Adobe Photoshop Basics

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Adobe Photoshop Basix

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10 Steps to I mproving Your Photoshop Skil ls

Photoshop is an incredible tool for graphic design, but there is certainly a lot to learn for new designers, and theresalways more to master for those who are already experienced. If youre currently working as a designer and looking to

improve your skills, you probably find that time is a major constraint to improving your abilities.

If so, youll need to develop a plan to improve your skills step-by-step in the time that you have available. If youre anaspiring designer, you may have no idea where to start in order to achieve the level of success of some of the

Photoshop masters that we see online. In this, article well look at ten steps you can take to progressively build yourskills using resources that are readily available.

1. Follow Tut orials

Psdtuts+ is obviously focused on providing excellent quality tutorials for readers. Like Psdtuts+, there are a growingnumber of other websites and blogs that regularly publish Photoshop tutorials. All of these sites are valuable resourcesfor improving your skills, whether youre looking to develop specific skills or just looking to improve in general.

In order to take advantage of the tutorial sites that are available, subscribe to a few that you like the most so youdont miss out on new posts (you may also want to bookmark other tutorial sites in case you want to find them in the

future). With the amount of content that is published, youll never be able to work through each tutorial, and youreunlikely to have an interest in all of them anyway.

Try to get in the habit of picking one or two per week to attempt on your own. For most of us, learning is much easier

when were actually doing something ourselves, so working through the tutorials is essential rather than just browsingthrough them. If you use Google Reader you can star the tutorials that interest you the most so youll be able to easilyfind them when you have some spare time.

About six months ago Collis published a list of his favorite tutorial sites, which included: Tutorial9, PS Hero, Tutzor,PhotoshopStar, Tutorial Dog,Abduzeedo, PhotoshopGUIDesign, Worth1000, Digital Grin, and Photoshop Support. In

addition to Collis list, PSD Learning, PSDFAN, PhotoshopTutorials.ws, and Photoshop Essentials are also good

resources.

2. Experiment

The best way to learn anything new is to experience it for yourself. While following tutorials can be incredibly helpful,you should also take some time to just experiment on your own to see what you can create. You can try to apply

things you have learned from tutorials, or just experiment with things youre not familiar with. Photoshop has so manydifferent functions, features and settings that youll really need to become familiar with them in order to understand

their potential.

Free form experimentation can open up your creativity and help you to get more comfortable with Photoshop. In orderto ever be able to put the lessons you learn from others into practice in real world scenarios, youll need to be able todo some experimentation and adaptation. There may be some tutorials that teach you exactly what you need to do,

but more likely theyll teach you a skill or technique that can be used on your own projects, but youll need to adjust itto fit with your particular needs.

When working with experimentation, find something that works best for you in terms of learning new things. I like towork with large images by experimenting with wallpaper design because the large canvas size opens up all kinds of


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some Flickr groups.

Other Flickr groups worth checking out includeAbduzeedo, Go Media, Fuel Your Creativity, My Ink Blog, and DesignShard.

5. Blog about Photoshop or Design

If youre attempting to improve your abilities with Photoshop, blogging on the subject will help you to stay active in

your pursuits and it will force you to keep learning. Working on the content for your blog will be an excellenteducational experience. Not all blogs are run by experts on the subject, in fact most probably are not. Many blogreaders enjoy following a blogger who is truly developing along the way, and many of your readers will be goingthrough similar situations in their own learning.

Once your skills have developed to a certain point you may also want to look into the opportunities available to write

for other design blogs. Many of the larger blogs pay writers for their work, and blogs of all sizes are open to free guestposts in exchange for a link back to your own blog. While writing for your own blog will allow you the freedom to workon developing any skills that you like, writing for others will push you in other ways. In most cases, if youre being

paid for your posts, it is going to have to be quality work in order to get published. This means that youll need tokeep stretching yourself and learning new things in order to develop the content. It can be difficult to write for otherblogs, but its a tremendous growth opportunity if youre willing to put in the work.

Psdtuts+ accepts unsolicited article/tutorial submissions, and a number of other sites are also actively looking forwriters. Other websites and blogs that are looking for graphic design content include GoMediaZine, CreativePro, andSitePoint.

6. Subscribe to Online Galler ies

Online galleries that display exceptional work by various artists are an excellent source of design inspiration. Thisinspiration will come in handy when youre looking to experiment on your own and create impressive results. Galleries

are great because you can quickly browse through a large amount of items, plus you can subscribe to get constantupdates and youll never lack inspiration.


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There are galleries for all different kinds of purposes. If your work in Photoshop is primarily related to web design, you

may want to subscribe to a few web design or CSS galleries. Some of the top web design galleries include Best WebGallery, CSS Mania, CSS Drive, and CSS Elite. If youre focused on other types of design you may want to look forgalleries that specialize in that particular aspect. Some good examples are Design Flavr, UCreative, FAVEUP, Logo Pondand Design Snips.

In addition to online galleries, social networking sites that allow members to post a portfolio can also be outstanding

sources of inspiration. They can be a resource for posting your own work in addition to viewing the work of others.Top sites in this category include Behance, Carbonmade, and deviantART.

7. Find an Expert t o Follow

Regardless of what field youre in, following and learning from an expert can be incredibly beneficial, and graphicdesign is no different. If you hope to become a standout designer, why not find someone that you admire and pay

close attention to their career and their work? Fortunately, being in a field that is often closely related to technology,its easy to find experts online and get exposure to their work, read their blog, and read interviews with them.

Psdtuts+ frequently publishes informative interviews with accomplished designers. These interviews provide insight intotheir lives and their careers that may help you some way in your own work. If you already have someone in particularthat you admire, subscribe to their blog if they have one, find them on social networking sites, keep and eye on theirportfolio, and just generally keep tabs on their career.

If you dont have anyone in mind at this point, pay attention to work that you like in Flickr groups that you visit, seewhat stands out to you at design galleries, or find a particular tutorial writer that has a style which you appreciate. Insome cases you may be able to get in touch with this person through their site or through profiles on networking sites,or you may choose to just quietly watch and learn from a distance.

