3. Customizing the Way You Work

No description of Adobe Photoshop would be complete without that well known, but little utilized area called Preferences. Photoshop preferences serve several purposes. They help customize the program to your particular designing style, and they help you utilize available computer resources to increase the overall performance of the program.

By modifying File Handling preferences, such as appending a file extension on the file, or being asked when saving a layered TIFF file, you can streamline file saving process. In addition, you can change the way your cursors look. For example, do you want your paintbrush to look like a paintbrush when you paint, do you prefer a precession crosshair or the actual brush size shape, or the shape with a crosshair?

As you use Photoshop, you’ll come to realize the importance of working with units and rulers. Precision is the name of the game when you are working with images. What about the color of your guides, grids, and slices? No big deal, you say. Well, if you’ve every tried viewing a blue guide against a blue-sky image, you know exactly why color is important. By working through preferences such as Image Cache, Scratch Disks, and RAM Memory, speed increases of up to 20 percent can be achieved.

In addition, customizing the program, helps make you more comfortable, and studies show that the more comfortable you are as a designer the better your designs. Plus, being comfortable allows you to work faster, and that means you’ll accomplish more in the same amount of time. What does setting up preferences do for you? They make Photoshop run faster (up to 20 percent), you work more efficiently, and your designs are better. That’s a pretty good combination. Photoshop doesn’t give you preferences to confuse you, but to give you choices, and those choices give you control.

Optimizing Photoshop

Photoshop is a powerful program, and as such, requires a tremendous amount of computing power. When working on large documents, a poorly optimized Photoshop will translate into long wait times. That’s the bad news if you have a deadline to meet. The good news is that Photoshop can be configured to run more efficiently. To optimize Photoshop, click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, point to Preferences, and then click Performance. The Performance preferences dialog box contain options that will help increase the performance of Photoshop.

History States

History States control the number of undos available. In fact, you can have up to 1000 undos (ever wonder who would make so many mistakes that they would need 1000 undos?). Unfortunately, increasing the number of History States will ultimately increase the amount of RAM Photoshop uses to manage the History palette. Assigning more RAM memory to manage History means less memory for Photoshop to perform normal operations, and will reduce the performance of the program. If you are experiencing slow performance problems, lowering the number of History States frees up more RAM, and permits Photoshop to operate more efficiently.

Scratch Disk

When your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to perform an operation, Photoshop uses free space on any available drive, known as a Scratch Disk. Photoshop requires 5 times the working size of the file in contiguous hard drive space. For example, if the working size of your file is 100MB, you will need 500MB of contiguous hard drive space, or you will receive an error message: Out of Scratch Disk Space (I hate it when that happens). Using additional hard drives gives Photoshop the ability to divide the processing load and increase performance. Photoshop detects and displays all available internal disks in the Preferences dialog box. Scratch disks must be physically attached to your computer (avoid networks and removable media, such as zip drives, or rewriteable CDs or DVDs). For maximum speed, avoid USB, and use 4 or 6-pin Firewire drives. Benchmark tests show Firewire drives provide up to a 20 percent speed improvement when used as Scratch Disks. Think of saving one hour out of every five, or one full day out of every five. That’s not too bad. For best results, select a scratch disk on a different drive than the one used for virtual memory or any large files you’re editing.

Memory & Image Cache

Photoshop functions in RAM memory (actually all applications work within RAM). To run efficiently, Photoshop requires five times the working size of the open document in available memory (some tests indicate 6 to 8 times). Strictly speaking, the more RAM memory you can assign to Photoshop, the more efficient the program operates, especially when opening large document.

RAM memory usage is determined by the working size of the document, not its open size. As you work on a document, you will eventually add additional layers to separate and control elements of the image. As you add these new layers, the working size of the file increases.

