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Nicky -> RE: =Education= [PS/General] Comprehensive Beginner Signature Making Guide (6/28/2008 20:48:09)
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Put the tools guide into text form on the front page, 'cause it's a pretty big guide and I don't think that many people would click on the little link to get to it X3.
EDIT: Also, I'm going to be writing the filters section soon. Any requests for things to go in-depth with?
Here's what it looks like, just for quick reference and for the sake of posting all my updates in two places:
Photoshop Tools... and what they do ~ Part 1
:o! It’s your tools palette! But wait, you don’t know what does what, do you? The following guide/walkthrough should help you with that, so that you can master Photoshop (and the tools palette) in no time!
Note: This guide is only correct to Photoshop CS3 Extended
quote:
Format:
NAME OF TOOL (shortcut)
Alternate Tools (Right click tile to be able to select these.)
Description
The MARQUEE tool (M)
(Elliptical Marquee, Rectangular Marquee, Single Column/Row Marquee)
This tool is useful for making selections, so that you can delete, fill, or maybe put a
pattern in a certain area. It works with a simple click-and-drag motion, and after you’ve made your selection, you can right click for more options about what you might want to do.
Hold SHIFT while dragging to create a perfect square (or circle, if you’re using the Elliptical Marquee)! Also, after you’ve finished making one selection, you can press SHIFT to add more space to it, or even create another selection next to it. After you’ve made one selection, you can also press ALT (or OPTION, if you’re on a Macintosh) to subtract from that
selection.
The Single Row and Single Column Marquee tools select a straight horizontal or vertical line, which generally is not used anywhere near as much as the rectangular and elliptical marquee tools.
The MOVE tool (V)
Need to get something to shove over? To move to somewhere else? Then the move tool is your tool.
This is another one that is very basic in it’s click-and-drag functionality. All you have to do is make sure that you have selected the layer you want to move in your Layers Palette, and click and drag to move it- easy!
This tool can also move selections that you have made.
The LASSO tool (L)
(Lasso, Polygonal/Magnetic Lasso)
This is another handy tool for making
selections in Photoshop. These can be even more precise than the Marquee’s selections.
All you have to do is click to create a ‘start point’, and then, while still holding down that click, drag around the canvas to create your selection. When you’re done, simply let go! And boom! You have a selection.
Variations of the Lasso tool is the Polygonal lasso, and the Magnetic lasso.
The Polygonal lasso only works in straight lines, and you don’t drag this one. You click once, then click in other areas to create your straight-line selection. With this one, you also have to “finish” your selection, and connect the line back up to where you started. You can hold SHIFT to make sure that your line only moves in multiples of 45* angles. (Yes, the * is meant to be a degrees sign.)
The Magnetic lasso is kind of a mixture of the two. You click to start it, but then you can let go of your click, and drag it around. But, like the Polygonal lasso, you have to join it back up to where you started. Also, this one tries to draw on any lines that might be in your canvas (from what I know, I’m not 100% sure about this tool).
The MAGIC WAND tool (W)
(Quick Selection)
The Magic wand is yet another selection tool that is used a lot. All you have to do is click, and it will select the area around your click with similar or the same colour.
You can change the tolerance in the menu at the top to try and manipulate what kind of selection you get. The higher tolerance, the more stuff it will select that might not be an exact match of colour, but the less tolerance, the more picky the tool is about what it
selects. A pretty straightforward tool, if you ask me.
The alternative to this one is the Quick Selection tool. The difference is that it works with a brush, and you can click, and while holding down the click, drag to get a large area selected. A very useful tool indeed!
The CROP tool (C)
The Crop tool. You’ve probably seen this one before. This one changes the size of your canvas, by cropping it.
All you need to do for this one is click and drag, to select the area that you want, then either click another tool (hotkeys wont work) and then press Apply, or clicking the little tick button in the top options.
A fairly simple tool, but useful from time to time.
Note that another way to change the size of your image is to go to Image -> Canvas Size.
The SLICE tool (K)
(Slice/Slice Select)
This is a must-have tool for alot of web designers using Photoshop to create their designs.
There is not much use for this to normal graphic designers, but basically this tool is used for dividing your canvas into a number of images. You do this by clicking and dragging on an area that you want. Most of it will be automatically done for you when you slice up a section. There is no visual change when you use this, and save your image.
SPOT HEALING BRUSH (J)
((Spot) Healing Brush, Patch,Red Eye tool)
The Healing Brush tools are quite... complex. They aim to “correct” your image by looking at the colours around it and decide if it needs “fixing”.
In the spot healing brush tool, you can click or drag over a section, and photoshop will attempt to “fix” it. For example, if there was a blade of grass on a black piece of paper, dragging over the grass would probably turn it black, to correct it so that it fits the surroundings.The Healing Brush is the same, except you hold ALT and click somewhere to define a spot that will be used to compare to anywhere you click after letting go of ALT, so that it can correct the image.
