Articles by Web Editor | Page 2

Crop It Even Closer

When you’re designing graphics for the Web, you don’t want even one extra pixel of unused space, because it adds to the overall file size of the image. Because of that, you want to crop your Web graphics as tightly as possible. Luckily for us (you, them, etc.), Photoshop CS can do it for you automatically. Just choose Trim from the Image menu, click OK in the dialog, and it will crop your Web graphic as tightly as possible for the smallest possible file size. It does this by looking at the pixel color in the upper left-hand corner of your image and cropping down until it hits another color. (Note: The Trim dialog also gives you the option to base the crop on the bottom right-hand corner pixel color or transparent areas). This works especially well when creating type for the Web, because you’ll often create it on a white background.

September 16th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Need To Shrink The File Size? Use Transparency

Want a killer tip for squeezing even more size out of your GIF Web images? Make something transparent. That’s right, if you can pick an area of your image to make transparent, your file size will drop like a rock. For example, if you’re putting a logo over a white background and you can make the white area around the logo transparent, your file size will be significantly smaller, because the transparent areas are virtually ignored when determining file size, because, after all, there’s nothing there.

September 15th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Lose Those Annoying Numbers In The Upper Left-Hand Corner

We get more letters from people who ask us, “How do I get rid of that number in the top left-hand corner of my image?” This little puppy appears if you accidentally click on the Slice tool in the Toolbox. Even if you notice your error and immediately switch to another tool, it’s too late. The “slice number” is already in place. To make it go away, go under the View menu, under Show, and choose Slices. Then try not to accidentally click on the Slice tool again. (Sorry, I just felt like scolding somebody. You know, just for fun.)

September 12th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Adding Music To Your Flash Web Gallery

In CS2 Adobe added two Flash-based templates you can use for your online Web Photo Gallery. Even cooler is the fact that you can now add a background music track to one of these Flash galleries. Just follow these steps: First find the MP3 audio track you want to use as your background music and rename the file as “useraudio.mp3”. Then open your Photoshop CS2 application folder and navigate to Presets>Web Photo Gallery. Inside that folder look for either Flash Gallery 1 or Flash Gallery 2. Depending on which gallery you chose within Photoshop, drag-and-drop your audio file into the corresponding folder. That’s it! You’ve got background music.

September 11th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Getting Smaller Photoshop Files

Do your Photoshop PSD file sizes seem a little large? It may be because of a Preferences setting that makes Photoshop save a flattened version of your Photoshop image, along with your layered Photoshop file. Why does Photoshop do this? Because there’s a slight possibility you might share this file with someone using Photoshop 2.5 (just like there’s a slight possibility that Congress will vote to cut their own salaries), and Photoshop 2.5 didn’t support layers, so it can’t read your layered document. But because, by default, that flattened version is included in your layered file, guess what—2.5 can open the flattened image. What luck! Who cares? Continue Reading »

September 10th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (9)

Don’t Use Crop To Fix Barrel Distortion

Problem: You’re trying to fix barrel distortion that appears on a photo you’re editing, but using the Crop tool’s Perspective feature is a guessing game. You try the crop and it doesn’t look right; you have to undo it, and guess again. Solution: Don’t use the Crop tool’s Perspective feature (found in the Options Bar), even though it was specifically designed to address barrel distortion. Use the standard Free Transform command instead by pressing Command-T (PC: Control-T) and then pressing-and-holding the Command (PC: Control) key while you drag the corner handles to create your perspective. Doing this gives you a live onscreen preview as you work, so fixing the distortion takes just a few seconds—unlike Crop’s Perspective.

September 9th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Will More RAM Make Photoshop Run Faster?

Problem: You added more RAM to your system and assigned more RAM to Photoshop, but it doesn’t seem to run any faster. Reason: Adding RAM doesn’t always make Photoshop run faster. It only works if you didn’t have enough RAM to begin with. Adding RAM will only help to make your computer run as fast as it can, but it won’t make your 800-MHz computer run at 801 MHz. For example, if you work on Web images and the average image you work on is 3 MB, you only need about 15 or 20 MB assigned to Photoshop to have it run at full speed. If you’ve got that, and add another 256 MB of RAM, Photoshop won’t run any faster, because Photoshop only needs that 15 or 20 MB that you already had. Freaky. To check your RAM usage, go under the Photoshop menu, under Preferences, and choose Memory & Image Cache (on a Windows PC, Preferences are under the Edit menu).

August 29th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Faster Application Switching

Do you often copy-and-paste images from Photoshop into other applications (such as FileMaker Pro, Word, etc.)? I’m not talking about importing a TIFF or EPS, I’m talking about copying the object, switching to another application, and pasting your copied image from the Clipboard. You don’t? Great, then we have a tip for you that will speed up your application-switching pretty dramatically. Go under the Photoshop menu, under Preferences, under General, and turn off the checkbox for Export Clipboard (in Windows, Preferences can be found under the Edit menu). Here’s what’s happening when it’s turned on: Whatever you last copied in Photoshop gets transferred to your system’s Clipboard memory when you switch to another application, just in case you want to paste it. If you have a large image in clipboard, it’ll take some time to export the image to the other application (or it’ll be so large it won’t export at all—you’ll get a warning dialog instead). So, turn off that preference, and wait no more.