Setting General Preferences

Photoshop’s General preferences help you configure some of the more common features of the program. Image quality settings, as well as the new History log are setup in General preferences. Other options, such as showing tool tips, beeping when an operation is finished, and using Smart Quotes, can all be turned on or off in the options area. The History Log lets you save all the History States performed on a particular document. For example, when you open an image, all the adjustments and actions performed are saved in a text file. This gives you access to valuable information, and lets you reproduce the steps performed on one image, to correct the contents of another. You can also change the size of the small font text on the Options bar, palettes, and tool tips.

Work with General Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click General.

Click the Color Picker list arrow, and then select Adobe or another operating system (Windows or Macintosh).

Click the Image Interpolation list arrow, and then select Nearest Neighbor (Faster), Bilinear, or one of the Bicubic options.

Click the UI Font Size list arrow, and then select a size for the user interface fonts.

The change takes effect the next time you start Photoshop.

Select the various options you want to use:

Automatically Launch Bridge. Automatically launches the Bridge in the background every time Photoshop is launched.
Auto-Update Open Documents. Creates a link between the open image and the image file on disk.
Beep When Done. Sounds when an operation is complete.
Dynamic Color Sliders. Previews color effects within the slider bars.
Export Clipboard. Transfers a copied image to the operating systems clipboard.
Use Shift Key For Tool Switch. Allows you to use the keyboard shortcut when two tools share the same slot in the toolbox.
Resize Image During Paste/Place. Allows you to resize an image during a Paste or Place.
Zoom Resizes Windows. Forces the image window to resize when zoom is selected.
Zoom With Scroll Wheel. Determines whether zooming or scrolling is the default operation of the scroll wheel.

Select the History Log options you want to use.

Click OK.

Modifying File Handling Preferences

Sooner or later, you’ll have to save the file (document) you’ve created in Photoshop. The final output of any document is contained within a specific file format such as tif, eps, jpg, or even bmp. In fact, Photoshop lets you save files using over 18 different formats. The File Handling preferences provide several options that modify what information is saved with a file. Image previews are typically very small; add very little to the file size of the saved document. Once saved you will want to open, print, and possibly even modify the document using other image-editing applications. The File compatibility options help you save a file that will be transportable to other applications.

Work with File Handling Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click File Handling.

Select the File Saving Options you want to use:

Image Previews. Select Always Save, Never Save, or Ask When Saving.
Icon. Saves previews of the images (Mac).
Full Size. Saves full-size previews for use as FPO (For Placement Only) objects in Desktop layout programs (Mac).
Mac Thumbnail. Saves previews viewable when using the Mac File Open command (Mac).
Win Thumbnail. Saves previews viewable when using the Win File Open command (Mac).
Append File Extension. Lets you choose whether to append the file extension (Mac).
Use Lower Case. Choose to have upper or lower case extensions.

Select the File Compatibility options you want to use:

Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for JPEG Files (New!). Open JPEG files in Camera Raw.
Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for Supported Raw Files (New!). Open Raw supported files in Camera Raw.
Ignore EXIF Profile Tag. Ignores color space metadata attached to digital camera images.
Ask Before Saving Layered TIFF Files. Lets you create multi-layered documents, and then save them using the TIFF format.

This is a distinct advantage when you need to use multi-layered files and you don’t want to save them using Photoshop’s proprietary format .psd.

Enable Large Document Format. Lets you create and save large files (up to 6 GB).
Maximize PSD File Compatibility. Lets you save .psd files that can be opened in earlier versions of the program.

Select the Enable Version Cue check box to save files compatible with Adobe Version Cue.

Enter the number of files (up to 30) to keep in the Recent File List box.

Click OK.

Working with Interface Preferences

Working with the Interface preferences gives you control over whether Photoshop displays or hides user interface features. You can display some user interface elements in color. For example, you can show the Toolbar icon in color or grayscale (New!), show channels in color, or show selected menu items in user-defined colors. Interface preferences also allows you to shows labels when your cursor is placed over an option, automatically collapse icon palettes when you click away (New!), and remember palette locations for use next time.

Work with Interface Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Interface.

