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Photoshop Tips & Tricks — Variety Pack Volume 4
Here is a collection of useful tips and tricks to improve your Photoshop skills.
Polar Coordinates
One of the generally neglected functions in Photoshop is the Distort filter called Polar Coordinates.
You can use this filter to create a cylinder anamorphosis - art popular in the 18th century - in which the distorted image appears normal when viewed in a mirrored cylinder. Check out the Masters of Deception page where there is a video of a self-portrait made with this technique of a Hungarian artist Istvan Orosz.
There is a much more practical use for this filter as well. The other day I was watching my friend meticulously creating concentric circles using rulers and transform calculations. When he finished, with an evil grin on my face I showed him how he could've done the same thing in a few clicks. Draw parallel horizontal lines of color. Top line will be the center. Than go to Filters> Distort> Polar Coordinates, and choose the Rectangular to Polar option. Also, with vertical lines using the same filter you would be able to create a star. I use this filter all the time to create backgrounds with rays of light for example.
Drag A Finder Folder To PS Browser
Just a simple trick that saves some clicks. It's much easier to browse images with PhotoShop's built in Browse function, but it's navigation to a certain folder is not very intuitive. (At least not for me.)
Once you have located the folder with images in your Finder window you can just drag the folder over the PS Browse folder bar to open the images in that folder instantly in PS Browse.
Measuring Multiple Dimensions
In Photoshop the measuring tool (I) has a hidden feature. Drag one measuring line and than press Alt (PC: Option) to drag a second one from one of the ends of the first one and measure a second dimension.
In the info palette you will be able to read the two dimensions as well as the angle between the two lines.
Synchronized Scrolling
When you have several images open in PS you can scroll around them all at once if you press Shift-Space (or Shift and Hand tool). Great tool for small screens and especially useful if you are working on a big size document and you open a new window to work on a piece of it at 100%, but you prefer to see the whole document in the background scrolling in sync with your smaller window.
Eyedropper Outside Photoshop
Is there a way in Photoshop to have the eyedropper work on windows OTHER than Photoshop windows? Say I wanted it to set the background color to something in a Firefox window, can I do that?
I know I can just take a screengrab and paste down in a new Photoshop window, but that seems kinda clunky.
This exists since PS7: Select the eyedropper tool (Shortcut: "I"). Click and drag from your image to where you want to sample the color.
So you click in your image, and hold the mouse button until you sample the area you want, outside of the document window/Photoshop's UI...
Select Then Liquify
This is an obvious technique, still not
used by many professionals. Before you apply liquify make a selection of the area of interest.
This will make your filter work much faster, be more responsive to your distortions and will give you better control.
Generally it's a good idea to make a selection before applying any filter to preview the effect of it. This simple technique will save you a lot of time especially when working on high-res files.
Text Layers Frustration
For a long time I was getting so
frustrated when trying to add a new text layer on top or close to an existing one, because PS would select the existing text layer instead of adding a new one.
Here's a solution. Shift click to create a new text layer. Shift forces PS to create a new layer instead of editing an existing one. Maybe I should read the manual after all. No way! I was just kidding. That would kill all the fun. :)
Photoshop CS3 Upgrade Options And Bundles From The Adobe Store
Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for film, video, and multimedia pros and for graphic and web designers using 3D and motion. Get the full version for US $999, or upgrade for US $349. The standard version of Photoshop CS3 is available for US $649, or as an upgrade for US $199.
Photoshop Extended is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium ($1,799/$440), which combines all-new CS3 versions of Photoshop, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat 8 Pro. International options are available at Adobe's UK Store, Europe Store, and Australia Store.
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - CSS Web Tool
There often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.
Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.
Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder 2 seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder 2, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.
Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.
Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. Read our review of SiteGrinder.
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