8. Read Design Magazines

One of the downfalls of being in a field that has so many resources available online is that its easy to forget about allof the great offline resources at your disposal. While browsing through designer portfolios and subscribing to online


http://bestwebgallery.com/http://bestwebgallery.com/http://cssmania.com/http://cssdrive.com/http://www.csselite.com/http://www.designflavr.com/http://www.ucreative.com/http://faveup.com/http://logopond.com/http://designsnips.com/http://www.behance.net/http://www.carbonmade.com/http://www.deviantart.com/http://psdtuts.com/articles/inspiration/maciej-hajnrich-interview/http://www.designflavr.com/http://www.deviantart.com/http://www.carbonmade.com/http://www.behance.net/http://designsnips.com/http://logopond.com/http://faveup.com/http://www.ucreative.com/http://www.designflavr.com/http://www.csselite.com/http://cssdrive.com/http://cssmania.com/http://bestwebgallery.com/http://bestwebgallery.com/


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galleries are great sources of inspiration, you may be missing out by not reading any traditional print magazines.

In addition to the inspirational aspect, articles in design magazines will often be a little bit different than the type ofcontent youll typically find on blogs. If you want a well-rounded educational experience, find a few design magazines

and see what appeals to you. Of course, each magazine will have a slightly different focus or approach, so look arounda little bit to find a good match for your interests.

Just a few months ago You the Designer published a list 10 Amazing Graphic Design Magazines over a two-part series(see parts one and two) of magazines that are worth a look.

9. Try t o Replicate t he Work of Others

One proven way to learn is to attempt to replicate the work of other designers. Im not suggesting that you rip offother designers by selling this work or taking credit for it as your own (which unfortunately is all too common,

especially online). What I am suggesting is that in your own experimental work that is meant just for learningpurposes, take an exemplary piece from another designer and do your best to duplicate it. If its just used for yourown educational purposes and not sold or re-distributed it is perfectly acceptable. Also, unless you change andpersonalize this design dramatically, do avoid placing it in your portfolio.

In my own effort to learn web design I used to start with a finished product from another designer and attempt toachieve the same layout or some other aspect of the design. This was a valuable learning experience that helped tosee how I could accomplish things that worked in real world scenarios. The same thing can be done regardless ofwhat kind of design youre working on. For example, find a few album cover designs that you like and attempt to re-

create them.

By doing this youre working towards the goal of creating a design that already has proven to be successful as afinished product. In addition to hopefully learning some new techniques in Photoshop, youll also pick up some generalprinciples of good design that can be carried over to any work that you do.

10. Part icipate in Design Compet it ions


http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/09/08/10-amazing-graphic-design-magazines-part-1/http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/09/08/10-amazing-graphic-design-magazines-part-1/http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/09/11/10-amazing-graphic-design-magazines-part-2/http://www.flickr.com/photos/oligoelement/2422345901/http://psdtuts.com/articles/inspiration/maciej-hajnrich-interview/http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/09/11/10-amazing-graphic-design-magazines-part-2/http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/09/08/10-amazing-graphic-design-magazines-part-1/http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/09/08/10-amazing-graphic-design-magazines-part-1/


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Once youve become pretty comfortable with your own progress in learning Photoshop, you may want to challengeyourself and have some fun at the same time by entering a design competition. In most cases there will be some

potential prizes and youll be motivated to push yourself towards your true potential. Plus, youll often be able to seethe work of other designers in the competition, which can provide you with some inspiration, and can give you a wayto gauge your own skills and progress.

While the goal of entering a contest may be to win something, youll still benefit just by participating. It will give youthe opportunity to create something specific for the purpose of being judged by others. In some cases you may receive

some valuable feedback and you may get to see where you stand in comparison with some other designers.

Psdtuts+ has run several contests in the past, including the solving poverty button design contest, theAudioJunglewallpaper contest, and the Flickr group contest. Other blogs such asYou the Designer have had design contests aswell.


http://psdtuts.com/news/psdtuts-new-contest-solving-poverty-button-design-contest/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/psdtuts-new-contest-design-an-audiojungle-screensaver/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/psdtuts-new-contest-design-an-audiojungle-screensaver/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/the-first-psdtuts-contest-launches/http://www.youthedesigner.com/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/21-brilliant-audiojungle-wallpapers-winners-announced/http://www.youthedesigner.com/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/the-first-psdtuts-contest-launches/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/psdtuts-new-contest-design-an-audiojungle-screensaver/http://psdtuts.com/articles/news/psdtuts-new-contest-design-an-audiojungle-screensaver/http://psdtuts.com/news/psdtuts-new-contest-solving-poverty-button-design-contest/


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A Basic Guide t o Phot oshop CS4 Adj ustment Layers

Photoshop CS4 has a new Panel named Adjustments, based on the Adjustment Layers of previous versions. Theseadjustments can be used for non-destructive editing, can be masked to edit only a part of an image, it can be applied

to several layers on a single document and even you can change the Adjustment Layers Blending Mode to createoutstanding results. This time well take a tour around this wonderful new feature.

Adjustment s PanelPhotoshop CS4 introduces a new Panel to make our lives easier. Adjustments is a quick and accurate way to edit any

picture or image by simply clicking on one of the Adjustment options shown on it.

You will be able to edit the colors, saturation, levels, channels, mix colors, add gradients and whatnot from a singleinterface. Youll be able to easily change the adjustment settings, hide/show a specific adjustment layer, quickly addclipping masks in order to apply an Adjustment to a single layer or several layers depending on your needs, and much

more. This tutorial is a reference guide for any user level, and helps you to better understand this fantastic tool.

First of all, lets see what we are talking about. Open Photoshop and check the Workspace selector at the top-right ofthe window. Youll see several options, where you can add your very own. A quick way to show the Adjustment tools is

by selecting the option Essentials. Another way is just going to Window > Adjustments, either way is fine. Youll seethe Adjustment panel then, in the panels area, at the right side of the workspace.

Clipping Masks Apply an Adjustm ent t o Only One or t o Many Layers

The Adjustment Panel shows two main areas, the first one with three rows of several filter layers, and a second onewith several presets for the Adjustment Layers. At the bottom-right theres a button that is used to enable/disable aclipping mask in order to apply the Adjustment only to one layer, or apply it to several layers below when the clippingmask is disabled.