Select the Interface options you want to use:

Use Grayscale Toolbar Icon. Shows the toolbar icon in grayscale or color (New!).
Show Channels In Color. Allows you to view channels in the Channels palette in color.

For example, the red channel displays using shades of red, the green channel using shades of green, and the blue channel using shades of blue. When this option is not selected, color channels display, using shades of gray (does not affect printing).

Show Menu Colors. Displays selected menu items in user-defined colors.
Show Tool Tips. Shows labels when your cursor is placed over an option.
Auto-Collapse Icon Palettes (New!). Automatically collapse icon palettes when you click away.
Remember Palette Locations. Saves the palette locations.

Click OK.

Working with Cursors Preferences

We communicate with Photoshop using various devices, such as a drawing table, mouse, touch screen, track pad, and a keyboard. Photoshop communicates with us using visual cues, the most prominent one is the shape of the cursor. For example, when a cursor looks like an I-beam, this typically means it’s time to enter text, or when the cursor looks like a magnifying glass, clicking on the image expands the view size. Working with the Cursors preferences gives you control over how Photoshop communicates with you.

Work with Cursors Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Cursors.

Select the Painting Cursors options you want to use:

Standard. Painting cursors appear as their toolbox buttons.
Precise. Painting cursors appear as cross-hairs.
Normal Brush Tip. Painting cursors appear with the shape of the active brush tip.
Full Size Brush Tip. Shows the full size of the brush tip, including feathered edges.
Show Crosshair In Brush Tip. Displays a crosshair in the center of the brush tip.

Select the Other Cursors options you want to use:

Standard. Painting cursors appear as their toolbox buttons.
Precise. Painting cursors appear as cross-hairs.

Click OK.

For Your Information: Toggling Between Precise and Standard Tools

Pressing the Cap Lock key while using a painting cursor, toggles the tool between the precise and brush size options, and pressing the Cap Lock key when using any other cursor, toggles between standard and precise.

Controlling Transparency & Gamut Preferences

The Transparency & Gamut preferences control how Photoshop displays transparent areas of a document (commonly called the tablecloth), as well as the color and opacity of areas of an image that fall outside of the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), color mode. It’s important to understand that transparency in Photoshop does not always translate into transparency, after you save the file. For example, the JPEG format is used primarily for images saved for the Internet, and does not support transparency. When you save the file, Photoshop will fill the transparent areas of the image with a matte color (default white). In addition, the Gamut Warning mask is used because a monitor displaying color information using RGB, and has more saturation values than a 4-color press (CMYK). Using new inks and spot colors can sometimes overcome an out-of-gamut color. For transparency it’s important to remember that unless you’re printing the document directly in Photoshop, it’s the format that determines if the transparent areas will be saved, and the Gamut Warning is there to warn you of any areas that may not be saved.

Control Transparency & Gamut Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Transparency & Gamut.

Select the Transparency Settings options you want to use:

Grid Size. Allows you to select a transparency grid size.
Grid Colors. Allows you to choose the color scheme for the transparency grid.

Select the Gamut Warning options you want to use:

Color. Choose a color to mask areas of an image that move out of the CMYK color space.
Opacity. Enter a value from 0 to 100 percent.

Opacity determines how much of the Color Overlay masks the original image pixels.

For example, if you choose the color gray, and an opacity of 100 percent, areas of an image that fall outside of the CMYK color space will be masked with gray.

Click OK.

Important

To activate the gamut warning option, open a document in Photoshop, click the View menu, and then click Gamut Warning. Out of Gamut areas of the image will display with the color and opacity chosen in the Transparency & Gamut preferences.

Working with Units & Rulers

While changing the measurable units and rulers do not affect output quality, they do help to measure information in a document consistent with the specific output device. Ruler units give you precise information on the width and height of the active document. The column size measurements provide information that Photoshop needs to create documents in the column and width of newspapers, magazines, brochures, etc. The Preset Resolutions lets you select specific resolution values for creating new documents. Insert the values you’ll use most often in the creation of a new Photoshop document.

Work with Units & Rulers Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Units & Rulers.

