Measure Anything in Photoshop

If you choose Analysis>Set Measurement Scale>Custom, you will get a dialog where you can set a series of presets. Although you are in the dialog, you can still move outside of it and click-and-drag out a measurement.

March 4th, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

The Animation Panel: Taking Animated GIFs to the Next Level

You too can create exciting animated GIFs for use on your next website. Just follow these simple steps: (1) Create a text layer, (2) apply styles, and (3) hide the styles. The Animation panel takes care of the rest.

In the Animation panel, you can control the position, opacity, style, and wrap of a text layer. Clicking on the Clock icon to the left of the style layer activates that option. At that point, just move the keyframe playhead to the end of your animation and turn on the styles. Voila! Instant animated GIF. To export it to your very own website, choose File>Save for Web & Devices, and select your desired output features.

March 3rd, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Toggle Between Keyframes

When animating objects in the timeline, Photoshop interpolates between keyframes to give a sense of movement. However, if you would like the animation to toggle between keyframes, Control-click (PC: Right-click) on that keyframe in the timeline to bring up the contextual menu and select Hold Interpolation. The appearance of the keyframes will change, and when played back it will cut to each keyframe.

March 2nd, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Change Timeline Settings

You can modify the duration setting in the timeline by going to the Animation panel’s flyout menu and selecting Document Settings. In the dialog, you can set the duration and also choose a frame rate from the pop-up menu or you can enter a custom setting.

February 26th, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Keyframe Comments

In the Animation panel (in Timeline mode), at the top of the layer list there is an item called Comments. This allows you to place keyframes on the timeline and each keyframe is an annotation which can contain information specific to that point in the timeline. You can add a Comment keyframe by clicking on the clock icon on the Comment layer. Toggle through them by clicking the left and right arrows to the left of the Clock icon.

February 25th, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Video Can Also Become a Smart Object

One of the cool features of video layers is that they can be set up as Smart Objects. This opens up a ton of possibilities for image manipulation, including scaling, rotation, and even warping.

February 24th, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Trim Your Video

At the top of the Animation panel (in Timeline mode), you will notice two blue handles at the ends of the Work Area bar. This is your work area. You can drag the Work Area Start and Work Area End handles to specify how much of the video you want to work with.

February 23rd, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Vanishing Point 2

Big changes in Vanishing Point! Now you are not constricted to 90° angles. This offers lots of cool possibilities with the Vanishing Point filter.

February 22nd, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Refine Edge

Although there are many tools that will create exact selections, Adobe does step up the game a little with Refine Edge (Select>Refine Edge). With the Refine Edge feature, you have the ability to modify your selection using a set of sliders and preview your output on different color backgrounds. Use the F key in the dialog to cycle through the preview options.

February 19th, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Use Overlay in the Clone Source Panel

Have you ever used the Clone Stamp tool and wondered what exactly you were going to paint in the area? Wonder no more. Now you can turn on the Show Overlay checkbox at the bottom of the Clone Source panel to automatically see an overlay of the image as you would clone it. You can automatically turn this off and on by turning on the Auto Hide checkbox.

February 18th, 2010 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)