CS2 tool understanding or should I say mis-understanding?

Still working with my friend’s CS2 on my PC – WXP PRO SP2. Before I return it to him, I wanted to use CS2 a little to see if it is something I want to use myself. Okay – so I am impressed, but sometimes I run into something that shows my non-understanding of a CS2 function. Hence another dumb question:

It has to do with tools and their use. Take for example the sharpen tool. I select that (left mouse key) and want to choose a so-called ‘preset’ for that tool. I know enough to use the preset picker in leftmost part of the options bar, but I don’t see what I want – namely a circle – so that when I move the cursor over into the graphic I get a circle that I can enlarge or shrink, and use to apply the ‘sharpening’.

What is the name of that preset (if it exists)? How do I get the sharpen tool to use that preset and give me a circle in the graphic to deal with?

There is something basic here that I don’t grasp, and probably would apply to several CS2 tools. Therefore I feel I need to understand this before I can continue my learning process. Of course I could give up and simply return CS2 to my friend, but he says I can play with it for another month or so, if only to help him when he starts using it. He figures that I am smarter than he. I wonder.
Thanks

Jethro

Hence another dumb question:

What is the name of that preset (if it exists)? How do I get the sharpen tool to use that preset and give me a circle in the graphic to deal with?

Where does the circle come from? How do I set my cursor to do that?

Jethro

Jethro wrote:

Hence another dumb question:

All of your questions have been good ones.

What is the name of that preset (if it exists)? How do I get the sharpen tool to use that preset and give me a circle in the graphic to deal with?

First click on ‘Current Tool Only’ (just for clarity) at the bottom of the Preset Picker.

Then click on the ‘Create New’ Icon (the square icon). This will allow you to name and store your preset.
I have not found the ‘Sharpen Tool’ to be particularly useful and never use it; additionally the tutorial you refer to at no time makes use of the ‘Sharpen Tool’.

Where does the circle come from? How do I set my cursor to do that?

The author is using the ‘Paintbrush Tool’ to paint with neutral gray – Not the ‘Sharpen Tool’

Jethro

HTH,
Ron

On 3 Jan 2007 08:49:25 -0800, ""
wrote:

Jethro wrote:

Hence another dumb question:

All of your questions have been good ones.

What is the name of that preset (if it exists)? How do I get the sharpen tool to use that preset and give me a circle in the graphic to deal with?

First click on ‘Current Tool Only’ (just for clarity) at the bottom of the Preset Picker.

When I do this right here for the sharpen tool, it says I have NO preset. So I feel that there is no use going on with the next step (create new icon)

Then click on the ‘Create New’ Icon (the square icon). This will allow you to name and store your preset.
I have not found the ‘Sharpen Tool’ to be particularly useful and never use it; additionally the tutorial you refer to at no time makes use of the ‘Sharpen Tool’.

Where does the circle come from? How do I set my cursor to do that?

The author is using the ‘Paintbrush Tool’ to paint with neutral gray – Not the ‘Sharpen Tool’

Jethro

Yeh but my very basic question is how do I get the circle for the mouse pointer for not just the sharpen tool, but many others as well (eg blur)

Thanks

Jethro

HTH,
Ron

The circle that you want to see relates to the size/style of the tool tip. To set that do one of the following:

1. choose the size from the button on the tool bar
2. with the tool selected right click anywhere in the picture
3. Use the "[ " or "]" to grow or shrink the size of the brush

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:48:02 GMT, "Don Leman"
wrote:

The circle that you want to see relates to the size/style of the tool tip. To set that do one of the following:

1. choose the size from the button on the tool bar
2. with the tool selected right click anywhere in the picture
3. Use the "[ " or "]" to grow or shrink the size of the brush

1 I selected the sharpen tool
2 I selected the preset picker and it says there are no presets 3 I selected the brush picker and it gives me several size selects but they mostly seem to relate to brush stroke widths,
4 I right clicked on the cursor crosshaiirs within the picture. It gives me what looks the same as I got from the brush picker.
What am I doing wrong? You say ‘choose the size from the button on the tool bar’. Maybe I am choosing the wrong button? What button and where? Interestingly, ‘Tool Bar’ is NOT in my PShop Help Index. Google shows me that it indeed is the vertical bar of tools on the left. So I guess the size button you want me to use is therein, but I just have not found it?