Select the Units options you want to use:

Rulers. Sets a default measuring system for the Ruler bar.

For example, pixels would be most common for images displayed on a monitor, and pica or inches most common for output to press or printer.

Type. Sets to measure type with a default value of points or millimeters.

Did You Know?

You can switch between ruler measurements without going to preferences. To change the default measurement system of the Ruler bar, simply move into the Ruler bar, and then right-click your mouse. A list of available measurement options will be instantly available.

Select the Column Size settings you want to use:

Width. Choose a measurement system and numerical value for column width.
Gutter. Choose a measurement system and numerical value for gutter (the space between the columns).

When you choose a measurement system (points, inches, or cm), Photoshop changes the value to correspond to the type of measurement system.

Select the New Document Preset Resolutions settings you want to use:

Print Resolution. Select a print resolution and measurement value for default printing.
Screen Resolution. Select a print resolution and measurement value for default screen display.

Click the Postscript or Traditional option measuring systems for Photoshop’s type tool (Postscript is the most widely used).

Click OK.

Working with Guides, Grid, Slices & Count

The Guides, Grid, Slices & Count preferences help keep a multi-layered document in proper order. For example, lining up buttons on a Web interface, or making sure specific design elements are exactly in place within the document window. The Guides option lets you select the color and style of the guides placed within a Photoshop document. Guides are placed within the image by dragging them from the horizontal or vertical Ruler bars in the active document. The Grid options let you decide on a color, style, and layout for Photoshop’s grid system. The Slices option defines the visible color of a slice, and whether Photoshop displays a number value for each slice. The Count option specifies color used to display the count number when you count objects in an image using the Count tool (Extended) (New!).

Work with Guides, Grid, Slices & Count Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Guides, Grid, Slices & Count.

Select the Guides options you want to use:

Color. Select a default color for displaying guides.
Style. Select a default (Lines or Dashed) for displaying guidelines.

Select the Smart Guides options you want to use:

Color. Select a color for use with Smart Guides.

Did You Know?

You can change a horizontal guide into a vertical guide, and vise versa. Move into the Ruler bar and drag guide into the document window. Before releasing the mouse, hold down the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key. The guide automatically switches directions.

Select the Grid options you want to use:

Color. Select a default color for displaying grids.
Style. Select a default style (Lines, Dashed Lines, or Dots) for displaying the grid.
Gridline Every. Enter a value for how often the grid lines appear within the active document.
Subdivisions. Enter a value for how many subdivisions (lines) appear between each main gridline.

Select the Slices options you want to use:

Line Color. Select a default line color for displaying document slices.
Show Slice Numbers. Select the check box to display a number for each slice in the upper-left corner of the slice.

Important

When you select a line color, choose a color that is different than the guide and grid line colors. That way you can easily identify grids and guides for user-created lines.

Select a color for use with the Count tool (New!).

Click OK.

Did You Know?

You can change colors choices for Guide, Grid, Slices & Count. Not satisfied with the color choices offered by the color and style menus. Click on the Color boxes located on the right side of the Preferences dialog box, and select any color from the Color Picker.

Selecting Plug-Ins

The Plug-Ins preferences give you the ability to organize your plug-ins by saving them in one or more folders. These additional folders are typically used to hold additional third-party plug-ins. When selected, plug-ins contained within the folder will be available from Photoshop’s Filters menu. Organizing your plug-ins into folders helps keep your project focused and reduces the clutter of plug-ins when you select the Filter menu.

Work with Plug-Ins Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Plug-Ins.

Select the Additional Plug-Ins Folder check box to store additional plug-in.

Important

The first time you select this option, Photoshop asks you where to store the plug-ins. The next time you want to store plug-ins or add additional plug-ins, click Choose.

If necessary, click Choose to identify the folder where you want to store plug-ins, and then click OK.

Enter in your Legacy Photoshop Serial Number.

Some third-party plug-ins require access to Photoshop’s old style Serial Number. If you’ve been upgrading Photoshop, and you have the old style serial number (starts with PS) enter that number in the Legacy input box.

