Specific Tools

Specific Tools

In addition to the overall questions we've already explored, you also have to consider the specific settings in the Options Bar for each tool. Here, in their order of appearance in the Toolbox, are the key settings to check for each tool, along with a few examples of typical problems.

Marquee (M):

Double-check the group of four buttons to determine the proper selection: New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, or Intersect with Selection.Also check the Style pop-up menu: Normal, Fixed Aspect Ratio, or Fixed Size . Typical Problem: Last time you used the Marquee tool to make a fixed- sized selection, and it's still set to that fixed size as opposed to Normal.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong Marquee tool active, press Shift-M to switch between the Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee tools.

Move (V):

Double-check the following: Auto Select Layer, Auto Select Groups, and Show Transform Controls. Typical Problem: Auto Select Layer only works if the layer has an Opacity of more than 50%, so if you're trying to click on a very transparent layer, Auto Select Layer will prevent you from being able to move that layer. You'll have to decide when you need this option turned onit can be extremely helpful in selected layers, but if you have semi- transparent layers , it will cause you problems.

Lasso (L):

Check the following: New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, and Intersect a Selection buttons, and the Anti-alias checkbox.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong Lasso tool active, press Shift-L to toggle among the three Lasso tools.

Polygonal Lasso:

Double-check the following: New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, and Intersect a Selection buttons, and the Anti-aliased checkbox.

Magnetic Lasso:

Double-check the following: New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, and Intersect a Selection buttons, Anti-alias checkbox, Width, Edge Contrast, and Frequency fields, and the Tablet Pressure button (if you have a stylus tablet).

Magic Wand (W):

Double-check the following: New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, and Intersect a Selection buttons, Anti-alias, Contiguous, and Sample All Layers checkboxes, and the Tolerance field. Typical Problem: You unchecked the Contiguous checkbox the last time you were working in Photoshop so you could select all areas of the same color at once. Now you want to select just contiguous pixels, so you'll need to choose that option.

Crop (C):

Double-check the following: Width, Height, and Resolution fields. Click the Clear button to clear the settings and enter your own specific size or resolution in the fields.

Slice (K):

Check to be sure you have the correct Style selected: Normal, Fixed Aspect Ratio, or Fixed Size. If you are entering your own settings for the Width and Height fields, don't click on the Slices From Guides button, as this will automatically populate those fields.

Spot Healing Brush (J):

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Type (Proximity Match or Create Texture), and the Sample All Layers checkbox. Typical Problem: This isn't so much of a problem with tool settings as it is with how the tool operates. It's best to use this tool for small areas or "spots," unless the area you're trying to remove is surrounded by a fairly large area of the same texture.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong blemish-correction tool active, press Shift-J to toggle among the four correction tools: Spot Healing, Healing, Patch, and Red Eye.

Healing Brush:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Source (Sampled or Pattern), and the Aligned and Sample All Layers checkboxes.

Patch:

Double-check the following: Source, Destination, and Transparent. Typical Problem: The terms "Source" and "Destination" can be a little confusing. Click on Source if you want to select the problem and then drag it to the "fix." Click on Destination if you plan to select the "fix" and drag it over the problem.

Red Eye:

Double-check the following: Pupil Size and Darken Amount.

Brush (B):

Double-check the following: Flow slider, the Mode pop-up menu, and Airbrush button. Typical Problem: If you press a number shortcut using the numeric keypad on the keyboard to change the tool's Opacity and nothing happens, it probably means the Airbrush button is on. You need to turn this button off to use the number keyboard shortcut for changing Opacity.

Care for a Sample?

A number of tools offer an option called Sample All Layers. This can be extremely useful when you're attempting to "clean up" your image, but don't want to alter the Background layer itself. First, with your tool active, click the Create a New Layer icon in the Layers palette to add a new blank layer, and then turn on the Sample All Layers checkbox in the Options Bar. Now any work you do (with tools that offer this option) will appear on the new layer. This allows you to lower the Opacity, change the layer blend mode, or delete the layer completely if you wish. The tools that offer this option are: Spot Healing, Healing, Clone Stamp, Magic Wand, Magic Eraser, Paint Bucket, Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge.


Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong brush tool active, press Shift-B to toggle among the three brush tools: Brush, Pencil, and Color Replacement.

Pencil:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Opacity, and the Auto Erase checkbox.

Color Replacement:

Double-check the following: the Sampling buttons (Continuous, Once, or Background Swatch), the Limits pop-up menu (Discontiguous, Contiguous, or Find Edges), the Mode pop-up menu, and the Tolerance slider. Typical Problem: Wherever you drag the cursor, all colors are being replaced, not just the one you want. This often happens when the Sampling is set to Continuous as opposed to Once. With Sampling set to Once, the first place you click will determine the color that's being replaced , even if you drag the cursor over a different color.

Clone Stamp (S):

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Flow slider, Airbrush button, and the Aligned and Sample All Layers checkboxes. Typical Problem: It can be difficult to understand when to deselect the Aligned checkbox. Generally, you should leave it checked so that the distance between the pixels you're sampling and the area you're cloning over stays constant. Deselecting the Aligned checkbox means the Clone Stamp tool will always start cloning from the place you first Option-clicked (PC: Alt-clicked) to establish the reference point.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong stamp tool active, press Shift-S to toggle between the Clone Stamp and the Pattern Stamp tools.

Pattern Stamp:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Flow slider, Airbrush button, and the Aligned and Impressionist checkboxes.

History Brush (Y):

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Flow slider, and Airbrush button. Typical Problem: The History Brush works in conjunction with the History palette, so you need to check both to ensure the correct History State (source) is set for the History Brush.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong History tool active, press Shift-Y to toggle between the History and Art History Brush tools.