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Adjustment s Panel Overview

Once you select any of the Adjustments, youll see the Settings options on the panel, you can enlarge the panel if thatworks better for you. Besides you can easily toggle the visibility of the Adjustment, reset the default settings or even

discard the Adjustment Layer.

To add another Adjustment layer click on the arrow at the bottom left of the panel, that will take you to the list, if youwant to go back to the current Adjustment Click on the arrow pointing backwards. Well, thats enough with the panelitself, lets try the power of the Adjustment Layers.




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1. Bright ness and Cont rast

The first in line is the Brightness and Contrast adjustment. This is one of the simplest adjustments and yet verypowerful. You can add it by clicking on the Brightness and Contrast icon on the Adjustments Panel.

You can simply edit the tonal range of an image in a very smart way. See the examples below, just move the sliders to

adjust your desired settings. If you check the Use Legacy box, Photoshop will only increase/decrease each pixelsbrightness value, thats why it isnt recommended.




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2. Levels

Who doesnt know about Levels? One of the most used Adjustments in Photoshop. You will be able to easily adjust thecolor and tonal range by dragging three sliders: one for the dark tones, another for the midtones (gamma) and the lastfor the highlights.

To add a Levels Adjustment just click on the Levels icon in the Adjustments Panel and edit the settings as you wish.You can always go back to the Default values as shown in image 2.1 below. Or even customize your desired settings

by dragging the sliders, 2.2 shows a dark enhancement dragging the dark slider to the right and 2.3 shows how tohighlight the image by dragging the white slider to the left. 2.4 and 2.5 show how to increase/decrease the levels ofBlack and White.

At 2.6 you can see several presets of the Levels adjustment, you can choose any of them and modify it later, 2.7

shows an example of Increase Contrast. Finally you can edit the levels of each channel (Red, Blue, Green) separately,2.8 shows a dark enhancement of the Red Channel. Besides, you can always click on the Auto button for an automaticcorrection.




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3. Curves




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Curves adjustments is a must-know filter for any Photoshop user. It basically lets you adjust points throughout thetonal range of an image (from shadows to highlights) you can adjust as many point as you want (with Levels you can

only adjust three).

To add a Curves adjustment, just click on the icon on the adjustment panel. The first thing youll see is a line, becausethe tonal range is represented as a straight diagonal baseline, as shown in the image 3.1 below. The horizontal axisrepresents the input levels and the vertical the output levels.

Then youll need to add some points to the curve and play with them (3.2). As shows the image 3.3 below you can

select only one of the color Channels by choosing it form the select list above the curves graphic. When youre editing

a single channel the points above the baseline increase the intensity of the color, and the points below the baselinemake the color a little bit gray, or less intense.

Besides you can easily use the eyedroppers to set the black, gray and white points respectively (images 3.4 to 3.6) this

process will modify the baseline for each color. Anyway you can always click the Auto button to make your job easierbut less accurate.




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4. Exposure

The fourth filter on the list is Exposure, add it by clicking over the icon on the Adjustments Panel. This is a pretty

simple filter actually, basically it allows you to adjust the exposure levels by adjusting three sliders, Exposure, Offsetand Gamma (4.1).

Exposure will adjust the highlights of the image without effecting the dark shadows. Offset will adjust the midtonesand Gamma will adjust the dark tones without modify the highlights. This filter is pretty useful when youre editing or

even creating HDR pictures.




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5. Vibr ance

The Vibrance Adjustment is an easy way to edit the color saturation. Add it by clicking on the Vibrance icon on theAdjustment Panel. This adjustment increases the saturation of less-saturated colors more than the colors that arealready saturated. This filter is really useful when youre editing skin colors.




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6. Hue / Saturat ion

Another must-know Adjustment, Hue/Saturation lets you adjust the hue, saturation, and lightness of a specific range ofcolors in an image or simultaneously adjust all the colors on it. Add it by clicking on the Hue/Saturation icon on theAdjustments Panel.

To adjust all the colors at the same time select Master on the color list and then move any of the three sliders. TheHue slider changes the color itself (6.2). The Saturation slider modifies the amount of the color, less saturated color

means a more gray image (6.3, 6.4). The Lightness slider adjusts the amount of black/white of the image (6.5, 6.6).

The image 6.8 below shows the colors list, which means that you can edit only one color channel and adjust thehue/saturation/lightness values only for that channel (6.8). Finally theres a check box named Colorize, check it if youwant to colorize a grayscale image. For full color images I recommend the Photo Filter Adjustment, that well see

shortly.




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Hue/ Saturat ion Eyedroppers

Youll notice there are three eyedroppers below the sliders in the Hue/Saturation panel. To make them work you mustselect a color channel first, the Yellow channel in the following example. Use the first eyedropper (a) to select a base

color range, e.g. somewhere over the sand, then play with the sliders. Following select the next eyedropper to Add acolor range to the editable range (b).

Finally, youll notice in the following example that the girls skin tone became almost red because of the adjustments.

In order to fix it select the last eyedropper to delete or remove a color from the editable range of the face skin tone onthe example. The final result is at the bottom of the image below (d). Useful isnt it?




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7. Color Balance

The seventh on the list is the Color Balance adjustment. Add this filter by clicking on its icon in the Adjustment Panel.This adjustment changes the overall mixture of colors in an image for generalized color correction. It basically addssomething like a tint over the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights of the image.

By default the filter shows the Midtone colors mix in 0 (See image 7.1 below) you can move the sliders to paintthemidtones. I painted the midtones a little bit yellow (7.2). Do the same with the Shadows and Highlights, as shown in

the images 7.3 and 7.4 of the example. Ive painted the shadows red and the highlights a little bit blue.




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8. Black & Whit e

Maybe one of my favorites, the Black & White adjustment allows you to create quick and beautiful grayscale images.Add this filter by clicking on the B/W icon on the Adjustments Panel. This filter allows you to maintain full control over

how individual colors are converted.

Select the Default mode to create an automatic black and white image, or chose one of the many presets. Click on theauto Button to automate the adjustment. Besides you can mark the Tint checkbox and colorize the grayscale image.