Click OK.

Selecting Scratch Disks

The Performance preferences are available to help you get the best performance out of your computer, by letting you choose one or more hard drive for scratch operations. When your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to perform an operation, Photoshop uses free space on any available drive, known as a Scratch Disk. Photoshop runs faster when you divide the Scratch Disk workload. Scratch operations are performed on your hard drive, and take place when Photoshop is using one of its many filters and adjustments. Photoshop detects and displays all available internal disks in the Performance preferences dialog box, where you can select the disks you want. By assigning additional hard drives to the task, you speed up Photoshop’s overall performance. Scratch Disk changes take effect the next time you start Photoshop.

Work with Scratch Disks Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Performance.

Select the check box next to the scratch disk you want to use or clear the check box to remove it.

Important

Photoshop holds scratch disk space as long as the application is open. To delete scratch disk space you must close Photoshop.

Click OK.

Allocating Memory & Image Cache

The Memory & Image Cache preferences give you control over how much RAM memory is assigned to Photoshop, and how much memory is allocated to screen draws (Image Cache). Photoshop, being a high-performance application, requires a fairly large amount of RAM memory. Adjusting these options can help increase Photoshop’s overall speed performance. Photoshop uses many things that effect RAM memory: History States, Undo, Clipboard, and Cache. When you modify the cache settings, you are increasing or decreasing the amount of RAM Photoshop uses for various tasks. Experimentation is the key here. Try different settings and record Photoshop’s performance. By fine-tuning Photoshop’s engine, you increase it’s overall speed, and you’ll get more design miles to the gallon.

Allocate Memory & Image Cache Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Performance.

Select the History & Cache options you want to use:

Cache Levels. Select a number from 1 to 8.
History States. Enter the amount of History States steps you want to keep as undos; you can enter up to 1,000.

Important

History States impact Photoshop’s performance by holding the History States using a combination of RAM and Scratch Disk space. The more History States used, the more RAM memory is required. Using an extensive number of History States can impact Photoshop’s performance.

For Your Information: Setting the Cache Levels

Cache Levels are screen redraws. It’s how many versions of the current active document Photoshop saves. When you’re working on large documents, Cache Levels helps speed up the redraw function, and makes image manipulation proceed faster. However, they are held primarily in RAM memory, so the more Cache Levels you select, the less RAM memory is available for other Photoshop functions.

Enter the percentage of RAM used in the Let Photoshop Use box.

Photoshop needs RAM memory to work efficiently (5 times the size of the open document).

Important

Any setting changes made for allocating memory and image caching will take place the next time you start Photoshop. Please see the message at the bottom of the screen.

To override software rendering of 3D layers, select Enable 3D Acceleration check box (Extended) (New!).

Click OK.

Important

Never select 100 percent Memory Usage. Selecting 100 percent gives Photoshop your entire available RAM, leaving nothing for the operating system or any other open programs. If you are experiencing more than your usual share of Photoshop crashes, experiment with reducing memory usage.

Working with Type

Although Photoshop is not by definition a type setting application, such as Adobe InDesign, it does have some very powerful type features. For example, Adobe Photoshop allows you to output PostScript text to a printer with a PostScript option. This way you will not need to place Photoshop images into type intensive applications, such as InDesign or Illustrator, just to create a few lines of text. In addition, Photoshop’s new type menu lets you see fonts as they will print or display. For designers that use a lot of fonts, this WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) font menu is a timesaver. You can use Type preferences to help you select the type and font options you want to use in Photoshop.

Work with Type Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Type.

Select the Type options you want to use:

Use Smart Quotes. Select to use left and right quotations.
Show Asian Text Options. Select to display Japanese, Chinese, and Korean type options in the Character and Paragraph palettes.
Enable Missing Glyph Protection (New!). Select to automatically select incorrect, unreadable characters between roman and non-roman (Japanese or Cyrillic) text.
Show Font Names In English. Select to display non-Roman fonts using their Roman names.
Font Preview Size. Select to display fonts on the menu in small, medium, or large size.