The Patch Tool is also a “fixing” tool. Notice that at the top when you select the patch tool there are two options- “Source” and “Destination”. If you click Source, and then click and drag a selection like you were using the lasso tool, then click -inside- your selection and drag it to another place, you’ll see that as you’re dragging your selection to another place, your original selection is changing. Let go to see that your original selection has been “fixed” according to what you dragged it onto. The “Destination” function does the opposite. This is probably a tool that you will want to test out a bit.
And last, but not least, the Red Eye tool. This is a simple one, just click on a spot on your image to tell Photoshop “Hey, I need red eye removal on this spot”, and it will attempt to correct it.
The BRUSH tool (B)
(Brush, Pencil, Colour Replacement)
This is a great tool. You need to click to make it work, and the options can be edited in many ways!
The first way is by pressing F5, where you’ll get a pop-up window with a lot of options that you can play around with are. The second is by right clicking anywhere on your canvas, which is like a mini version of the F5 menu. It is controlled mostly via the controls at the top of the screen, where you can choose different brushes, and adjust how it works. More brushes can be downloaded via websites like http://www.deviantart.com. You’ll probably be using this tool alot!
The Pencil tool works similarly to the brush tool, except the outcome is much more fine and precise. Works in pretty much the same way as well.
The Colour Removal tool... I barely use this one, so I’m not sure exactly what it does. Sorry guys :/, I’m clueless on this one.
The CLONE STAMP tool (S)
(Clone/Pattern Stamp)
The Clone Stamp is a -very- cool and... should I say advanced, version of the healing brush!
It works in exactly the same way, except when you “draw” back on your canvas in the place you want it to be corrected, it doesn’t correct itself! Instead, it actually moves the area that you clicked when you held down ALT, into the place you’re clicking without holding down ALT! Pretty cool, eh? :)
The Pattern Stamp tool works in the same way, except it puts a Pattern on the spot that you click.
The HISTORY BRUSH (Y)
((Art) History Brush)
This can be a very useful tool, depending on what you want to do in Photoshop. A very cool one, at that.
You know how pressing Control + Z undoes whatever you did before? Well, this is pretty much exactly that, but in a brush form! Just click and drag over something you did before you change it back to how it was! Pretty cool.
The Art History Brush works in the same way, just that it does a more flashy job of it. The options can again be changed a lot in the top options bar.
The ERASER tool (E)
((Magic/Background) Eraser)
If you use this tool as much as I do, you will use it a lot. This tool is the ultimate thing for.. well.. erasing things, I guess.
This works similarly to the brush tool, in that F5 works, and you can right click to change some of your options. There isn’t much to be said about the normal eraser tool.
The Magic Eraser tool works kind of like the Magic Wand, except it deletes
everything instead of selecting it. In fact, it works in the same way.
The Background Eraser works the same as the normal eraser, except it has tolerance. Why does it need tolerance? Because Photoshop needs to figure out what part of your image is Background, that you’re trying to erase. Quite useful indeed!
The GRADIENT tool (G)
(Gradient/ Paint Bucket)
The Gradient tool is a really interesting, which lets you create “shades” over your canvas. It’s also kind of hard to explain, but I’ll do my best.
When you click and drag a line across your canvas, and then let go, you’ll create a shade. The colours in your shade can be customized using the options bar at the top. You’ll probably have to experiment with it yourself to get what I mean ^^;.
The Paint bucket is the same as in Paint, or most other programs. You click in an enclosed area, and your Foreground colour will fill it. I’ll explain to you about the Foreground colours later on.
Simple, but useful!
That ends part one of the tutorial. Be sure
to check out part 2, which should be linked
along with this one is coming right up if you read on!
Photoshop Tools... and what they do ~ Part 2
:o! Your evil tools palette is back again! But this time he seems.. well, less evil. Read on if you want to fully conquer his evil with your understanding of Photoshop! Woooo!
The SMUDGE tool (R)
(Smudge, Blur, Sharpen)
The smudge tool... Woot! One of my favourite tools, yet very similar to the brush tool. This tool is actually pretty simple, it smudges stuff @_@. You can edit alot of options on this one using the top otions bar and the F5 menu. This is a really good tool for making backgrounds or effects- an all rounder!
The Blur tool is also pretty cool. As the name only but suggests, it blurs stuff. Works the same as the smudge tool, just that instead of smudging, it blurs whatever you click on.
Sharpen tool- straight forward. Replica of the blur tool, except it sharpens.
The DODGE tool (O)
(Dodge, Burn, Sponge tools)
The Dodge tool is yet another freakishly helpful one. It adjusts your lighting, and all you have to do is click to make it work. Ta-da! It can be adjusted to the type of toning you want and such with the top options bar.