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9. Photo Filt er

This Adjustment is just like if you put a color filter in front of the camera lens. Add it by clicking on the Photo filter icon

in the Adjustment Panel. The are are several presets based on standards (see 9.1 below), increase/decrease the filters

density to adjust the color intensity. Image 9.2 shows a warming filter by using an orange tone, and 9.3 shows acooling filter by using a blue tone. You can easily customize a color filter by selecting the color radio button andselecting a color from Photoshops color picker.




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10. Channel Mixer

This Adjustment makes it easy to create high quality tinted or grayscale images. Add it by clicking the Channel Mixericon in the Adjustments Panel. On the Adjustment Panel, select an Output channel as shown in the image 10.1 below.Youll see the slider associated to the selected channel is 100%, then you can modify the color values by using the

sliders (see 10.2).

You can work with other channels as well, for example on the image 10.3 the Blue channel is selected. Theres a colorenhancement over the images blue areas (like the sky), as shows images 10.4 and 10.6 below. You can click over the

Monochrome checkbox to edit the channels in grayscale mode. This is very useful to create advanced grayscaleimages, or apply a custom tint to an output channel or choose any of the several grayscale presets (10.5).




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11. I nvert

This is the simplest adjustment ever, but yet so useful. Click on the Invert icon in the Adjustments Panel and youll seethe images colors inverted (like a negative).

12. Poster ize

Posterize is a rapid way to adjust the number of tonal levels. Add this Adjustment by clicking on the Posterize icon in




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the Adjustments Panel. The Posterize works this way, you chose a Levels value, e.g. 5 (see the image 12.1 below)that means the image will have 15 colors, 5 for red, 5 for green and 5 for blue. The higher the levels, the better the

better quality the image.

13. Threshold

This adjustment converts any picture into a two color (black and white) image. Add this adjustment by clicking on itsicon in the Adjustments Panel. How it works? You specify a Threshold Level, all the pixels darker than that level willturn into black and all the pixels lighter into white.




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14. Gradient Map

The Gradient Map adjustment maps the grayscale range of an image to the colors of a custom gradient fill. To add itclick on the Gradient map icon in the Adjustment Panel.

The way this adjustment works is really simple, one of the sides of the gradient replaces the dark areas of the image,the other side replaces the highlights, and all the middle tones of the gradient replaces the midtones of the originalimage, just as examples 14.1 and 14.2 show below. Click the Dither checkbox to add random noise in order to makethe gradient smooth. Click on the Reverse checkbox to invert the colors of the gradient (14.3).




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15. Selective Color

With this adjustment you can modify the amount of a primary color selectively without affecting the other primarycolors. This filter works extremely well on CMYK images, but it works on RGB as well. Add it by clicking on theSelective Color icon in the Adjustments Panel.

As you can see on image 15.1 below, there are fields to select the channel. Adjust the CMYK colors percentage and

select Relative or Absolute adjustment, for example on image 15.3 the Cyan color is selected and I increased itsamount of Black in order to make the sky darker. That looks fine because the Absolute option is selected. The Absolutevalue adds the exact percentage to the color channel. The Relative option, as shown in image 15.4 is less dramatic

since it changes the existing amount of the CMYK colors by its percentage of the total.




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A Basic Guide t o Photoshops 3D Tools

Before Gett ing Start ed

We are living on the golden age of 3D technology, we can see art pieces, architectural models, biological simulations,fantasy creatures, futuristic machines, and almost realistic objects everywhere. Most of those graphics have beenthrough Photoshop, from texture editing to final mock-ups; making it a must know tool for anyone interested in 3D

design.

Photoshop CS3 Extended allowed users to open their 3D files and edit directly some features like textures and lights,but CS4 takes 3D editing into another level where you can actually work with the 3D file just like most of thecommercial 3D editing software. Even though Photoshop cant edit the model itself, it works absolutely well with

textures, materials and lights allowing you to even paint directly over a surface using the Brush Tool. This is a verybasic guide but some elemental knowledge of 3D geometry is needed.

Tutori al Details

Program: Photoshop CS4 Extended

Difficulty: Basic

Estim ated Complet ion Time: 2 3 Hours

You will need some 3D models to play with, Im using a boat from telias.free.fr and a free-to-use model of a spaceshuttle that Ive downloaded from the NASAwebsite. Feel free to use any model that you want. Lets get started!

Part I Creating and Edit ing 3D Layers

Photoshop handle 3D files through 3D layers, which work just like Smart Objects. Each 3D layer contains a unique 3D

scene that can be created five different ways: from a 3D file, from a layer working as a Postcard (Plane), from a layermaking it a 3D basic Object, from a grayscale layer and as a Volume combining two or more layers.

This tutorial will cover the first four, since Volume based on layers is a little bit different than the others and we willleave it for another occasion.

New Layer fr om 3D File

The first way and maybe the most known way to work with a 3D layer in Photoshop is creating a 3D layer from anexisting file. For this go to 3D > New Layer from 3D File, then chose a file on your file system and open it. Photoshopallows you to open .3DS, .DAE, .KMZ, .U3D and .OBJ files. A new Layer with the objects name will appear in the

Layers Panel. You can add as many 3D layers as you want.


http://telias.free.fr/Vehicles.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resources/assets/SSO_3DS.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resources/assets/SSO_3DS.htmlhttp://telias.free.fr/Vehicles.html


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Working w it h t he Basic 3D Tools

In the Tools Panel click on the active 3D Tool (K) and then on top, in the Options Panel, you will see several differentoptions for you to edit the 3D layer. At any time you can go back to the default values by clicking on the tiny House

Icon in the Options Panel.

Rotate

The default tool and the first one in the list is Rotate, Click on the 3D model and Drag up or down to rotate it aroundits X axis, or side to side to rotate it around its Y axis. A diagonal Drag will rotate the model on both the X and Y axis.

You can control the rotation by setting numerical values in the Orientation fields over the Options Panel, by default allof them are set to 0.




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Roll

Drag side to side or up and down to Roll the model around its Z axis. You can do the same by using the previous tool,but holding the Option key on a Mac or the Alt key on the PC. You can control the rotation by setting numerical values




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Slide

Drag side to side to move the model horizontally, or up or down to move it closer or farther away from yourperspective. You can control the position by setting numerical values on the Position fields, which is 0 by default.




