Tip of the Day | Page 48

Creating A Flattened Version Of Your Layered Image

Alright, you’re working on a Photoshop file that has a “bizillion” layers, and you want to create a new layer that’s an exact copy of what your flattened image would look like. First, create a new blank layer by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, then press Command-Option-Shift-E (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-E). You can also go to the Layers palette’s flyout menu and choose Merge Visible while pressing Option/Alt. Either way, the new layer you created will now have a flattened version of your image.

October 25th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Switching From Warp To Free Transform (And Back Again)

If you’re using CS2’s Warp Image feature (which is accessed by bringing up Free Transform, then Control-clicking [PC: Right-clicking] inside the Free Transform bounding box and choosing Warp from the contextual menu), there’s a good chance you’ll need to resize the image once you start warping it. If that happens, there’s a button you can click that will switch back to Free Transform. It’s near the top-right corner of the Options Bar, and clicking the button will toggle you between Warp and Free Transform.

October 24th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Making A Smart Object Dumb – Well, Kinda

If you’re using CS2’s Smart Objects (by using the Place command under the File menu to add images to your document rather than opening them and dragging-and-dropping them in with the Move tool [V]), you’ll also want to know how to convert your Smart Object layer into a regular ol’ layer. To do that, click on the Smart Object layer, then go under the Layer menu, under Smart Objects, and choose Convert to Layer.

October 23rd, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Think You Might Change Sizes? Make It A Smart Object!

If you’re building a collage, or some other document that has images on different layers, and you think you might wind up resizing some of the images, rather than just dragging-and-dropping opened photos into your main document, make them Smart Objects. That way, when you resize them (especially helpful if you increase their size), it calls upon the original image to make a clean resize (instead of a blurry, pixelated version). To create a Smart Object, you only have to change one thing—instead of opening the photo, go under the File menu and choose Place instead.

October 22nd, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Hidden Zoom Feature In Vanishing Point

If you’re using Vanishing Point and need to quickly zoom in on an area, just move your cursor over that area, then press-and-hold the letter X on your keyboard to zoom in on the area where your cursor is. To zoom back out, release the X key.

October 19th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Turning Your Vanishing Point Grid

Need to wrap your Vanishing Point filter grid around a corner? No sweat—just hold the Command key (PC: Control key), drag a center point, and the grid will bend around the corner.

October 18th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Getting More Control Over Vanishing Point

When you apply the Vanishing Point filter, by default it applies the effect to your Background layer, which means once Vanishing Point “does its thing,” you don’t have any control over the results. If it’s too light, too dark, you want to change the color, blend mode, etc., you’re out of luck. That’s why, before you run the Vanishing Point filter, you should create a new blank layer first by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. That way, the object (text, whatever) to which you apply Vanishing Point winds up on its own separate layer, where you can control everything from color to opacity and more.

October 17th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Using Camera RAW Images As Smart Objects

You can add any RAW image to your existing document as a Smart Object. Just use the Place command (under the File menu) and navigate your way to the RAW image. When you choose the RAW image, Photoshop will first open Camera Raw so you can process it. When you click Open in the Camera Raw dialog, it will place itself into your document as a Smart Object (and it will have a bounding box around it so you can determine the size you want it to appear within your document). Once you’ve sized the placed image, press Return (PC: Enter) to lock it into position. If you need to make any edits to the RAW photo after it’s placed into your document as a Smart Object, just double-click on the Smart Object’s thumbnail in the Layers palette and your RAW image will reopen in Camera Raw. Make your changes, click OK, and it will automatically update in your main document. Sweeeeeettttt!

October 16th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Find Things Fast By Color-Coding Them

If there are particular areas of Photoshop you use a lot, you can make finding them in the menus even faster by color-coding your favorite menu items. Here’s how: Go under the Edit menu and choose Menus. When the dialog appears, scroll down to the menu you want and double-click on it. Now scroll down until you find the command you want to color-code, and then click on the word “None” to the far right of that item (under the Color column) and a menu of colors will appear. Choose the color you want for that item, and from now on it will appear highlighted in that color. This is ideal if you’re training new Photoshop users. For example, you could color-code certain items for when they’re doing prepress (maybe make those items appear in red) and choose another color for when they’re designing Web graphics.

October 15th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Filter Gallery Zoom Quick Tip

If you’re in the Filter Gallery (under the Filter menu) and want to zoom quickly to a particular level of magnification, just Control-click (PC: Right-click) anywhere within the preview window and a contextual menu of zoom views will appear.

October 12th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

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Photoshop Tutorials

- Reverse Restoration
  Corey shows you how to make a new photo look damaged by blending in some unusual textures.
- Rain Drops
  In this tutorial, Corey not only creates the raindrops, but also the splashes that are formed with the raindrops hit the hands.
- G.I. Joe
  Corey's tutorial this week was inspired by a real American hero!

More Fun with 3D

Continue exploring the possibilities with Photoshop’s new 3D tools.
Reverse Restoration

Corey shows you how to make a new photo look damaged by blending in some unusual textures.
3D Background Effects

Use Photoshop’s new 3D tools to create some dazzling background effects.
Striking Match, Part 2

In the second part of this tutorial, Corey finishes creating this illustration of a striking match.

Layers TV: Episode 110
New episodes are coming soon. In this old episode, RC goes start to finish through a Flash CS4 project using the new 3D tools and importing an audio file. Corey talks about the distortion features inside of Adobe Illustrator. You can download each episode by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes. var so = new SWFObject('http://media.kelbymediagroup.com/players/player.swf','mpl','500','300','7'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); // so.addVariable('type','rtmp'); so.addVariable('file','http://media.kelbymediagroup.com/switch/video/layers-tv-episode-110.mp4'); so.addVariable('plugins','hd-1'); so.addVariable('hd.file','http://media.kelbymediagroup.com/switch/video/layers-tv-episode-110-hd.mp4'); so.addVariable('hd.state','false'); so.addVariable('image','http://www.layersmagazine.com/images/layerstv-logo.jpg'); so.addVariable('height','300'); so.addVariable('width','500'); so.addVariable('autostart','false'); so.addVariable("backcolor","0x000000"); so.addVariable("frontcolor","0xF1F1F1"); so.addVariable("lightcolor","0xF88E21"); so.addVariable("quality","100"); so.write('player'); [...]
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 for Mac
The new professional-level Quadro FX 4800 with 1.5 GB of memory brings a much-needed performance upgrade to the Mac Pro lineup.
Prezi
Prezi is a Flash-based visualization, storytelling, and presentation tool that allows you to create nonlinear presentations.
Terry White’s New App | Printing from Lightroom 2
Happy Thursday everyone! Just wanted to pop on in and share what’s new in the intranets: Terry White’s New Iphone App Terry white over at his techblog is usually covering all sorts of technology and letting us know what his favorite apps are for the iphone. He’s taken that love and mixed it with [...]

Adding Keywords to Multiple files

In Bridge, you can add keywords to images to make searching for pictures a little less cumbersome. You don’t, however, want the process to become tedious as well. By either Command-clicking (PC: Ctrl-clicking) or Shift-clicking on images, you can select multiple files inside Bridge. Once you have the files selected, you can go to the Keywords panel and turn on any keyword you like. This will apply the keyword to all of the files that you have selected. It takes away a little bit of the pain of categorization, but just a little.