Kelby Down & Dirty Tricks With Photoshop CS5, Friday 09172010 @ Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

Most of the class seems fairly basic, covering knowledge I and nearly anyone else using Photoshop on a regular basis would already know. There are however new elements, particularly for features unique to CS5 and obscure key shortcuts. Following are general notes taken during seminar.

Adobe Photoshop

General

1. Alt Drag to scale all points.
2. Alt Shift Drag to scale all points with constrained proportions.
3. Stylize->Find Edges = Line Art
4. Ctl+i, toggle background black/white.
5. Ctl + click new layer. New layer appears below current.
6. Drag background over trashcan to unlock.
7. Shift Ctl J cuts selection to new layer.

Puppet Warp

1. Works like Pen Tool (add points and drag).
2. Puppet warp may be applied as a smart filter (always should be!), warp cannot.
3. Only works on contiguous objects.

Layer Masking

Black = Color hidden
White = Color 100%
Shift + Delete = Fill

1. Hold Alt to constrain proportions.
2. Use Ctl. 0
3. Layer mask – Mask layer without modifying layer
4. Hold Alt and click layer mask to place mask in main window.
5. Hold shift and lick on mask to disable.
6. Unlinked allows mask & layer to move independently
7. Adjustment layer; mess with colors without messing with layers.

Blending

1. Shift  +/- changes blend mode of a layer.
2. Alt & Drag to move half of a split slider.

Selections

1. Start with general selection.
2. Select refine edge.

Clipping Mask

1. Alt + Click between layers.

Mask from image:

Text

Basic

1. Dash, Alt Dash, Shift Alt Dash
2. Shift alt 5 to merge font
3. Pro fonts are “smart”; auto merging.
4. Superscript for @,Copyright, etc.

Path

1. Pen, hold Shift to add points (same as Dreamweaver Polygons).
2. Angle for curves.
3. Text can then be added to stay in or on path.
4. Drag finished text on path to far side to place text on inside of path.

Pen Tool

1. Move pen over path, click to add control point. Click on previous control point to remove.
2. Old Alt and drag to move only one side of curve.

Advanced

1. Create path. Initializes vector from ext layer.
2. Hold shift to deselect all points of vector object.
3. Texture can be dragged while active.
4. Alt drag FX icon to another layer – copies all effects.

3D Text

1. 3d->Repousse’
2. Internal constraints feature; holes, shape removal.

Smart Objects

1. Manipulation (re-size) without re sample.
2. Smart objects are linked. Changes in any smart object are reflected in all duplicated copies.
3. Right click on smart object->Duplicate using new smart object; creates unlinked smart object.
4. Filters added to smart object are recorded and can be adjusted/removed.
5. Choose any smart object->right click->replace image. Image in all smart objects are replaced and maintain all adjustments.

Define Brush

1. Select area/image, then define. Adds to brushes.

Content Removal

1. Select area.
2. Open Fill dialog (Shift+Backpace).
3. Use->Content aware.

Adobe Illustrator

Preset Art

1. Window->Symbol->Dot Vector Pack
2. Illustrator to PS:  Copy from illustrator, select Shape, define custom shape. Shape now lives in Photoshop for later use.
3. Paste from illustrator as Smart object, you can then edit in Illustrator by DB clicking layer.