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Scale

This change the models size. Drag up or down to scale the model larger or smaller. By setting the Scale values in anumeric format you can scale the model over any of its 3 axis, stretching it up or enlarging it. By default the numericvalues are set to 1.




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Position Presets

In the Position drop down you will find several position presets to chose from. Besides you can save a customized

Position by clicking on the tiny Save icon or delete a custom preset from the drop down box.




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3D Axis

You must have Open GL enabled, go to Edit > Preferences > Performance and in the GPU panel check the box namedEnable Open GL Drawing. Then when you create a 3D file, youll see a 3D axis handler to work with, it does exactlythe same as the standard 3D tools, but working directly on the axis instead of clicking on the canvas. Below theres a




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list of the hotspots of the 3D axis.

Camera

The 3D camera tools are used to move the camera view, while leaving the position of the 3D object fixed. This is very

useful when you want to merge 3D objects into a single scene (we will see that shortly).

Click on the 3D Camera default tool (N) to activate them. Most of the tools work pretty much the same as the PositionTools: Rotate, Move and Drag. You can switch between Perspective (Vanishing point) and Orthographic (Parallel lines)cameras, and zoom them up to 180. You can save Camera View Presets as well.




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New Shape fr om Layer

Photoshop allows you to create a bunch of built in shapes from 2D layers. Select a Layer in Layers Panel, it can be anykind of layer, then go to 3D > New Shape From Layer There you will find several presets to chose from. As you cansee at the bottom of the image below you can create nice pieces using only built in shapes.




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Postcard f rom Layer

Another way to create a 3D layer is by converting any layer into a 3D Postcard. For this select any layer (vector orbitmap), then go to 3D > New 3D Postcard from Layer. Then you can handle each layer as a 3D object.




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New Mesh f rom Grayscale

Finally another way of creating a 3D layer is from a Grayscale layer. Select any grayscale gradient, shape, or text layerand go to 3D > New Mesh From Grayscale > and chose one of the following options: plane, two sided plane,

cylinder and sphere. Below theres an example of 3D layers based on a gradient layer.




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Merge Meshes

You can easily merge two or more 3D layers into a single scene. For this you need two 3D layers in the same file. Inthe following example there is a cube and a cylinder. Select one of the layers ("Cube" in this case), then using theCamera Tool set the View drop down to the other 3D Layer ("Cylinder"). Finally in the Layers Panel Options Menu go to

Merge Down. This way you will have a unique 3D layer. Each mesh still can be edited separately on the 3D Panel.




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Part I I Working wit h t he 3D Panel

Go to Window > 3D to show the 3D Panel. There you will find several options to take your models into another level(you must have a 3D layer selected in order to show all the options on it).




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On top there are four buttons that filter the viewing of the components of the Scene: Scene (All in one), Meshes,Materials and Lights. Below there are the Scene objects, first theres the Scene itself, then a list of all the meshes ,each

one with its respective material, and below a list of the lights. You can toggle the visibility of a mesh, material or lightanytime you want.

Below the Scene explorer theres a panel where you can change the settings of the selected object (we will dig intothis later). Finally, there are four little buttons: Toggle Ground Plane show/hide a ground plane, Toggle Lightsshow/hide the lights controls, New Light shows a list of lights to add into the scene, and Delete, which removes the

component from the scene.

Scene Render Set t ings

Anti-Alias

Select the Scene on the objects explorer in the 3D Panel. We will begin with the Anti-Aliasing of the render. In the

settings area of the 3D Panel theres a Drop Down with three anti-aliasing options: Draft, Better and Best. You canchange this setting anytime you want. Just remember that a better anti-aliasing means more time for the system torender the image.




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Render Presets

On the Preset drop dow you will find a lot of render presets. Below are some examples.




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Global Ambient Color

The Global ambient color is a global color, which is visible on reflective surfaces (we will see more about reflectivenessshortly). By default the global ambient is set to black.




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Cross Sect ion

This setting creates a planar cross section that intersects the model trough an axis at the angle you choose. Its prettyuseful in order to see through a model and view interior content. You can change the color and opacity of theintersecting plane and define a color for the lines. Besides you can change the Offset and Tilt values as you wish.




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Part I I I Materials

A material is a complex group of texture layers: Diffuse, Bump, Glossiness, Shininess, Opacity, Reflectivity,Environment and Normal. Each one with its very own characteristics. Combining them in a proper way results in anoutstanding or even realistic result. To edit a material click on the meshs material and see the Settings on the bottom

of the 3D Panel.

Diffuse

This texture is the color of the material. You can either select a color from the swatch or create a New Texture (or

Open an existing one) by clicking on the Texture Map Menu as shown in the third screenshot below.

Once you create a texture layer, it will appear in the Layers Panel. You can Double-click to edit it. A new documentwith a .PSB extension will be open there. You can design anything you want. When you save the document, the 3Dlayer will be updated.




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On the Texture Map Menu theres an option named Edit Properties. By clicking on it, you will be able to chose whichlayers you want to include in the texture or the entire composite, besides setting the scale and offset of the texturelayer. This can be made on every single texture of the material.




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Bump

This texture creates bumps in the materials surface. A bump map is a grayscale image in which lighter values createraised surface areas and darker values create flatter surface areas. In the following example theres an irregulargrayscale image created with a simple Brush and its respective result. The Bump Strength field is set to an amountfrom 1 to 10.

Tip: In order to make a texture layer almost perfect, go to Filter > Other > Offset, change both horizontal and vertical




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offset and use a clone tool to polish the edges.




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Glossiness and Shin iness

Glossiness defines the amount of light from a source that reflects off the surface and back to the viewer. Shininess

defines the dispersion of the reflected light generated by the Glossiness setting. Its harder to explain than it is to try.Change both values and see what happens. Dont forget that you can add a texture to any of those settings.




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Opacity

Increases or decreases the opacity of the material (0-100%). Its useful for creating glass textures for example.




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Environm ent and Reflect ivit y

One of my personal favorites textures on a material is Environment, which stores the image of the environmentsurrounding the 3D model. In the following example Im adding a clouds texture to the Environment option, and voil,a nice reflection on the rings surface, you can hide the environment by toggling the eye icon of the Environmenttexture in the Layers Panel.