Art History Brush:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, the Style pop-up menu, and the Opacity, Area, and Tolerance fields.

Eraser (E):

Double-check the Mode pop-up menu, Flow slider, Airbrush button, and Erase to History checkbox. Typical Problem: If you're erasing on the Background layer, you also need to ensure your Background color swatch is set to the appro-priate color.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong Eraser tool active, press Shift-E to toggle among the three Eraser tools.

Background Eraser:

Double-check the following: Sampling buttons (Continuous, Once, or Background Swatch), the Limits pop-up menu, Tolerance slider, and Protect Foreground Color checkbox.

Magic Eraser:

Double-check the following: Contiguous and Sample All Layers checkboxes, Tolerance, and Opacity.

Gradient (G):

Double-check the following: correct gradient chosen in Gradient Picker, Style buttons, the Mode pop-up menu, Opacity, and Reverse, Dither, and Transparency checkboxes. Typical Problem: Your gradient colors are black and white, but when you change the Foreground and Background colors, the gradient is still black and white. This happens when the Gradient Picker is set on the Black to White gradient rather than the Foreground to Background gradient.

Paint Bucket:

Double-check the following: the Fill and Mode pop-up menus , Opacity, Tolerance, and the Contiguous and All Layers checkboxes.

Blur (R):

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Strength, and Sample All Layers checkbox. Typical Problem: The default 50% setting for Strength is usually too high for most situations, so if you're using this tool, make sure the Strength percentage is set to a lower amount.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong retouching tool active, press Shift-R to toggle among the three tools: Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge.

Sharpen:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Strength slider, and Sample All Layers checkbox.

Smudge:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Strength slider, and Sample All Layers and Finger Painting checkboxes.

Dodge (O):

Double-check the following: the Range pop-up menu, Exposure, and Airbrush button. Typical Problem: Here's another example of a tool with a default setting that's usually too high. Change the Exposure setting to a lower amount such as 1520% for a more subtle effect.

Burn:

Double-check the following: the Range pop-up menu, Exposure, and Airbrush button.

Sponge:

Double-check the following: the Mode pop-up menu, Flow slider, and Airbrush button. Typical Problem: Although many people think of the Sponge tool as the "Desaturate tool," it does have two different modesDesaturate and Saturateso remember to check that first.

Path Selection (A):

Double-check the following: Show Bounding Box, Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape buttons, and Alignment buttons. Typical Problem: While it may look like the Selection tool you see in other programs like Illustrator, this is the Path Selection tool, meaning it only works when you are using paths.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong selection tool active, press Shift-A to toggle between the Path and Direct Selection tools.

Direct Selection:

No options.

Type (T):

For all of the Type toolsHorizontal/Vertical, Horizontal/Vertical Type Maskdouble-check the following: Text Orientation button, Font, Font Style, Font Size, and Anti-aliasing pop-up menus, the Alignment buttons, and the Font Color swatch. Note: For most tools, you set the options and then use the tool. The Type tool is one of the few tools that allows you to alter settings (font size, color, etc.) after you've begun working with it.

Pen (P):

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, Auto Add/Delete checkbox, and the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. Also double-check Pen Options.

Freeform Pen:

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, Magnetic checkbox, and the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. Also check Freeform Pen options.

Delete Anchor Point:

No options.

Convert Point:

No options.

Rectangle (U):

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, and the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. If using the Fill Pixels option, ensure Mode and Opacity are set correctly. Also check Rectangle Options.

Bonus Tip : If you have the wrong drawing tool active, press Shift-U to toggle among the six drawing tools.

Rounded Rectangle:

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons, and the Radius setting. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. If using the Fill Pixels option, ensure Mode and Opacity are set correctly. Also check Rounded Rectangle Options.

Ellipse:

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons, and the Radius setting. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. If using the Fill Pixels option, ensure Mode and Opacity are set correctly. Also check Ellipse Options.

Polygon:

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons, and the Sides setting. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. If using the Fill Pixels option, ensure Mode and Opacity are set correctly. Also check Polygon Options.

Line:

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons, and the Weight setting. If using the Shape Layers option, check the Color swatch. If using the Fill Pixels option, ensure Mode and Opacity are set correctly. Also check Arrowheads options.

Custom Shape:

Double-check the following: Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels buttons, the Add, Subtract, Intersect, and Exclude From Shape/Path Area buttons, and the Shape pop-up menu. If using the Shape Layers option, ensure the Color swatch is correct. If using Fill Pixels option, ensure Mode and Opacity are set correctly. Also check Custom Shape Options.

Notes (N):

Double-check the Author field, Size pop-up menu, and Color swatch.

Audio Annotation:

Double-check the Author field and Color swatch.

Eyedropper (I):

Double-check the Sample Size pop-up menu.

Color Sampler:

Double-check the Sample Size pop-up menu.

Measure:

No options.

Hand (H):

Double-check the Scroll All Windows checkbox.

Zoom (Z):

Double-check the following: Resize Windows To Fit, Ignore Palettes, and Zoom All Windows checkboxes, and the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons.

Tool Presets

Creating your own tool presets can be a potential solution to avoiding problems with tool settings. Then you can simply pick from your tool presets, in effect giving you only one question to ask yourself: Am I using the correct tool preset? To create a tool preset, first select your tool, then enter all the settings you want for a tool in the Options Bar. With your settings entered, click on the Tool Preset icon (it's in the far-left corner of the Options Bar) to show the menu of presets. Click on the flyout menu (it's the right- facing arrow in the top-right corner of the pop-up menu), and choose New Tool Preset. In the resulting dialog, name the preset and click OK. From then on, you can simply pick from the list of presets by clicking on the Tool Preset icon.




Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book
The Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book
ISBN: 0321337042
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 225
Authors: Dave Cross

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