Sorry for my dumbness, Thanks for your patience.

Thanks

Jethro

Sorry to have confused you Jethro, rather than saying tool bar I should have said "options bar".

When you have a tool open, the first button on the option bar is the tool preset picker and the second button is the picker for the tool you have open. You will not see any presets for a tool unless you have created them.

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

This is exactly where things are bad. When I move my tool (which is the mouse cursor), I do not get a circle, just a pointer.

Jethro wrote:

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

This is exactly where things are bad. When I move my tool (which is the mouse cursor), I do not get a circle, just a pointer.

The way the tools look is set in the Photoshop preferences. A circle is the ‘Normal Brush Tip’ setting. If you have it set to ‘Standard’, the cursor will have the shape of the tool, which is a kind of a pointer in case of the sharpen tool. Also check that the CAPSLOCK key is not pressed. If it’s pressed, the tool cursor becomes a crosshair.

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:15:11 GMT, "Don Leman"
wrote:

Sorry to have confused you Jethro, rather than saying tool bar I should have said "options bar".

No sweat. I thought that was what you meant.

When you have a tool open, the first button on the option bar is the tool preset picker and the second button is the picker for the tool you have open. You will not see any presets for a tool unless you have created them.

That is exactly where I have been going after selecting sharpen or blur tool. I have tried ‘picking’ different sizes with same result.

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

This is exactly where things are bad. When I move my tool (which is the mouse cursor), I do not get a circle, just a pointer.
As an experiment, I tried something. I have two machines, so I installed CS2 on machine 2. My pic data files are common, so I can access the same pics from either machine. Interestingly, on one machine, I get the circle just as you describe, and which I expect. On the other machine, however, I still get the cursor described above. No circle. SAME PICTURE – SAME FILE (JPG). I looked at the various controls (brush size, sharpen tool select, etc) and they are identical.

Obviously the two CS2’s are set differently. I just wish I knew where. Oh and by the way – I tried the troublesome CS2 on a few other pics and voila! A few had the circle! What is going on here?
Talk about frustration,

Thanks

Jethro

WELL I’LL BE DANGED! WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT CASE WOULD HAVE AFFECTED THE CURSOR.

Jethro

There is something basic here that I don’t grasp, and probably would apply to several CS2 tools.

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:16:39 GMT, Jethro wrote:

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:15:11 GMT, "Don Leman"
wrote:

Sorry to have confused you Jethro, rather than saying tool bar I should have said "options bar".

No sweat. I thought that was what you meant.

When you have a tool open, the first button on the option bar is the tool preset picker and the second button is the picker for the tool you have open. You will not see any presets for a tool unless you have created them.

That is exactly where I have been going after selecting sharpen or blur tool. I have tried ‘picking’ different sizes with same result.

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

This is exactly where things are bad. When I move my tool (which is the mouse cursor), I do not get a circle, just a pointer.
As an experiment, I tried something. I have two machines, so I installed CS2 on machine 2. My pic data files are common, so I can access the same pics from either machine. Interestingly, on one machine, I get the circle just as you describe, and which I expect. On the other machine, however, I still get the cursor described above. No circle. SAME PICTURE – SAME FILE (JPG). I looked at the various controls (brush size, sharpen tool select, etc) and they are identical.

Obviously the two CS2’s are set differently. I just wish I knew where. Oh and by the way – I tried the troublesome CS2 on a few other pics and voila! A few had the circle! What is going on here?
Talk about frustration,

Thanks

Jethro

Go to "Edit"…..scroll down to "Preferences"……scroll down to "Display and Cursors" and click on it. In the window that pops up, under "Painting Cursors", check the "Brush Size" box.
Talker

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:12:22 -0500, Talker wrote:

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:16:39 GMT, Jethro wrote:

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:15:11 GMT, "Don Leman"
wrote:

Sorry to have confused you Jethro, rather than saying tool bar I should have
said "options bar".