The Burn tool is the exact opposite of the Dodge tool; that is, instead of brightening your work, it darkens it! Pretty simple if you understand the Dodge tool.
The Sponge tool, however, works with colour. It’s pretty much the same function as the Dodge and Burn tool, except it Saturates or Desaturates your image! Pretty snazzy, eh?
The PEN tool
(Pen, Freeform Pen) - I’m not going to go into the other Pen tools.
Ah, yes. The pen tool. A very useful one indeed. It works kind of like a the polygonal lasso, except that you can make curved lines with it. Just click, and then click another point until connecting up and the end. To make curves, simply click and drag.
Note the top options bar, how you can draw a path, or a shape if you wish. Make sure you select what you want before starting. Also, you can delete your paths by pressing backspace.Yet another tool I suggest testing out!
The Freeform Pen is the normal Lasso, but in Pen tool form. Click and drag to make your path- easy!
Now, I’m not going to go into the rest of them because there’s quite a few, and I haven’t touched them at all in my time using Photoshop :|.
The TEXT type tool (T)
(Horizontal/Vertical text, H/V Mask)
The text tool, you’ll be using this one a lot. Pay special attention to the top options bar in this one, there are a lot of options.
To make an area that you can type in, click and drag to make a box to set boundaries. On the contrary, you can just click somewhere so you can type without boundaries. Simple!
The Vertical text tool is the same, except that the text appears going from top to bottom.
The Horizontal and Vertical Mask tools are really useful for making selections that look like text! Just try this one out for yourself, it’s pretty cool.
The PATH SELECTION tool (A)
(Path selection, Direct selection tool)
The Path Selection tool, yet another one I don’t really know how to use. I’m guessing all you have to do is click to select a path. Really straightforward.
The direct selection tool, I’m not sure about. Sorry :/
Short section, not really much to explain on this one!
The ROUNDED RECTANGLE Tool (U)
(Along with many other shapes)
This is a great tool, which lets you create shapes, yay! Not really much to explain here either, but click and drag to create your shape that you’ve chosen in the top options bar. You can also hold SHIFT to create a perfect shape.
The Custom Shape tool is awesome, actually. You can go to the top options bar and pick out shape sets like brushes, and use them! So many different shapes come with Photoshop as it is, and this is a great tool.
The NOTES tool (N)
(Notes/Audio annotation)
Pretty useless, unless you want to make notes on your work if you’re giving it to someone else, or you’re going to come back to it later. Click somewhere you create a notation.
You can delete notes as well, by right clicking the square looking thing on the top left hand corner of them.
Audio annotation is just leaving notes with your voice...
The EYEDROPPER Tool (I) <--- Get it? I.. Eye.. Haha :3
(Eye dropper, colour sampler, ruler, counting)
I love the eyedropper tool. Like a colour, but don’t know what it is? Never fear! The eyedropper tool is here! Just click somewhere to make that colour your foreground. Useful!
Colour sampler tool is similar, except it opens up the “Info” palette, which examines your colour more closely.
Ruler tool lets you draw a line from one place to another, and it’ll measure that distance in your top options bar.
Counting tool seems pretty useless, actually. Click to “count” points on your work. Kind of weird, but you could find it useful.
The HAND tool (H)
This one.. eh, not much use for it. All it’s really good for is scrolling. No explanation needed here.
The ZOOM tool (Z)
The Zoom tool, fun! Just click to zoom in or out. The options at the top, are quite useful tool.
A really straightforward one again. Also note that you can click and drag to make a box, and scroll in on a particular area!
ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM!
Foreground and Background Colours (The coloured squares under the tools)
Yep. Colour. Now, you’ll probably wonder why I’m going to go onto explaining this. Its cause, well, it’s in your tools palette. It’s not a tool, but it is in the palette, so I’ll explain it anyway.
The square that appears on top of the other one is the Foreground colour. As you probably guessed, the other one is the background colour.
You can click on these squares to change your colour. When you click on them a colour picker will come up, that you can pick your colour on.
The little black-and-white square icon in the bottom left hand corner is to swap the colours back to Black and White, how it looks on the icon. The shortcut for this is D.
The shortcut for “swapping” your foreground and background colours is X, just FYI.
Quick Mask Mode (Q)
Quick mask mode is awesome! Go into it, and use your Brush tool (B), and you can draw on your canvas without drawing anything, actually. It creates a selection for you. And when you click on the button again, it comes out of Quick Mask mode, which creates a selection around what you drew on with your brush tool. In fact, the inverse of what you drew. Press Control + Shift + I to inverse the section.
Change Screen Mode (F)
This isn’t really much of a “tool”, but it changes your screen mode. Easy to try out, just press F on your keyboard! Self-explanitory :).
Well, that brings us to the end of this two-part tutorial.
Thanks for reading, hope you have learnt something!
PS. Your tools palette looks less evil now :)
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