Photoshop CS4 One-on-One Top 10 New Features

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Comments

Great post, you’ve helped

Submitted by annie12 on 1 February 2010 - 4:51am.

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Great post

Submitted by annie12 on 1 February 2010 - 4:50am.

Great post, you’ve helped me a lot

brush angle control shortcut question

Submitted by cmildh on 8 September 2009 - 1:16pm.
Can I possibly get an answer to this question...I have used Photoshop extensively over the last couple of years as an illustration tool and found it annoying that it seems impossible to control the brush angle on the fly via shortcuts, like I can with size, transparency and edge hardness...I have once again spent useless time digging around trying to find an answer, but to no avail...yes I am of course aware of that I can use the numeric settings and the "crosshair" control in the brush tip section of the brushes pallet...if the numeric value could be made "sticky" it would be exactly what I would like - to be able to use up and down arrows on the fly to determine the angle...Is there something I am overlooking here. I would help my work greatly if I could get this solved. (I have seen tutorial clips from matte painters on "Gnomon Workshop", for instance, where it seems like the instructor is controlling his brush angle in a way too rapid, not to be a shortcut..) Thanks.

There is no brush angle shortcut

Submitted by deke on 8 September 2009 - 1:52pm.
And Photoshop offers no way to make one. The only way I know of to control the angle of the brush on-the-fly is to use a drawing tablet with a pressure-sensitive stylus, such as the Intuos from Wacom. Then you can twist the stylus to change the angle of the brush.

angle disappointment

Submitted by cmildh on 9 September 2009 - 1:10pm.
Thanks for the surprisingly fast response...I have worked the brush parameters using Intuos4 (medium) but it seems the control is very so-so when it comes to the angle accuracy one would need to for instance place dozens of eye lashes around an eye with pixel precision. Do you address this question in any of your Lynda tutorials? ...and you put out some fine tutorials by the way! (free plug)

Unable to modify Macintosh keyboard shortcuts

Submitted by cmwarfield on 7 September 2009 - 2:03pm.
I was unable to modify the function keys as requested on the bottom of page xxi of the Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-On-One book. I'm using Mac OS X ver. 10.6. System preferences / keyboard & mouse screens are separate, unlike Figure 14. Are additonal steps required to modify the keys to Control-F9, etc. from the current F9, F10, etc.

Keyboard shortcuts have changed in OS X 10.6

Submitted by deke on 8 September 2009 - 2:01pm.
The idea here is that you're trying to change the Exposé and Spotlight shortcuts so that they don't interfere with Photoshop. Spotlight is the main culprit because, by default, it prevents you from zooming. In OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), you go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. Then switch to Exposé & Spaces in left-hand list and make the Control-F9, etc. changes. Next switch to Spotlight and set to F1 keystrokes advised in the book.

Also, aluminum keyboards *do* have an extra step

Submitted by david on 8 September 2009 - 10:03pm.
If you've got one of the new-ish aluminum Apple keyboards, the Function keys by default are intercepted by brightness, Exposé, Dashboard, iTunes controls, etc. You can access the actual F1-F12 keys temporarily by holding down the FN key while you press said function key, or alternatively change your preferences (System Preferences->Keyboard) to use the special Apple functions only when you hold the FN key. But even after you do that, you'll still need to remap the underlying F9, F10, etc. (Yes, Apple hijacks your function keys twice.)

I’m trying to pick up some

Submitted by achet on 13 May 2009 - 6:40am.
I’m trying to pick up some new tricks and just starting to mess with some grid layout stuff. Have any suggestions on grid layout tutorials?

Problem with save for web colors

Submitted by rbhudson47 on 30 November 2008 - 10:15am.
I just started having this problem with Photoshop CS3... When I "Save for Web and Devices" the colors change. In the 2-Up panel, my original has a green which is #C8F9DC, but in the panel on the right the color has changed to #B1F9DC. What is causing this? I've never had this problem before in the years and years I've used Photoshop. Thanks, Robert

Re: Save for Web Colors

Submitted by Archee on 30 November 2008 - 1:29pm.
The reason for is that you have most likely checked convert to sRGB in the panel where you are selecting monitor profile in save for web menu. . Uncheck the box and you should be good to go. In CS4 used background filled with your color and tried to save it. It came right up. sRGB is checked by default.

