
to 400 and click OK.
Now, place the Pencil tool inside the selection, click and press
the mouse button, and quickly move the mouse around the selection. As
you can see, as Photoshop tries to keep up with the mouse path, it
randomly paints bits of color here and there. Continue to paint until
you're satisfied with the texture.
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APPLY DIFFERENT STYLES TO CHARACTERS IN THE SAME STRING OF TEXT
As you may know, Photoshop allows you to apply different text
styles to one block of text. This allows you to increase the font size
of one character or word, apply bold or italics, or even apply
different typefaces within the same block of text.
To do so, choose the Type tool and click in your image document. In
the Type Option dialog box, select the text you wish to format. Then,
specify a typeface, point size, style, tracking, kerning, or baseline
shift. As you apply character formats to your text, Photoshop will
preview the effects of your modifications in your image document.
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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP SHORTCUTS
We can all agree that Photoshop is thick with features. Further,
it's a virtual impossibility that you will remember every shortcut key
to access every one of the Photoshop features. Therefore, a cheat
sheet would be very helpful.
Deke McClellan has dubbed his all-inclusive Photoshop shortcut
table "The Great Grandmother of All Shortcut Tables." We agree. Deke
has incorporated every Photoshop shortcut key in an easy-to-use table.
To download the table, go to
http://www.thunderlizard.com/handouts/ps_table.html
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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP AND MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR
"I habitually use Photoshop to create all the source images for my
Macromedia Director movies. Lately I've been saving my files as GIFs
and importing them into Director. However, I've noticed some odd color
shifts and bitmapping. What's up?"
Honestly, it's difficult to pinpoint the problem without having
access to the source files you are using. However, we can guess that
you are saving the GIF files with an incompatible color palette. The
easiest and quickest solution is to save the source files using the
Web-safe color palette or save them as JPG files.
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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 6.0 REDESIGNED FOR 800 X 600 SCREEN
Fair warning, Adobe Photoshop 6.0 has been designed for a minimum
800 x 600 screen (not that we think any of you are actually using
Adobe Photoshop set to 640 x 480 resolution). What this means is that
Adobe has redesigned the palettes so you can more easily manage all of
the objects on your screen.
One handy feature that allows you to manage the palettes on your
screen is the Palette Well. The Palette Well is on the Options Bar.
You can drag any palette onto the Palette Well and Adobe Photoshop
turns the palette into a drop-down palette. You can click on a
drop-down palette to temporarily display its options. Once you've
finished, the palette collapses back into the Palette Well.
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ADJUSTMENT LAYERS
If you've been a Photoshop user for some time, it's perfectly
natural to select a layer and apply some type of color correction.
Unfortunately, once you apply that color correction, it's relatively
final. Wouldn't it be great if you could turn off, adjust, or move the
color correction? You can if you use adjustment layers.
As you may know, adjustment layers allow you to overlay image
effects instead of type or graphics. As with Photoshop's traditional
layers, you can move, mask, modify the opacity, or turn off adjustment
layers. Currently, Photoshop has nine types of adjustment layers you
can apply:
Levels Curves Brightness/Contrast Color Balance Hue/Saturation
Select Color Invert Threshold Posterize
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ADJUSTING SLICE LABELS
As you may know, Adobe ImageReady places a label on each slice you
create in an image. However, by default, these labels are fairly small
and hard to read, and hinder viewing your image. Fortunately, you can
alter the size and opacity of the labels to make them more useful.
We suggest increasing the size of the slice labels while decreasing
their opacity. This allows you to easily read the label and still see
the image behind it. To do so, choose File, Preferences, Slices. In
the resulting dialog box, choose the largest icon in the Numbers And
Symbols section. Then, adjust the Opacity setting to 50%. Click OK to
save your changes. Now you're able to see all of your image and tell
which slice is which.
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ADDING YOUR SITE TO THE PHOTOSHOP WEB RING
We've been discussing the sites in the Photoshop Web ring. The
great thing about Web rings is that any site can join. If you have a
Photoshop action-focused Web site and would like to help support and
evangelize Photoshop and the use of Photoshop actions, you can apply
to include your site in the Photoshop Actions Web ring.