Reflectivity here is very important, since increases the reflection of other objects in the 3D scene, and the environmentmap, on the material surface. The lower the percentage of reflection the less environment is reflected.




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Normal

Another personal favorite, a normal map increases surfaces details. Its based on a multi-channel (RGB) image and

helps to smooth the surface. Below there is an example of an orange circle dawn on a normal texture. You can see thecircle zone looks smoother on the 3D model. If the RGB layer covers all the document, then the entire surface will looksmoother.

Look at the example below, with a Normal map and a Diffuse texture you can create a nice 3D flag in less than 1

minute!.




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Part I V Lights

3D lights illuminate models from different angles, adding realistic depth and shadows. You can add three types of lights

in Photoshop: Infinite Lights (like sunlight), Spot Lights like reflectors, and Point lights like bulbs.

You can change the position of lights, also color and intensity. You can see them at the bottom of the scene explorer,most of models have at least two Infinite Lights that you can edit, or delete. To create a new layer click on the New




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Light button on the bottom of the panel and chose the type of light that you want to create.

I nfinite Lights

Once you created or when youre editing a, Infinite Light, you can customize its Color, Intensity and the ability toCreate Shadows. Its pretty useful to toggle the Light Guides on the bottom of the 3D panel. An Infinite Light can onlybe Rotated or by clicking on the tiny Camera icon set the light on the focal point. You can add as many Lights as you

want.




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Point Lights

This light works as if you are putting a bulb light somewhere in the model. You can edit the Position, Intensity, Color,Create Shadows and Softness as well as Infinite Lights, but you can Drag, Move and Rotate this light.




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Spot Lights

As well as the other lights, you can change the Intensity, Color and Shadows ability, move it trough the scene and

change the Softness. Besides you can configure the position (in degrees) of the Hotspot and the Falloff.




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Finally you can check Use Attenuation (how fast light intensity decreases as distance from objects increases) andchange the Inner and Outer attenuation values. No matter how detailed the screenshot may be, the only way to see

how it works is giving a try.




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Part V Some Ext ras

Paint On

Last but not least the Paint On Photoshop enables paint directly over any texture layer of the Materials, Select the

Paint On texture on the 3D panel (you must select the scene first) and from the Tools Panel select the Brush tool andcustomize the settings and colors as you want.

In the following example you can see how to paint over the Diffuse Texture using a couple of brushes and even theEraser Tool. At the bottom of the image below theres the result of painting on the Bump texture with a soft black

brush.




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Save Materials and Lights Presets

Since creating a material sometimes is a long process, its very practical to create presets of Material and Lights to re-

use them later. Select a Material, then on the 3D Panels Options Menu click on Save Material/Lights Preset, typesome name for it and save it somewhere. To Apply a preset on another mesh select Replace Material/Lights




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A Comprehensive Guide t o Phot oshops Liqu ify Tool

What is i t ?

From photo retouching, to artistic effects, the Liquify filter is a powerful tool for every Photoshop user. This filter allowsus to push, pull, rotate, reflect, pucker, and bloat the pixels of any image. Today, I will show you the basics of this

filter. Grab a bunch of images to practice with and lets get it started!

The Liquify filter may be applied to any bitmap Layer but unfortunately cannot be applied to a Smart Object. You canaccess the Liquify Filter window by clicking Filter > Liquify, or by pressing Shift + Command (Ctrl) + X on yourkeyboard.

Once the filter is open, youll see a window with the following areas:

Toolbar, located on the left of the screen, there youll find the following tools: Forward Warp, Reconstruct, Twirl,

Pucker, Bloat, Push, Mirror, Turbulence, Freeze / Thaw Mask, Hand and Zoom.The actual image or the object you are editing.The Options Panel, where youll find the following options: Brush, Reconstruct, Mask and View. Each group ofoptions controls the behavior of the active tool, we will see how to work with those options later on.




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Tools

Forw ard Warp Tool ( W)

The most basic tool that you may use is the Forward Warp, basically pushes the pixels of the image forward as you

drag. You can control the amount of pixels pushed by changing the brush size in the Brush Options on the right panel.The larger the brush the more pixels will be pushed forward. Once you apply this effect, you must click on the OKbutton on the right panel to commit the changes.




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Brush Pressure

This value controls the speed at which distortions are made when you drag the brush. This value can be set from 0 to




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100, being 0 the lowest pressure and 100 the highest. Using a low brush pressure makes changes occur more slowly,so its easier to stop them at exactly the right moment.




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Tw irl Tool ( C)

This filter rotates pixels clockwise as you click or drag, in order to Twirl pixels counterclockwise, just hold the Option(Alt) key while youre clicking. The Brush Rate value comes in handy here, it controls the speed which distortion is

applied while the mouse is still stationary, the higher the number the faster the effect.




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Pucker ( S) and Bloat (B) Tools

The Pucker Tool moves pixels towards the center of the brush area and the Bloat Tool moves pixels away from thecenter as you click or drag on the image. This is pretty useful when you want to inflate or deflate something.




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Push Tool (O) Horizontal

Moves pixels up when you drag the tool left to right, and down if you drag right to left.




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Mirror Tool (M)

This tool works exactly like a mirror. The pixels perpendicular to the direction of the stroke will be duplicateddepending on the stroke direction the mirror pixels could be below (left right stroke) or above (right left). This

works much better if you make horizontal or vertical parallel strokes. Hold the Option (Alt) key while drag will invertthe reflected pixels source to the opposite angle.




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Turbulence (T)

Smoothly scrambles the pixels while dragging. With this tool you might find the Turbulent Jitter value very handy; ahigh number here means a lot of turbulence.




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Masks Freeze and Thaw Masks

You can protect some areas of the image from changes by using a Freeze Mask. In the Tool bar, click on the Freeze

Mask button and paint the areas you want to keep unchanged. The Thaw mask works just like a mask eraser. Use thistool like the other Liquify tools; you can control the brushs Size, Density and Pressure. After Masking an area andapplying it, the masked area will remain unchanged.




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Mask Opt ions

The mask Options panel, at the right side of the Liquify window allow you to choose Selection, Layer Mask,Transparency, or Quick Mask to create masks on the image.