Question

Submitted by track_40 on 29 November 2008 - 7:56pm.
Deke, The new adjustment panel is frustrating to no end, from a workflow standpoint. In CS3, when you envoked an adjustment layer, the dialog would pop-up, and one could immediately begin working with the dialog using keyboard shortcuts (tab, arrows, etc.). Now, (at least from what I've experienced), there's no way to really activate the adjustments dialog so that the keyboard shortcuts can be used immediately -- one has to click in the panel in order to activate it. Has this been your experience? If not, how do you fix it? Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to create an adjustment layer without an associated mask. I know in CS3, you could turn off the mask option using the layers panel settings... but is this no longer the case in CS4? - Jacob

Adjustments palette shortcuts

Submitted by deke on 30 November 2008 - 10:52pm.
Like Petra, I'm only so-so on the Adjustments palette. (Sorry to hear about your loss, Petra.) But I got you covered on keyboard shortcuts. I'll write up an article and link to it.

Swings and roundabouts

Submitted by Petra on 1 December 2008 - 3:15pm.
One day a loss, the next day a gain. It's all good. My mum is buying me a new 'puter for Xmas. Luckily she's computer illiterate,and needs me to do the newsletters for the shooting range at the farm, so is almost as frustrated that my mobo died as I am. Heheh. *does happy dance to Supergroove's You Freak Me* :-D

Thanks Deke... Im dyin to

Submitted by track_40 on 1 December 2008 - 1:17am.
Thanks Deke... Im dyin to read it. Hook me up, my brotha.

I believe this

Submitted by deke on 1 December 2008 - 5:25am.
will answer your questions. If not, let me know, preferably on that page.

I had to ask this too - here's Deke's answer

Submitted by Petra on 30 November 2008 - 5:54pm.
"First, make sure you do not have an adjustment layer active. Then go to the Adjustments palette. Click on that indecipherable icon in the top-right corner that brings up the flyout menu. Then choose Add Mask by Default to turn it the hell off." I'm not overly fond of the adjustment palette myself - though I'm sure I'll get used to it. It just strikes me as one of those cosmetic changes that realluy doesn't have that much benefit - it's just pretty is all. But it's all moot to me at the moment, 'cos my mobo died last night. Bugger! :(

Thanks Petra! I would have

Submitted by track_40 on 1 December 2008 - 1:18am.
Thanks Petra! I would have found it myself in about 100yrs. You're a life saver.

Re: Thanks :)

Submitted by mcrumley on 17 October 2008 - 10:45pm.
@Lolka: The adjustment panel is one of my favorite new features. :-) It takes a little while to get used to it, but it saves a lot of time.

That's interesting

Submitted by deke on 18 October 2008 - 1:00am.
I will say, the Adjustments palette/panel has grown on me over time. I don't consider it a downgrade by any means. It's not much of a reason to upgrade given that most the features are already readily available in CS3. But it is conveniently located and it does include the target adjustment tool. Gripes: --I hate the fact that it remains ten feet tall even when you're using a two-slider adjustment like Vibrance. --Adobe desperately needs to get the adjustments in order, IMHO. We now have 21 adjustments (16 available as adj layers), many of which are repetitive, none of which were designed to specifically complement each other, none of which is particularly adept at adjusting tint or temperature, and with no consideration given to priority. Which is largely why Camera Raw and Lightroom and Aperture exist. If the Adjustments palette looked like the Basic panel in Camera Raw, I'd be a happy monkey. If you could take an image into Camera Raw on-the-fly when editing it in Photoshop, I'd even consider that cause for a bit of cheer. It's as if Adobe has gathered all the adjustments and tossed them in a junk drawer, so they're no longer scattered all over the countertops. That's a start, but they still need to be organized. Of course, I say this as a guy whose office looks like a bomb went off in it. :-)

Thanks :)

Submitted by Lolka on 14 October 2008 - 1:01pm.
Thanks for this summary of new features :) I don't think I will like this adjustment palette... but other features look really nice :D