To apply, browse to the following address and enter the required
information in the form:
http://home.sol.no/~liknes/Photoshop/Webring/
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ADDING TO YOUR SELECTION
In our previous tip, we explained how you can bypass the Load
Selections dialog box to quickly load a layer's transparency as a
selection. As you may recall, to do so, press Ctrl in Windows or
Command on a Macintosh and click the layer.
Once you've loaded a layer transparency as a selection, you can add
to it just as easily. For example, in an image with three layers,
let's load the second layer as a selection in the first layer. Then
let's add the third layer transparency to the existing selection in
the first layer.
To begin, select the first layer. Then, press Ctrl in Windows or
Command on a Macintosh and click the second layer. As you can see,
Photoshop loads the second layer transparency as a selection in the
first layer.
Now, to add the third layer transparency as a selection to the
existing selection, press Shift-Ctrl in Windows or Shift-Command on
the Macintosh and click the third layer in the Layers palette.
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ACTIVATING SAVE FOR WEB
If you routinely create Web graphics, you're familiar with the Save
For Web feature in Adobe Photoshop. This feature allows you to save
any Photoshop image as a GIF, PNG, or JPG Web graphic. Web designers
may well use this feature hundreds of times a day.
As such, you may tire of choosing File, Save For Web to display the
Save For Web dialog box. Fortunately, there's a quick way to access
the Save For Web dialog box. Simply press Shift-Ctrl-Alt-S in Windows
or Shift-Command-Option-S on the Macintosh. Once Photoshop displays
the Save For Web dialog box, you can quickly choose the file format
for your image and click the Save button. Then, you can choose a
location to save the file and click OK.
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ACHIEVING THE PERFECT TONE OR INTENSITY
If you have trouble intensifying a tonal area with Photoshop's
manipulation tools, try this trick. Select the area you want to affect
and duplicate it onto a new layer. Then you can adjust the layer modes
and opacity to fine-tune the area of your image.
To create a duplicate of a selection on a new layer, first select
the area. Then choose Edit, Copy and Edit, Paste. Photoshop will place
a duplicate of the selection on a new layer.
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A STITCH IN TIME
At one time or another, all of us have wished to go back in time
and relive a past event. Photoshop allows you to do so--at least as
far as your images are concerned. The Photoshop History palette keeps
a running log of every action you take, beginning when you open an
image. This allows you to jump to any event with a click of the mouse.
To use the History palette, first open an image in Photoshop. Then
choose Windows, Show History. Now modify your image in some way, apply
a filter, create a new layer, etc. Notice as you work, Photoshop
begins to list each action in the History palette. To return the image
to any point in the History event list, simply click the event in the
palette.
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A PROBLEM WITH THE ALIGN FEATURE
In the last couple of tips, we've been discussing Photoshop's Align
feature. As you may remember, the Align feature allows you to align
objects across layers in left, right, top, right, and center
alignments. If you've been experimenting with the Align feature,
you've probably noticed its limitation.
Photoshop tries to align objects by their edges. However, objects
in Photoshop can have a hard edge or a soft edge. Subsequently,
Photoshop's Align feature works successfully only on layer objects
with more than 50 percent opacity.
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A NEW LAYER EFFECT ANGLE
As you may know, modifying the location and angle of a layer effect
entails using a dialog box with list boxes and text fields. To modify
the location and angle of an effect, you must choose the effect from
the Layer, Effects menu. In the resulting dialog box, you enter or
choose a new value, compare the results you want with the preview
results, and then proceed.
Fortunately, there's a way to skip entering the location and angle
values in the Effects dialog box. When the Effects dialog box appears,
click on the effect in your image window and drag the effect to the
position and angle you wish. When you're satisfied with the placement
and angle, return to the Effects dialog box and click OK.
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A NEW AVENUE OF SUPPORT
The Adobe Web site, partnering with ePeople.com, now offers a
technical support auction. You can submit your technical questions to
the Adobe Support Exchange. Your question will go out to thousands of
experts who bid to answer your questions. At that point, you can
choose the technical support expert with the price you're most
comfortable with.
You have 24-hour access to the Adobe Support Exchange through the
Adobe Web site. Registration is free. For more information, go to
http://www.adobe.com
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A GUIDE TO PERSPECTIVE
If you plan to modify an image to m
