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 How to display images in Two Windows - Photoshop
Grabber Hand Tool
The Undo Command
Using History In Photoshop
The Move Tool
Display The Same Image In Two Windows
When doing detail work on an image you may need to zoom in to take a closer look at the pixels. But to make sure that any changes you're making
in this magnified state will look realistic at a normal view you'll have to zoom out for a quick look. Here's a great tip -
instead of zooming in and out, you can have the same image open in two windows at the same time.
With an open image selected choose Window> Arrange> New Window (the original file name will be listed). The same image will now appear in a new second
window.
Keep one window set at 100% to see your effects, and work in the second window - either zoomed in or zoomed out. This technique is particularly
useful when you get in the habit of using the Grabber Hand Tool.
Instant Grabber Hand
Heres a great tip for moving around the canvas — Press the Spacebar to temporarily activate the Hand Tool. Click to move an image freely inside a canvas area
that is smaller than the image. Release the Spacebar and the hand tool will revert back to the current tool you have selected. Great for when you have two window
open.
Quick Revert - The Undo Command
To undo your last image movement or modification Press Control + Z on the keyboard. This will undo one instruction only, Toggling back and forth
like this is a good technique to review the before and after effects of a one-step change to an image.
NOTE: Photoshop has ONE undo level. Ctrl Z will revert / repeat.
To go back further (more undo's) Press Ctrl+Alt+Z to select history movements. In this manner, you can undo back to any stage. You should also
learn how to effectively use the HISTORY functions of Photoshop.
Using the History Functions of Photoshop
On the top menu title bar, choose > Window > History
A new dialog box will appear showing your last movements / actions / state changes etc.
If you click on any of the available state changes, the file will revert to that step. This is particularly useful for going backwards in your
Photoshop Files.
If you learn to use the History Functions Of Photoshop, you can control many factors of your file.
Setting how many History States In Photoshop.
On the top Menu Bar, Choose > Edit > Preferences > General
Change the level of History States you need.
A fast way for each document, Open an image, and drag down a ruler, double click and choose the next - previous tabs to alter lots
of choices for that document.
The Move Tool & The Arrow Keys
Get in the habit of starting the Move Tool with the keyboard shortcut, which is the Letter V. Also, once the Move Tool is active you can use your
Keyboard Arrow Keys to nudge a layer or selection in 1 pixel increments. To speed things up, Press Shift along with an arrow key to nudge in 10 pixel increments.
Important Tip: Always stay in Move Tool Mode, this is safer between your steps or thoughts of creativity. Today, all our
sign design graphic artists have developed the habit of immediately switching tools to sit idle in the Move Tool, less errors... and you can always put things
back into position.
Using Rulers in Photoshop
To put rulers (guidelines) into your document, on the top menu titles, Choose > View > Rulers. You can also choose Snap options.
Once chosen, using your mouse, click and drag a vertical or horizontal ruler down from where you see all the measurements. Place into position
anywhere in the document. If your working on a document or image or photo that is a similar colour to the standard ruler colours, you can Change The Ruler Colour
by:
1. Drag down a ruler on your canvas.
2. Double click the ruler, a dialog box will appear where you can change colours, styles, grid options and more.
TIP: This is also the quickest way to view other document settings and preferences such as setting your printing resolution, scratch disks etc.
Drop Shadows
To create lots of effects in PS, try this technique.
1. In Illustrator, or Corel or similar, select you vector image and put a colour into it. (eg Red)
2. If your vector file wont fill with color, it may be that a node is not joined to make an entire path.
3. In the drawing program, Illustrator or Corel, Select the image and Export as .eps.
4. Then go to PS and open a new file to the canvas size you want.
5. Go File | Place - Find your .eps file and place into the file. Handles will allow you move or resize or rotate the .eps file
6. Once you are happy with size or position, click on any tool on the Tool menu, this will prompt the file to be placed into your doc.
From here, you can create a shadow, outline, filter effect etc in Photoshop.
a) Double click the right side of the layer name in the Layers Bar. This will open a new window with lots of options. Choose Drop Shadow, adjust
the angles, click on the color to change it and so on.
b) Another technique and better for commercial output is to Duplicate the layer, then lock the layer (transparency) then press Alt-Delete to fill
the pixels with color. (Doing this method allows you to add blends, noise, photos eg to the layer and then turn it into a shadow with color.) This will fill
the layer except the protected (locked) transparent pixels.
Then, unlock the layer. Go to Top Menu, Filter, Gaussian Blur. Adjust size, opacity etc.
7. Last step (optional) Right Click the layer, choose 'Rasterize' Layer. This will turn the layer into a true pixel format.
Another tip for using PS is to work in RGB or CMYK and at last stages change your mode to Indexed (gif). If your having trouble with color, most
probably it is you may be in the wrong color mode. Top menu | Image | Mode > rgb, cmyk, indexed.
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