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10 Things everyone needs to know about Photoshop!

10 Things everyone needs to know about Photoshop!

tlord
tlord
tlord
Senior Member
266
23-02-2015, 05:36 PM
#1



1. Keyboard Shortcuts: Learn them for any
tool you find yourself using on a regular basis,
and use them for your favorite homemade
actions as well. The only thing better than all
of the time you will save is that you can stay
focused on your art and not the toolbars.
[Some important ones: CTRL+J to duplicate
your current layer, J for airbrush, M for
marquee, [] to cycle brushes, CTRL+D to
deselect, Alt or CTRL+Backspace to fill with
the foreground or background color.]
2. Tileable Images: Invaluable for 3D and web
work, making an image tileable is easy. Make
your image, and then run Filter > Other >
Offset. Pick a good 50 or so pixels [usually
about half of the image size] in the horizontal
and vertical offset, but most importantly check
Wrap Around. After the image offsets, clean up
any seams that become visible with a Rubber
Stamp Tool [S]/ Smudge Tool [R]
combination. The final product will be a
seamless tileable image. [Check to make sure
with an extra offset or two.]
3. The Cut All Under Selection Action: This
one's for those of you who develop software or
create web graphics, but it can also be useful
otherwise. Create an action with the following
order of commands: 1. Make Layer [Shift
+CTRL+N] , 2. Merge Visible [Shift+Alt+CTRL
+E] , 3. Copy [CTRL+C] , 4. Delete Current
Layer. Assign this action to a convenient
keyboard shortcut like Shift+F2 . Now all you
need to do is select anything in a document
and run your action. Everything visible to you
under the selection is copied, regardless of the
current layer you're working with, or how the
layers are grouped.
4. Select Everything in a Layer: This one is
sometimes overlooked but proves incredibly
useful. To make a selection from everything in
any given layer, simply CTRL click on the
layer..
5. Making Brushes: A very useful but
underused [by some] function of Photoshop is
to create your own brushes. Create a new
document of the size you want your brush to
be. Now, using grayscale [color brushes are
converted anyways], draw your brush [a single
tree or a small lick of flame for example].
Select the area, and in the brushes palette
click on the small arrow pointing to the right
in the upper right corner. Select Define Brush ,
and your selection is now a usable brush for
any of the tools.
6. Lens Flare Control: Although normally
overused, lens flares can add to an image. To
get more out of your flares, create your flare
[Filter > Render > Lens Flare] in an all-black
layer. Then set the layer type to Screen , and
only the flare will be visible, giving you a
perfectly cut flare layer. The only drawback: it
won't appear over white.
7. Lighting Effects Filter: In addition to
offering to cool lighting based effects, this
filter can be incredible for textures as well.
Just make an interesting grayscale texture or
design, select it all, and save it as an alpha
channel. Now, with the layer you want the
texture applied to selected, go to Filter >
Render > Lighting Effects. In the dialog under
Texture Channel, select your alpha channel
and add some lights for varied and interesting
results.

8. Stars: Sometimes you just need a good star
field, and Photoshop has a good way to make
them. Fill a layer with black, and add some
noise with Filter > Noise > Add Noise . A value
of 120 or so with the Monochromatic box
checked usually works well for me. Now add a
series of brightness/contrast adjustments
[Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast] . For
the first, use a brightness of around -60 and a
contrast of around +80. Now hit OK and do
another Brightness/Contrast adjustment. This
time -100 Brightness and a Contrast of +70
will look pretty good. You can continue in this
manner, each time setting the brightness to
-100 and adjusting the contrast until you like
your stars [for me, I only needed one more
adjustment at -100 and +45]. Another great
thing about this star field is that you can
make the layer type Screen , and you have a
perfect star field with no black background
showing through. You can then make any kind
of sky you need for under the stars. [Make this
process into an action for instant star fields]
9. Copying to the Same Place in Another
Document: If you need to copy a layer into the
same position but on a different document [for
example an exit button in the same location
for all screens in a program], just open the
documents side by side and hold Shift while
dragging the contents of the layer. The layer
data will be in the exact same location on the
new document.
10. Duplicating Portions of a Layer: With the
Move Tool [V] selected, you can hold Alt and
drag to duplicate whatever you are dragging
for a quick timesaver.
hydronetboss
hydronetboss
hydronetboss
Senior Member
158
23-02-2015, 05:41 PM
#2
nice work
Keslar
Keslar
Keslar
Senior Member
671
23-02-2015, 06:16 PM
#3
Tlord, keep up the good work. Really loving your posts bro

Sent from my TECNO M3 using Hovatek mobile
tlord
tlord
tlord
Senior Member
266
23-02-2015, 06:33 PM
#4
thank you
Keslar
Keslar
Keslar
Senior Member
671
23-02-2015, 08:01 PM
#5



(23-02-2015, 06:33 PM)tlord thank you

Congrats on becoming a Senior member. I'm working towards it myself

Sent from my TECNO M3 using Hovatek mobile
kay4dam69
kay4dam69
kay4dam69
Senior Member
389
23-02-2015, 09:36 PM
#6
More greeze 2 ya elbow bro...
tlord
tlord
tlord
Senior Member
266
23-02-2015, 10:36 PM
#7
thank you all
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