You can also edit previously created masks as well by choosing Replace, Add, Subtract, Intersect or Invert.




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Reconstruct All

After distorting, you may need to reconstruct some areas here and there. There are many creative ways to reconstructthe distortions with the Liquify filter. The simplest way to do this is by clicking the Restore All Button on theReconstruct Options Panel.




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Reconstruct Tool and Reconstruct Opt ions

The Reconstruct Tool allows you to use a Brush to reconstruct certain areas of the previously distorted image. By

default the Reconstruct Mode (at the Reconstruct Options panel on the right side) is Revert, which means the imagewill return to its original state. There are many other options with different behaviors depending the distortion positionrelative to a frozen area. These options are very interesting but a little complicated, so we will leave them for another

(more practical) tutorial.




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Auto Reconst ruct

On the Reconstruct Options Panel, theres a button labeled Reconstruct. By pressing it you can auto reconstruct theimage using one of the options on the list.




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View Mesh and Masks

The Mesh is a bi-dimensional grid than can be shown or hidden in the View Options Panel. You can increase or

decrease the Mesh Size, and change its color. The Mesh and Masks can be shown or hidden from this panel and itscolor can be changed.

Every distortion made with any of the previously mentioned tools can be saved as a Mesh, to do this, click on the SaveMesh button in the Options Panel. A saved Mesh can be opened and be re-applied to any other image by clicking on

the Load Mesh button.




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Backdrops

Backdrops show additional layers aside from the Layer actually being edited. In a multiple layer document, chose the

layer you want to distort and open the Liquify Filter Window. On the View Options Panel check the Show Backdropcheckbox to show the additional layers in the document. You can easily show or hide them, or change its opacity.




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More on Backdrops

You can chose the layer being shown as a backdrop or even select all the layers as well. In addition, you can controlthe position of the backdrops, bring them to the front, or leave them behind the active object in the Mode option.

Only the active layer is distorted, the backdrop layers are only for visual aid.




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Alternat ive t o Plast ic Surgery

The Forward Warp Tool can be easily used to fix imperfections on any photograph. In the following example, we use

two brush sizes to transform this girls nose and chin, and even make her smile just a little bit.

But remember, with great power comes great responsibility. You can fix almost anything in a picture with this tool buttry to be ethical in your approach.




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Conclusion

The Liquify tool is one of Photoshops most beloved features and it is an important tool to learn and master. Hopefully,you found this guide useful and will use it to help you in future projects.




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A Comprehensive I nt roduct ion t o PhotoshopSelect ion Techniques

Selection in Photoshop

Photoshop selects pixels based one of the three properties, as shown in the image below:

1. Chroma: is the color of the pixel. Color of a pixel is the level of RGB values and color based select tools like the

Magic Wand. Select by color uses the RGB% as a criteria to group pixels based on the set tolerance values.

2. Luma: is a selection based on Illumination levels. Illumination levels are whiteness of the image, which is nothingbut higher values for all the three R, G and B channels. Photoshop doesnt have a native interface for a Lumabased selection, but many existing tools can be hacked to get a similar result.

3. Masks: are based on spatial position. Pixels are selected and discarded or masked by a parallel layer bound to

corresponding image layer. Masks are grayscale and brightness of the mask is called an Alpha level, which is thedegree of opaqueness of the corresponding layer pixel. Its also called the Transparency/Opacity channel as inRGBA etc.

A Note on Masks

In this article, words like Masks and Alpha will be used interchangeably. The process of transferring images to layermasks will be shown once and then used repeatedly without explicitly mentioning thereafter.

Step 1

Open a new image that you want to use as a mask. Double-click the background layer and create a new layer, which is"Layer 0." Make a new layer, which is "Layer 1," on top of it and fill with a uniform color, then hide "Layer 1."




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Step 2

Go to "Layer 0" and click Select > Select All (Command + A) to select all pixels. Next, click Edit > Copy (Command +C) to copy all pixels to the clipboard.

Step 3

Go to "Layer 1" and create an empty Layer Mask. Initially an all transparent Layer Mask will be created. Alt-click thelayer mask to see it in the canvas.




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Step 4

With the Layer Mask visible, paste onto the canvas by clicking Edit > Paste (Command + V). A grayscale version of thecopied image will be pasted in as the layer mask.

Step 5

Click on the fill layer thumbnail (not mask) to see the result. Any image can be applied as a Layer Mask to anotherlayer. The opacity of the layer will be controlled by grayscale level of the mask.

More on Masks

The easiest way of creating a Layer Mask is to click the Add Layer Mask button with something selected on the canvas.




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The selection will be saved as a layer mask attached to the current layer and everything outside the selection marqueewill be masked and hidden.

Act ivate Layer Masks

Alt-clicking on the Layer Mask makes it active for editing. Only activated layer masks can be edited which arerepresented by a thin white outline around them.

Add Shapes to Layer Masks

Dragging any shape onto the canvas while a layer mask has been activated will draw it on the Mask instead of thelayer itself. To draw it again on the layer we need to deactivate the Mask by clicking on the layer thumbnail.

Add Brush St rokes t o Layer Masks

The same is true for brush strokes. Anything painted on the canvas with a Layer Mask selected will draw it on the Mask

instead of the Layer. We can use this property to select objects with irregular boundaries from backgrounds, bypainting everything else black on the Layer Mask. White brush strokes will reveal and blacks will conceal.




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Copying a Layer Mask t o Another Layer

Finally, we can transfer the Layer Mask to another layers by simply loading it as a selection (Command-click) andunloading as we did in the first step by clicking the Add Layer Mask button. Or by Alt-dragging the mask to another

Layer (Not Shown).

Boolean Operat ions w it h Select ions

This example shows how to Load, Add, Subtract, and Intersect selections between overlapping layers just with quickthumbnail clicks.

Load Pixels to Selections

In "Layer 2" Command-click to load a fill as a selection. Any pixel which is not transparent in "Layer 2" will be loadedas a selection. This is not the same as copying the layer, only its outline. The green fill shows the selected regionalthough you will get only the surrounding Marquee. Lets call this state (with "Layer 2" selected) the initial state.




