Photoshop CS Killer Tips
Authors: Kelby S. Nelson F.
Published year: 2006
Pages: 16-19/429
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SAVING FILE BROWSER SETUPS

In Photoshop CS, your custom File Browser setups can be saved as Workspaces, which opens a new way of working within the File Browser. For example, if you shoot a lot of portraits, you can double-click on the Folders tab (to roll it up out of the way, giving you a taller Preview palette), then drag the divider bar between the palettes area and the thumbnail area to the right to make your preview even bigger. Since your preview is so large, you can shrink the size of your thumbnails (go to the View menu in the File Browser and choose Medium Thumbnail). Once you've done all this, save this setup as a Workspace by going to the Window menu, under Workspace, and choosing Save Workspace ( name it "File Browser Portrait"). Then, next time you're looking through some proofs, you can have huge previews in just one click. You can do the same thing for wide photos-just drag the divider bar much farther to the right, until the preview of photos with a landscape orientation takes up most of the File Browser Screen. Now switching between huge portrait and landscape previews only takes one click.


SETTING DEFAULTS IN THE FILTER GALLERY

Believe it or not, there's a hidden "Default" button within the Filter Gallery that lets you set up and save your own custom default settings so each time you open the Filter Gallery, it has your favorite settings already in place. Here's how to set your defaults: Open the Filter Gallery (found under the Filter menu), set it up just the way you want, then hold the Command key (PC: Control key) and you'll notice that the Cancel button changes into the Default button. Click on that and your current settings now become the default settings.


REARRANGING YOUR BRUSHES

One of the things in Photoshop that just didn't make sense to us was that you couldn't easily rearrange the order of your brushes in the Brushes palette. Oh sure, you could create a whole new custom set with the brushes you wanted, in the order you wanted them, but it would take a while, and frankly, was such a pain that we only know a handful of people who actually went through the trouble. Well, our wish for easily rearranging brushes is finally here, but the process is a bit hidden beneath the surface. To move a brush from one spot in the palette to another, go under the Edit menu, and choose Preset Manager. In the Preset Manager dialog, under Preset Type, choose Brushes. Then, click-and-drag the brush of your choice to the location of your choice. At last, we are free to move brushes among the herd.


CREATING YOUR OWN CUSTOM NEW DOCUMENT PRESETS

If you're creating new documents and find yourself using the same new document sizes fairly often (for example, let's say that you wind up creating a new document that's 7" wide by 5" tall, at a resolution of 225, in CMYK mode), you can make that a preset in the New dialog of Photoshop CS (technically, you could do this in Photoshop 7 by hacking a text document, but it was a bit of a pain, and most people didn't do it). To create your own presets, just go under the File menu, chose New, then in the New dialog, enter your favorite settings, then press the Save Preset button. A dialog will appear where you can name your preset, and when you click OK, that preset will be saved to the New dialog Preset menu near the top of the list.

Photoshop CS Killer Tips
Authors: Kelby S. Nelson F.
Published year: 2006
Pages: 16-19/429
Buy this book on amazon.com >>

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