No sweat. I thought that was what you meant.

When you have a tool open, the first button on the option bar is the tool
preset picker and the second button is the picker for the tool you have open. You will not see any presets for a tool unless you have created them.

That is exactly where I have been going after selecting sharpen or blur tool. I have tried ‘picking’ different sizes with same result.

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size
of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round
circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

This is exactly where things are bad. When I move my tool (which is the mouse cursor), I do not get a circle, just a pointer.
As an experiment, I tried something. I have two machines, so I installed CS2 on machine 2. My pic data files are common, so I can access the same pics from either machine. Interestingly, on one machine, I get the circle just as you describe, and which I expect. On the other machine, however, I still get the cursor described above. No circle. SAME PICTURE – SAME FILE (JPG). I looked at the various controls (brush size, sharpen tool select, etc) and they are identical.

Obviously the two CS2’s are set differently. I just wish I knew where. Oh and by the way – I tried the troublesome CS2 on a few other pics and voila! A few had the circle! What is going on here?
Talk about frustration,

Thanks

Jethro

Go to "Edit"…..scroll down to "Preferences"……scroll down to "Display and Cursors" and click on it. In the window that pops up, under "Painting Cursors", check the "Brush Size" box.
Talker

Well – under Painting Cursors I see:

Standard
Precise
Normal Brush Tip
Full Size Brush Tip
Show Crosshair In Brush Tip

Normal Brush Tip worked for me.

Anyway – Thanks all for your helps. I was really confused, I still wonder why this setting wasn’t mentioned (at least I didn’t see it) in any of the PShop tips and helps that I Google-searched and read. In hindsight, this tool concept seems very significant to me. Life goes on.

Jethro

"Jethro" wrote in message

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:12:22 -0500, Talker wrote:

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:16:39 GMT, Jethro wrote:

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:15:11 GMT, "Don Leman"
wrote:

Sorry to have confused you Jethro, rather than saying tool bar I should have
said "options bar".

No sweat. I thought that was what you meant.

When you have a tool open, the first button on the option bar is the tool
preset picker and the second button is the picker for the tool you have open. You will not see any presets for a tool unless you have created them.

That is exactly where I have been going after selecting sharpen or blur tool. I have tried ‘picking’ different sizes with same result.

Open the second button to the right of were it says Brush: and choose a size
of 100 px, then move your tool over your picture. You should see the round
circle that indicates where the sharpening will take place when you click.

This is exactly where things are bad. When I move my tool (which is the mouse cursor), I do not get a circle, just a pointer.
As an experiment, I tried something. I have two machines, so I installed CS2 on machine 2. My pic data files are common, so I can access the same pics from either machine. Interestingly, on one machine, I get the circle just as you describe, and which I expect. On the other machine, however, I still get the cursor described above. No circle. SAME PICTURE – SAME FILE (JPG). I looked at the various controls (brush size, sharpen tool select, etc) and they are identical.

Obviously the two CS2’s are set differently. I just wish I knew where. Oh and by the way – I tried the troublesome CS2 on a few other pics and voila! A few had the circle! What is going on here?
Talk about frustration,

Thanks

Jethro

Go to "Edit"…..scroll down to "Preferences"……scroll down to "Display and Cursors" and click on it. In the window that pops up, under "Painting Cursors", check the "Brush Size" box.
Talker

Well – under Painting Cursors I see:

Standard
Precise
Normal Brush Tip
Full Size Brush Tip
Show Crosshair In Brush Tip

Normal Brush Tip worked for me.

Anyway – Thanks all for your helps. I was really confused, I still wonder why this setting wasn’t mentioned (at least I didn’t see it) in any of the PShop tips and helps that I Google-searched and read. In hindsight, this tool concept seems very significant to me. Life goes on.

Jethro

LOL

the caps lock key to control the cursor style is the MOST FREQUENTLY ADDRESSED QUESTION ON THIS NG!!!!!
you are perhaps the 10,000th person to ask…………….