Photoshop Tips #2


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*1. WHICH WAY TO SELECT

One of the first questions asked in any of our training sessions 
is "What is the best way to select in Photoshop: Selection 
tools, alpha channels, Quick Mask, or converting paths 
to selections?" 

The answer is all of the above. Using just one method or tool 
to create selections will almost always result in sub-par 
selections. Furthermore, the reason the Adobe folks created so 
many selection methods is that they recognize people work in 
different ways. If the end result is satisfactory, one method 
doesn't have an edge over another.  

However, if you want selection advice, begin by making a basic 
selection, possibly with the Pen tools. Once you've outlined an 
object with a path, convert the path to a selection. Next, use 
the Selection tools to add or subtract from the selection. 
Then, refine the selection with alpha channels or Quick Mask 
and image functions such as levels or curves.


*2. QUICKLY MAKING AN ANIMATION IN PHOTOSHOP 5

Although Photoshop is not designed to create cells of 
animation, you can utilize the History palette to do just that. 
Just choose Window, Show History to display the History 
palette. Next, open a new document and place a red square on 
the left side of the canvas. Now use the Offset filter to move 
the square .25 inches to the right.  

To do so, choose Filter, Other, Offset. In the resulting dialog 
box, enter  

.25  

in the Horizontal text field and click OK. Press Ctrl-F in 
Windows or Command-F on the Macintosh to reapply the Offset 
filter. Continue to reapply the Offset filter until the square 
is on the right side of the image.  

Did you notice that the History palette recorded every 
application of the Offset filter? To create the images to act 
as cells of our future animation, select each Move entry in the 
History palette and choose New Document from the palette menu. 
Then, save the documents and compile them in your 
animation application.


*3. APPLYING FILTERS

Filters are one feature that makes Adobe Photoshop so 
multifunctional. Simply adding one new feature can totally 
alter the way you use Photoshop. However, because there are so 
many Photoshop filters, learning what each filter is capable of 
is often a product of trial and error.  

As you experiment with filters, keep in mind that once you 
apply a filter, you can still alter its effects on your image. 
To do so, choose Filter, Fade Filter. In the resulting dialog 
box, you can alter the opacity of the filter effect on your 
layer or image.


*4. NEW BRUSHES IN 5.5

Photoshop brushes don't have to be just round or square. 
Photoshop 5.5 comes with several texture brushes. What's more, 
you can load many more brushes from the Brushes directory in 
the Photoshop application folder.  

To load brushes into the Brushes palette, first choose Window, 
Show Brushes. Then, choose Load Brushes from the Palette menu. 
Locate the Brushes directory in the Photoshop application 
directory and select from the four brushes files: Assorted 
Brushes.abr, Drop Shadow Brushes.abr, Natural Brushes.abr, or 
Square Brushes.abr.


*5. CREATING YOUR OWN BRUSHES

In our previous tip, we described how to load brushes from the 
brushes files that accompany Adobe Photoshop. As you recall, 
you choose Load Brushes from the Brushes palette and navigate 
to the Brushes directory in the Photoshop application directory.

But why limit your creativity by using brushes created by other 
people? You can easily create your own unique brush and add it 
to the Brushes palette. To do so, use the paint tools to create 
the shape of your custom brush. Then, select the shape and 
choose Define Brush from the Brushes palette. Photoshop places 
your new brush in the Brushes palette.


*6. CREATE A WEB PHOTO GALLERY

A fantastic new feature in Photoshop 5.5 is the Create Web 
Photo Gallery. Using this feature, you can direct Photoshop to 
automatically alter images in a directory for the Web, create 
thumbnails from the images, and generate the HTML that ties the 
photo gallery all together.  

To create a Web Photo Gallery, choose File, Automate, Create 
Web Photo Gallery. In the resulting dialog box, select the 
directory containing the images you want in the gallery and the 
directory in which to save the altered images and the HTML. 
Then, specify the site name and date, the size of the thumbnail 
images, and the size and quality of the gallery images. 
Finally, click OK. In a matter of minutes, you'll have a Web 
Photo Gallery to post on your site.


*7. ENABLING ASYNCHRONOUS I/O FOR VIRTUAL MEMORY

Asynchronous I/O allows Photoshop to overlap virtual memory 
operations. Depending on your machine, this can be a blessing 
or a curse. In some cases, enabling asynchronous I/O can make 
Photoshop seem to be more responsive. However, on some systems, 
asynchronous I/O slows down overall performance. In Photoshop 
4.0 and later, asynchronous I/O is disabled by default.  

To enable asynchronous I/O in your copy of Photoshop and test 
your system, add the following line, exactly as it appears, to 
your photos55.ini file located in the Adobe Photoshop Settings 
directory in the Photoshop application directory: 

VMASYNCIO=1 

Then launch Photoshop. If you find Photoshop performs slower 
with asynchronous I/O enabled, simply delete the above line 
that you inserted in your photos55.ini file.


*8. IMPROVING PERFORMANCE

When Photoshop opens an image, the Digimarc Detect Watermark 
plug-in automatically scans the opening image for a watermark 
with copyright information. This automatic scan can degrade 
file-open times. To speed up file-open times, you can remove 
the plug-in (digiopen.8be) from the Plug-Ins directory in the 
Photoshop application directory. If you remove this plug-in, 
you can still choose Filter, Digimarc, Read Watermark to search 
for watermarks in an image.


*9. IMAGE REDRAW

It may sound insane to most print artists, but some Web 
developers actually work in Photoshop with their video driver 
set to 256 colors. They maintain they can see a more accurate 
rendition of how the image will look on the Web. 

Unfortunately, when your video driver is set to 256 colors and 
you are editing an image with other images in the background, 
Photoshop doesn't redraw the images in the background.  

To change Photoshop's redraw behavior so that it redraws every 
open image, add the following line to the photos55.ini file 
located in the Adobe Photoshop Settings directory in the 
Photoshop application directory: 

REDRAWBKDOCS=1


*10. USING THE COLOR CHANNELS TO MAKE SELECTIONS

Creating selections is integral to almost any Photoshop 
procedure. Although Photoshop provides many tools and features 
that make creating selections easier, don't overlook the 
manual approach.  

In many RGB images, the best place to create a selection is 
through one of the Red, Green, or Blue channels. Search through 
the Color channels for the image with enough contrast to easily 
identify the object you're trying to select. For instance, to 
select a blue sky from a landscape, you'd begin in the Blue 
channel. In the Blue channel, the darkest shape would be the 
landscape--ideal for selecting with the Wand selection tool. 
Keep in mind that creating selections through the Color 
channels does require a little knowledge of color theory; 
however, you can get pretty far by just experimenting.
