100 Photoshop Tips and Tricks (41-60)

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Brooklyn NYC USA
May 11, 2004
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100 PHOTOSHOP TIPS and TRICKS

(41-60)

USE THE EXTRACT COMMAND TO CREATE BORDER EFFECTS: To create an unusual border effect, open the Extract command (Filter>Extract) and use the Edge Highlighter tool to paint some edges. To get straight lines, click once, hold down the Shift key and then click a second time. Try using different brush sizes for the highlight and/or overlap several lines. Fill the middle with the Fill tool, and then click OK. (Keep in mind that the Extract command creates a transparent layer, so you may want to work on a duplicate of your Background layer).

GET BETTER RESULTS FROM THE EXTRACT TOOL: Trying to deal with find details like hair, and you’re not happy with the results of the Extract tool? Before starting over, try this: press MAC: Command-J (PC: Control-J) to duplicate the layer (the result of using Extract). Often simply duplicating two or three times will make a dramatic improvement to the resulting edges. Then merge these layers to get your final result.

QUICK ON AND OFF OF THE AIRBRUSH OPTION: As of Photoshop 7, the Airbrush tool disappeared to become a great option for a number of painting-type tools. You click on the Airbrush icon in the Options Bar to turn this feature on and off. However, if you’re painting away and want to turn this setting on or off "on the fly" press MAC: Shift-Option-P (PC: Shift-Alt-P).

CHANGE THE FONT OF MULTIPLE LAYERS: If you have a bunch of type layers and you want to change the typeface of all of them at once, try this. Link all the type layers, and then activate the Type (don’t highlight any type). Hold down the Shift key and then go to the Options Bar and choose a different font. All linked layers will automatically change. (This also works for other Options Bar settings such as Size, Alignment and Anti-aliasing).

LOCK AND UNLOCK: To quickly turn the Lock command on and off for a layer, just press / (forward slash). This is an "on/off" toggle that works in this way: if no lock button is clicked, the shortcut will turn on and off the lock transparent pixel command (the first of the lock boxes). If you already clicked on any locking box, the shortcut will turn that lock off and on.

FIND THE TRANSFORM HANDLES: If you have dragged a large image onto a smaller layer the outer edge of the new, larger layer is of course, hidden. This becomes a problem when you use the Free Transform command, since you cannot see the handles to transform the layer. To solve this, after pressing MAC: Command-T (PC: Control-T) for Free Transform, press MAC: Command-0 (PC: Control-0) to change the view to Fit on Screen. PS will zoom out the image so that the transform handles are visible and you can go ahead with dragging those handles to transform the image.

GET BACK TO THAT PREFERENCE: Pressing MAC: Command-K (PC: Control-K) opens the Preferences dialog. If you want to jump directly to the last preference you used, add MAC: Option (PC: Alt) into the mix, making the shortcut MAC: Command-Option-K (PC: Control-Alt-K).

A BETTER NAVIGATOR: The Navigator is a great way to change the view of your document, since you always get a thumbnail view of your image. To zoo m into a specific area of an image using the Navigator, hold down MAC: Command (PC: Control) and you’ll get a magnifying glass that you can click and drag to zoom in on an area.

BETTER SCRUBBERS: In most dialogs you can use the scrubber hand to change measurements. To change the performance of the scrubber, try using these keys: Shift will make the scrubber jump very quickly to large and smaller numbers; MAC: Option (PC: Alt) will slow down the scrubber to move one number at a time.

DRAG TO A SPECIFIC LOCATION: Here’s how to drag and drop a layer from one document to another. First, make a small selection in your "destination" document that indicates the center of where you want the layer to be dropped. Then, go back to the "source" document, hold down Shift and drag and drop the layer to the destination window. The new layer will automatically be centered over the selected area.

FILL COMMANDS: These commands fill the entire layer: to fill with Foreground color, use MAC: Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). To fill with Background color, press MAC: Command-Delete (PC: Control-Backspace). These commands only fill areas in the layer where there are pixels (preserving transparency). To fill with Foreground color, use MAC: Option-Shift-Delete (PC: Alt-Shift-Backspace). Press MAC: Command-Shift-Delete (PC: Control-Shift-Backspace) to fill with Background color.

OPEN THE FILL DIALOG: It’s an odd one, but to open the Fill dialog, press MAC: Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace)

MAXIMUM VALUE IN DIALOGS?: If you’re in a dialog that is prompting you to enter a value but you’re not sure what the range of numbers really is, enter an abnormally high number like 9999 and press Return (Enter) – PS will change the number to its highest possible value. Similarly, you could use the same trick to fine the lowest value by entering 0 and then pressing Return (Enter).

SCROLL WHILE LASSOING: If you’ve zoomed in to use the Lasso tool and you’re nearing the edge of the window, you’ll need to scroll over to continue using the Lasso. To do this, don’t let go of the Lasso and press the Spacebar. This will temporarily activate the Hand tool so you can scroll to the side. Let go of the Spacebar to continue using the Lasso.

PREVIEW FEATHERING: Rather than guessing what amount of feathering to use, try this. Make a selection with no feathering, press Q for Quick Mask mode, then use Gaussian Blue filter. Using the colored overlay you’ll be able to preview the equivalent of feathering – the amount you choose for the Gaussian Blur is equivalent to feathering.

TRIM YOUR PHOTOHSOP FILE SIZE: If you have elements that extend beyond the image window, although you can’t see them, they’re still there and are adding to your file size, If you’ve determined that you don’t need those "unseen" parts, press MAC: Command-A (PC: Control-A) to Select All, then go to the image menu and choose Crop to cut off the hidden areas and trim your file size.

SWAP MEASUREMENTS: If you’ve entered a width and height for the Crop tool (or the Marquee tool with Fixed Size chosen) you can easily swap the measurements by clicking the small button between the width and height fields.

TEMPORARY FLATTEN A FILE: To open a flattened version of a layered document, hold down MAC: Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) as you open the file. You’ll be asked if you want to "Read the composite data instead." This only works if "Always Maximize Compatibility for Photoshop Files" is checked in the File Handling Preferences. (Don’t worry about over-writing the layered original with the Save command – you can’t. Only Save As is available when you open the composite version of a layered file).

COPY A LAYER IN THE EXACT SAME LOCATION: To make a copy of your current layer and have it appear in the exact same place in a different open Photoshop document, use the Duplicate layer command. MAC: Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the layer and choose Duplicate layer. In the Duplicate layer dialog, choose the other document from the Destination pop-up menu, click OK and the layer will appear in the same position.

FAVORITE FOLDER IN THE FILE BROWSER: If you have one or more folders you find yourself visiting in the File Browser on a regular basis, you can make them part of the pop-up "location" menu. From the File menu in the File Brower, choose Add folder to favorites. From then on, your folder will be readily available in the pop-up menu, under Favorite Folders.

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V
V1nc3nt
May 11, 2004
"Brooklyn NYC" wrote in message
100 PHOTOSHOP TIPS and TRICKS

(41-60)

Thanks so far, but why aren’t these numbered?

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