Click OK.

Important

Photoshop uses PostScript measuring systems to size fonts. Therefore a 72 point font will print 1 inch tall. Using this lets you know how big the fonts will appear when output to print.

Managing Libraries with the Preset Manager

The Preset Manager gives you one place to manage brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, contours, custom shapes, and preset tools. The Preset Manager can be used to change the current set of preset items and create new libraries of customized sets. Once a library is loaded in the Preset Manager, you can access the library’s items in all locations the preset is available. Changes made in the Preset Manager are global, and are applied every time you open Photoshop. When you save a new preset, the name appears in the dialog box for the specific option you selected.

Create a New Preset

Click the Edit menu, and then click Preset Manager.

Click the Preset Type list arrow, and then select the options.

Click the Options list arrow, and then select from the available presets to add them to the current item list.

To remove any items in a new preset, click a thumbnail, and then click Delete.

To reorganize their order, click and drag the thumbnails to new positions within the view window.

To change a preset name, click a thumbnail, click Rename, change the name, and then click OK.

Click a thumbnail, and then click Save Set.

Enter a new set name, and then select a location to store the set.

Click Save, and then click Done.

Did You Know?

You can save specific items in the view window as a preset. Press Ctrl+click (Win) or +click (Mac) on only those items you want in the new set, and then click Save Set.

Customizing the Workspace

PS 1.1

Photoshop consists of a document surrounded by an Options bar, toolbox, and up to 19 floating palettes. Depending on how you work, your workspace may reflect any combination of the above. For example, when you work with text, you would need the Character and Paragraph palettes, but you might not need the Styles or Histogram palette. To work efficiently, each job requires a certain organization of the workspace. Rather than making you redesign your workspace every time you begin a new project, Photoshop gives you ways to create and save your own customized workspaces.

Create a Customized Workspace

Arrange the palettes into a specific working order.

Click the Window button on the Options bar (New!) or point to Workspace on the Window menu, and then click Save Workspace.

Type a name for the workspace.

Select check boxes to save Palette Locations, Keyboard Shortcuts, or Menus.

Click Save.

Delete a Customized Workspace

Click the Window button on the Options bar (New!) or point to Workspace on the Window menu, and then click Delete Workspace.

Click the Workspace list arrow, and then click the workspace you want to delete, or click All.

Click Delete, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Did You Know?

You can display the Photoshop default Workspace. Click the Window menu, point to Workspace, and then click Default Workspace.

For Your Information: Resetting Palettes

You can reset all Photoshop palettes back to their original configuration. Click the Window menu, point to Workspace, and then click Reset Palette Location. Photoshop resets all palettes, regardless of current settings.

Defining Shortcut Keys

PS 1.1

A wise man once wrote “time is money,” and Photoshop is a program that can consume a lot of time. That’s why the Photoshop application uses shortcut keys. Shortcut keys, as their name implies, let you perform tasks in a shorter period of time. For example, if you want to open a new document in Photoshop, you click the File menu, and then click New, or you can abandon the mouse and press Ctrl+N (Win) or +N (Mac) to use shortcut keys. Using shortcut keys reduces the use of the mouse and speeds up operations. In fact, a recent study in the American Medical Journal, suggested that the use of shortcut keys significantly cuts down on repetitive stress, and reduces instances of carpal tunnel syndrome. Photoshop raises the bar by not only giving you hundreds of possible shortcut keys, but also actually allowing you to define you own shortcuts.

Create a Keyboard Shortcut

Click the Edit menu, and then click Keyboard Shortcuts.

Click an arrow (left column) to expand the menu that contains the command you want to create a shortcut.

Select an item from the commands list.

Use the keyboard to create the new shortcut. For example, press Ctrl+N (Win) or +N (Mac).

Click Accept.

Click OK.

Did You Know?

You can save time using shortcut keys. According to several time and motion studies, using shortcut keys can actually save a computer user 1 hour out of every 8 in a work day.

