Performance Preferences

Here are two things that can help in the Performance preferences:  Your Memory Usage can let you specify how much of your RAM you would like to dedicate to the use of Photoshop.  And, you also have the option of setting up a scratch disk in the Performance preferences (think of a scratch disk as temporary RAM that Photoshop creates by using actual hard drive space).

August 28th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Zoom Scroll

Rather than using a keyboard shortcut to zoom in and out, use your scroll wheel!  Most mice these days have a center scroll wheel on them.  If you press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and use the scroll wheel on the mouse, you can zoom in and out of your document.

August 27th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Undo Heaven, Just Add History States

If you are like me, and love having a good amount of undos in the event that you go overboard with your adjustments, you can change the amount of History States that you have in Photoshop CS3.  Note that the location of the History States preference has changed as well.

Choose Photoshop>Preferences>General (PC: Edit>Preferences>General) and notice that there is now a Performance option on the left.  You can change the History States in this area.  Keep in mind though, if you are excessively using History States, you may want to rethink what you are doing wrong in the first place.  I know I have to.

August 26th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Finding the Panel Tabs Hard to Read? Change the Font Size

Sometimes, it’s a bit hard to read the type in the panels.  Choose Photoshop>Preferences>General (PC: Edit>Preferences>General) and change the UI Font Size.  This will make the type in the panels larger.  You will need to restart Photoshop to see the type change.

August 25th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Know All of the How To Tutorials? Make Your Own!

At the bottom of the Help menu, there is an option that teaches you how to create your own How To tutorials for Photoshop.  In order to create How To tutorials, you will need some HTML skills and to know the directory where you need to place the How To files.  Sorry, there is no How To for HTML.  This is Photoshop.

August 24th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Check Out the How To Tutorials in CS3

Starting off in a similar manner to our CS2 tips, there are really cool features and tutorials packed right inside of Photoshop CS3.  If you choose Help>How To, you can run through some tutorials on how to expand your knowledge on a variety of Photoshop topics.

August 21st, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Get Rid Of That Shapelayer Outline

If you’ve worked with a shape layer, you’ve probably noticed the appearance of a thin outline around the shape.  The outline you see around a shape layer really doesn’t mean anything. It won’t print or show up on a saved Web image; however, it does look flat-out distracting when you’re trying to work with your images.  Just click the mask next to the shape layer it’s on, and that outline will disappear.  Click on it again if you ever want to turn it back on.

August 20th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Cycling Through Layerblend Modes – Part 2

If you’ve tried the previous tip but have a tool selected that also has blend modes associated with it (like any of the Brush tools), then you’ll find that the keyboard shortcut cycles through the blend modes for the brush in the Options Bar and not the layer.  The workaround is this: First select a tool that doesn’t have blend modes (like the Move tool or one of the selection tools), and then use the shortcut from above and it’ll work just fine.

August 19th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)

Cycling Through Layerblend Modes – Part 1

Sometimes it’s useful to quickly cycle through your blend modes to see which one works best.  Manually clicking on each one just isn’t quick, so try this: Click on the Blend Mode list in the top left of the Layers panel to select a blend mode.  Then press Shift – + to cycle down the list and Shift – - to go back up.

August 18th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (2)

The Font-Resizing Shortcut

Want to make your font size larger or smaller without going to the Size setting in the Options Bar?  This one is really easy.  Double-click the Type layer thumbnail to select your type.  Then press Command-Shift-> (PC: Ctrl-Shift->) to make your font larger or Press Command-Shift-< (PC: Ctrl-Shift-<) to make it smaller.  Bonus tip: Add the Option (PC: Alt) key to the mix and the size will change in increments of 10.

August 17th, 2009 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (1)