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Hey everyone:
Thanks for the feedback (good and bad!) that I received from my 100 Photoshop CS Tips posts. Here are some more tips for using PS CS that may be of interest to PS users new and/or pro!
Enjoy
(To keep up with the continuity of my previous post — Friday, May 14 — the first tip will be numbered 117. Friday’s post was the complete 100 with 16 add-ons).
117) NO MORE BAGGY HAND-ME-DOWNS!: One giveaway that you’re new to Photoshop is the "ill-fitting" style. When a layer style is created, its resolution dependent, which means that the style is created to fit a certain size image? If you try to apply that same style to a different size, it no longer looks quite right. The good news is that it’s easy to fix: MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the little "f" next to your layer in the Layers palette. When the pop-up menu appears, choose Scale Effects. Now, you can adjust the size of the style for a perfect fit.
118) SAVE ME!: Whenever you created a new effect, don’t throw away all that hard work: save it so you can use it again. On the right side of the Styles dialog, there’s a New Style button that’s just waiting to be pressed. Click this button and your effects will be added to the Styles library as a new style that can be applied with a single click anytime you like.
119) GO AHEAD – BE A COPYCAT: Have you ever worked on multiple layers and found that you needed to add the same effect to all of the layers (or changed your mind and had to update the effect on each layer)? Here’s how to apply effects to (or update) multiple layers all at once:
1) Create your style on one of the layers
2) Click the box to the
left of the thumbnail of the other layers that you want to have this style (the chain icon will appear) to link all of the layers.
3) Now, MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the (style) layer name and from the pop-up menu, choose Copy Layer Style.
4) MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer name again and choose Paste Layer Style to Linked. The layer style will now be applied to all of the linked layers.
120) BACK ‘EM UP OR LOSE ‘EM: Whenever you get into big trouble with Photoshop, the first solution that’s suggested is to "trash your prefs." When you delete the preferences file, Photoshop will build a clean new one on the next launch (hopefully) without the glitch. The only problem with this is that you’ll lose all of your custom libraries, including custom layer styles, so it’s a good idea to create a backup of these.
Choose Edit>Preset Manager and the Preset manager dialog appears. Click on the drop-down menu to see all of your libraries, including Styles. Click on the items you want to save, choose Save, and save. and save. and be safe.
121) THE GLASSY LOOK: It’s really easy to create a transparent glassy look using layer styles. Just create your layer style and then reduce the opacity of everything on that layer except for the effect. At the top of the Layers palette there are two Opacity sliders: Opacity and Fill. The Opacity slider affects the transparency of the entire layer, while the Fill slider only affects the transparency of the layer’s fill pixels – without changing the layer styles.
By reducing the Opacity of the Fill slider, the style remains on its own – instant glass!
Tips 117-120 from Photoshop User Magazine Jun 2004
Thanks for the feedback (good and bad!) that I received from my 100 Photoshop CS Tips posts. Here are some more tips for using PS CS that may be of interest to PS users new and/or pro!
Enjoy
(To keep up with the continuity of my previous post — Friday, May 14 — the first tip will be numbered 117. Friday’s post was the complete 100 with 16 add-ons).
117) NO MORE BAGGY HAND-ME-DOWNS!: One giveaway that you’re new to Photoshop is the "ill-fitting" style. When a layer style is created, its resolution dependent, which means that the style is created to fit a certain size image? If you try to apply that same style to a different size, it no longer looks quite right. The good news is that it’s easy to fix: MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the little "f" next to your layer in the Layers palette. When the pop-up menu appears, choose Scale Effects. Now, you can adjust the size of the style for a perfect fit.
118) SAVE ME!: Whenever you created a new effect, don’t throw away all that hard work: save it so you can use it again. On the right side of the Styles dialog, there’s a New Style button that’s just waiting to be pressed. Click this button and your effects will be added to the Styles library as a new style that can be applied with a single click anytime you like.
119) GO AHEAD – BE A COPYCAT: Have you ever worked on multiple layers and found that you needed to add the same effect to all of the layers (or changed your mind and had to update the effect on each layer)? Here’s how to apply effects to (or update) multiple layers all at once:
1) Create your style on one of the layers
2) Click the box to the
left of the thumbnail of the other layers that you want to have this style (the chain icon will appear) to link all of the layers.
3) Now, MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the (style) layer name and from the pop-up menu, choose Copy Layer Style.
4) MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer name again and choose Paste Layer Style to Linked. The layer style will now be applied to all of the linked layers.
120) BACK ‘EM UP OR LOSE ‘EM: Whenever you get into big trouble with Photoshop, the first solution that’s suggested is to "trash your prefs." When you delete the preferences file, Photoshop will build a clean new one on the next launch (hopefully) without the glitch. The only problem with this is that you’ll lose all of your custom libraries, including custom layer styles, so it’s a good idea to create a backup of these.
Choose Edit>Preset Manager and the Preset manager dialog appears. Click on the drop-down menu to see all of your libraries, including Styles. Click on the items you want to save, choose Save, and save. and save. and be safe.
121) THE GLASSY LOOK: It’s really easy to create a transparent glassy look using layer styles. Just create your layer style and then reduce the opacity of everything on that layer except for the effect. At the top of the Layers palette there are two Opacity sliders: Opacity and Fill. The Opacity slider affects the transparency of the entire layer, while the Fill slider only affects the transparency of the layer’s fill pixels – without changing the layer styles.
By reducing the Opacity of the Fill slider, the style remains on its own – instant glass!
Tips 117-120 from Photoshop User Magazine Jun 2004
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