August 28th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Stop The “Click-And-Jump-To-That-Layer” Blues

Problem: All of a sudden, every time you click on a layer with the Move tool, it jumps to that layer. Solution: Somehow you turned on a feature called Auto Select Layer, which lets you make a layer active by just clicking on it with the Move tool. To turn this feature off, press V to get the Move tool, and up in the Options Bar, turn off the checkbox for Auto Select Layer. Besides, you never really need to turn this feature on, because you can just hold the Command key (PC: Control key) and click on any layer in your image window.

August 26th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Let Photoshop Rebuild Your Prefs

If you need to delete Photoshop’s current preferences file (which is a common “first-line-of-defense” troubleshooting move), you don’t have to go digging around your drive. All you have to do is hold the Command, Option, and Shift keys (PC: Control-Alt-Shift) when you first launch Photoshop, and you’ll be greeted with a dialog asking you if you want to delete the Photoshop Settings File. If you do, click Yes, and Photoshop will build a new, factory-fresh set of preferences for you.

August 25th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Find The Hidden Magnetic Pen Tool Options

I know what you’re thinking—finding the Magnetic Pen tool options? I didn’t even know there was a Magnetic Pen tool in the first place. Adobe has done a great job of hiding it. For some reason they must hate this tool. Anyway, to get to the Magnetic Pen tool (the magnetic part means it snaps to well-defined edges to help you draw accurate paths around objects), you have to start by choosing the Freeform Pen tool from the Toolbox (it’s nested with the Pen tool). Only then will the subterranean Magnetic checkbox surface in the Options Bar. However, to access the all-important Magnetic options so you have a chance in hell of actually controlling this tool, you have to dig deeper into the underground world of CS2 to make these options bubble to the top. Click on the down-facing black triangle to the right of the Custom Shape tool icon in the Options Bar to reveal a pop-down menu few will ever see—the Freeform Pen Options. In this rarely viewed menu, you’ll find a checkbox for Magnetic, and clicking on it will bring the grayed-out Magnetic options to life, and open a treasure chest of newfound riches (also known as more boring options).

August 22nd, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (3)

Making Global Light Work For You

Problem: You applied a drop shadow to an object on one layer, then later you applied a bevel on another layer, but in the Bevel and Emboss options in the Layer Style dialog, you notice that the position of your drop shadow just moved when you changed the angle of your bevel. Reason: Adobe uses a feature (that acts like a bug) called Global Light. The idea behind it makes sense, yet we’ve never run into the scenario it was created for. The idea is this: You’ve created an image with lots of drop shadows, all casting in a particular direction. If the client saw your work and said, “Hey, instead of having the shadows go down and to the right, can we make all the shadows go up and to the left?” If that unlikely event ever occurred, you’d be set, because all you’d have to do is move one shadow and all the other shadows on other layers would move to the exact same angle. It’s a great idea; it just never happens (okay, it’s probably happened somewhere, once). Solution: In the Layer Style dialog, deselect the Use Global Light checkbox. Now you can move the angle of your current layer style separately from the rest of your image. Life is good once more.

August 20th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Fixing The “Rounded Corners” Selection Problem

Ever have this happen? You draw a selection with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and the corners of your selection are rounded, rather than nice and straight? This happens to a lot of people, especially if they’ve been drinking. If you haven’t been drinking but you’re suffering from rounded-corner selections, look up in the Options Bar, and you’ll see a field for Feather. Chances are there’s some number other than zero in this field, and what’s happening is every time you draw a selection with that tool, it’s automatically feathering (softening) the edge. What probably happened is you intentionally (or accidentally) added a feather amount at some time, then later forgot to set it back to its default of zero. So to fix it, just highlight the field and type 0 (zero). Incidentally, this is a great Photoshop prank to play on co-workers, friends, soon-to-be-enemies, etc., because the Feather field is usually the last place they’ll look.

August 19th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Expanding Rectangular Selections

If you’ve ever tried to expand a rectangular selection by more than five or six pixels, you know what happens. The crisp, sharp-edged corners that you start off with become rounded. Here’s the fix: Don’t use the Expand command (found under the Select menu, under Modify). First, make your selection and press Command-T (PC: Control-T) to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Go to the Options Bar and Control-click (PC: Right-click) in the Width and Height fields to change the measurements from Percent to Pixels. Now, simply add the amount of pixels you want to expand to the existing number. For example: If the field reads 110 pixels, and you want to expand it by 10 pixels, enter 120 pixels in the field and press Enter to apply the transformation. Don’t forget to change both the Width and Height fields. That’s it—perfectly expanded corners.

August 18th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Get Back Your Background Layer

Lost your Background layer? It happens. It’s heartbreaking, but it happens. If you suddenly find yourself staring at a Layers palette and there’s no Background layer (chances are you accidentally converted your Background layer into a regular layer), here’s how to get a Background layer again: Click on the Create a New Layer icon, then go under the Layer menu, under New, and choose Background From Layer, and Photoshop will take your new blank layer and create a solid white Background layer at the bottom of your layer stack.

August 15th, 2008 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

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