Working Efficiently

If you use Photoshop every day, and run a lot of pictures through it, you'll soon pick up some tricks of your own to work faster and smarter . The easiest trick to learn is to use the tool selection shortcuts: Z to select the Zoom tool, B for Brush, and so on. As you become familiar with the tools and what they can do, you'll find you go back to the same brush sizes or type fonts again and again.

Tool Presets

Photoshop makes it easy for you to reuse your favorite tool settings by providing a palette of tool presets. Click the Tool Preset button at the left side of the Tool Options bar, or open the Tool Presets palette. You'll see a list of the current presets for the tools you are using. The palette menu lets you add more presets, delete these, group them, rename them, and otherwise juggle them around.

To add a brush tool preset, first switch to the tool for which you want to make a preset, and then use the Brushes palette and Tool Options bar to construct the shape, action, and other attributes of the desired brush tool. Don't forget that clicking the names of the listed attributes (not on the check boxes) gives you access to their controls. The check boxes simply toggle them on or off. When you've set your brush the way you want it, give it a name. Close the Brushes palette so it's not in the way. Now, go to tool presets and open the palette menu. Again, name your brush or accept the default name , and it will be added to the current preset menu (see Figure 18.23).

Figure 18.23. Tool presets for the Brush tool.

Other non-brush tools such as the Crop tool and the Type tool can also have presets. These can be set and saved using the Tool Options bar and the Preset menu.