For Your Information: Working with Shortcuts

In addition to adding shortcuts, you can delete, add additional shortcuts, and even print out a summary of shortcuts defined in Photoshop. Shortcuts can be used for the Application and Palette menus, as well as for your tools in the toolbox. Click the Edit menu, click Keyboard Shortcuts, and then use the appropriate buttons, such as Delete Shortcut, Add Shortcut, or Summarize, to perform the tasks you want.

Creating a Customized User Interface

PS 1.1

Photoshop’s pull-down menus actually contain hundreds of options (yes, I did said hundreds). If you find navigating through menus a hassle, then Adobe has the answer to your problem with a customizable user interface. In Photoshop, you have the ability to choose what menu items appear on the pull-down menus and even colorize certain menu items for easier visibility. For example, if your curious about all the new features in Photoshop, you can create a drop-down menu system with all the new features highlighted. Or, perhaps, you wish to create a menu system that highlights all the specific tools you’re planning to use in a photo-restoration project. In fact, Photoshop includes several predefined user interface sets just to get you started in the right direction.

Use a Predefined User Interface

Click the Window menu, and then point to Workspace.

Click one of the predefined sets, such as: Automation, Web Design, or What’s New in CS3.

A dialog box displays asking whether you want to apply the new changes.

Click Yes to apply the changes.

The Photoshop menus will now display with highlighted options based on your selection.

Did You Know?

You can restore menus to original settings. To restore all of the Photoshop menu settings to the original values, click the Window menu, and then click Reset Menus.

You can turn a text box into a slider. You can use any text box which displays a numerical value, such as font size, like a slider. Point to the text box, press and hold down the Ctrl key (which changes the cursor to a hand with arrows), and then move the mouse left to decrease or right to increase the displayed number.

Create a Customized User Interface

Click the Window menu, point to Workspace, and then click Keyboard Shortcuts & Menus.

Click the Menus tab.

To create a new set, based on the current active set, click the Create New Set button, enter a name, and then click Save.

Click the Set list arrow, and then select a listing of modified User Interfaces.

Click the Menu For list arrow and then click Application Menus or Palette Menus with the items you want to modify.

Click an arrow (left column) to expand the menu that contains the command you want to modify.

Click the Visibility icon associated with a command to show or hide the command.

Click the Color list arrow, and select a color for the selected command.

Click the Save All Changes button to save the new customized User Interface.

Click OK.

Did You Know?

You can delete a user interface set. Click the Windows menu, point to Workspace, click Keyboard Shortcuts & Menus, click the Menus tab, click the Set list arrow, click the set you want, and then click the Delete button.

Using Drawing Tablets

When you design on a computer, you’re leaving the natural world of oil, watercolor, and canvas, for the electronic world of computer monitors and pixels (don’t worry, it’s a relatively painless transition). Without a doubt there are many differences between traditional and digital design; however, it’s not necessary to abandon all aspects of the natural media world. For example, the computer mouse has always been a problem with designers who miss the feel and control of a brush in their hands. Fortunately, technology came to the rescue several years ago, with the invention of the drawing tablet. Drawing tablets incorporate a drawing surface, and a brush-like drawing tool. A designer picks up the brush and moves it across the drawing tablet surface. In turn, the drawing tablet interprets those movements as brush strokes. Not only does Photoshop fully support drawing tablet technology, it also interprets the particular drawing style of the designer. For example, pushing harder with the brush against the drawing tablet, instructs Photoshop to create a wider stroke, or even to apply more color. Drawing tablets have helped to translate the control of working with real art brushes against canvas, into the world of the digital designer. Of all the manufacturers, Wacom stands out as the leader in drawing tablet technology. Wacom returns the feel of designing with a brush to the digital designer’s world, and the software required to power the tablet works seamlessly with Photoshop and the Windows or Macintosh operating systems. To check out what tablet might be right for your needs, point your browser to www.wacom.com and check out the available options.

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