Photoshop Tips #17


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Photoshop

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*1. 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.


*2. 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.


*3. 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.


*4. 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.


*5. 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.


*6. 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.


*7. 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.


*8. 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.


*9. 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/


*10. 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