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Addition

With the "Layer 2" loaded as a selection, Command + Shift-click on "Layer 1" to add it to the selection. Now non-

transparent pixels of both "Layer 1" and "Layer 2" are combined as the new selection. Notice the small plus sign in theCommand-Click box.

Subtraction

Revert to the initial stateand Command + Alt-click on "Layer 1." This will subtract any overlapping pixel of "Layer 1"from the current selection of "Layer 2." Notice the minus sign.

Intersection




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Alternatively, we can also save the selection as a Vector Mask which can be later refined by working on the shape

spline that defines its outline. With the Lasso selection still intact (2), go to the Paths tab (3b) and click Make WorkingPath from the Selection button at the bottom. This will save the selection outline as a Shape Working Path.

Now load the selection again, and return to Layers tab. Click Add Layer Mask once to create a Layer Mask (Command-click to load again) then click the same button( 6b) once more to Add Vector Mask. Saving selections as Vector Masksor Shapes saves memory.

Selecti ng w it h Vector Mask

Click on the Vector Mask to activate it. Or selecting any of the Shape tools will make it active. Vector Masks are

modified by adjusting the spline positions (Control Points) and curvature (Tangents). You can disable, delete, or savethe Layer Mask with another Layer. The Convert Point tool is most suitable for altering Vector shapes and Paths. Click




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and drag on the handles, then Command-click on control points to move them.

Once a acceptable outline has been achieved use the Add Points tool to refine and further match the outlines. Deletepoints when necessary. Dragging handles with Command + Shift will lock their relative slopes. Drag directly on the

Control Point to reset handles. Regular curvy shapes are best to be extracted with this process.

This method is also best in situations where boundaries are not clearly visible.




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Select by Color Range

Selecting by color is the fastest way to Chroma select. Click Select > Color Range and select a color with theEyedropper Tool available. Once selected certain shades can be removed selectively with the Minus (-) Eyedropper or

again added with the Plus (+) Eyedropper. There is also a preview window that displays the selected region or the

original image.

This tool can be used to setup Garbage Masks around the subject and later refine it with editing the Mask. Select bycolor is not a one-click solution, but does a great job in minimizing manual work.




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Chrom a f rom Channels

Color information of each type are stored in as separate channels, which can be viewed in the Channels Tab. We canuse the channel wise variations in color intensities for selecting objects in the image. This process is helpful only whenbackground and foreground have separate color distribution in at least one channel.

Advanced Chroma

In the Histogram we can see that the blue channel is predominant in the image and it extends up to the highlightswhere other channels are very weak. Our subject here is the patch of vegetation in foreground.




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Picking the Best Channel

A simple observation of the three channels tell us that the blue channel has the highest contrast between the Sky andGrass. We are going to exploit this property to separate the two. Duplicate (Command + J) the Layer and go to the

Blue channel of the Copied layer. Click Image > Adjustments > Curves or Press Command + M to apply curvesmodification on the current channel.

Applying Curves

Select the point closer to the dark grays of the channel and drag it (2) forward in the x-axis (horizontally) keeping y-

axis at 0 (shown by the small circle). This will make the darker pixels uniformly more darker. It shouldnt affect thebackground, drag it a little back to left if it does.

Next, select another point closer to the White Point, drag it (3) back towards the midtones keeping the y-axis(vertical)at maximum (shown by the small circle). What we are doing is saturating the dragged range of blue up to 100%.

Make sure the whole background turns white or almost so, and there is a very high contrast between the Grass andSky.

Channel as Mask




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Brushing with Layer Masks

Here too Layer Masks can be used, to preserve the workflow of Eraser and additional possibility of recovering removedportions if they are needed. Painting on the Layer Mask with a White or Black will reveal or hide the contentsrespectively. We can brush out backgrounds in the same way as in using the Eraser tool and get it back by paintingwith White.

No Feedback

When brushing the mask we may sometimes trim off relevant parts accidently and keep focusing on the wrongsilhouette only to be discovered later. This is highly probable when foreground background have similar hues and there

is no immediate visual feedback.

I mm ediate Feedback

This problem can be averted by following a simple rule of keeping a multiplied duplicate of the current layer in thebackground as a guide layer. Multiplied gradient maps will show-up as high contrast versions of the subject outlines ifviolated.




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Adjust Threshold

Adjust the Threshold Slider and try to enclose the subject or background (whichever is darker) in black. Hide theThreshold layer and look at the original image for guidance when required.

Merge Layers

Command-click to select the top two layers and Merge them into one. Select the bottom layer, make it visible and

create a blank Layer Mask.

Add Layer Mask

Copy the merged image and paste to the Layer Mask, following the process discussed above. We have our Layer Maskready, but in most cases there will be holes and parts of our background visible. Use the Mask Painting techniquediscussed above to make it tidy. Invert if necessary.




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Luma Select w it h Transparency

The Threshold technique discussed above is very fast to implement, but is only useful for extracting solid objects as itlacks transparency. The following method can be useful in situations where we need Luma extraction withtransparency. Here we are going to remove the ice-water from the rest of the rocks.

Using Luma t o Mask w it h Transparency

Unlock and Create a layer from the background (1). Apply an Adjustment Layer Black and White on top and then aBrightness-Contrast Adjustment Layer above it.




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Merge the Layers

When satisfied with the results Merge the top three Layers. Go to the background layer and Add a Layer Mask andcopy the merged Layer into the Layer Mask.




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Yet Another Possibilit y

Other than the above two procedures there is also another way of Luma based extraction using the Lab color method.

Lab Color Technique

Open an image and turn it to Lab Color mode by clicking Image> Mode> Lab Color.

Goto Channels Tab and find the lightness channel or press Ctrl+1 to directly select it. This is where the illumination

levels of all pixels are indexed in the Lab Color mode. You can play with that channel and try to isolate some elementfrom the background. Dont forget to duplicate the Layer or the Channel before you alter any channel.

And filters that doesnt work on the image in Lab Color mode works on the Lightness channel, and yield almost similarresults.




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Conclusion

Photoshop has quite a few options when it comes to selection techniques. Try applying some of these solutions in yourworkflow to increase your productivity and effectiveness.




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cursor anywhere you want to put the text in. Then just start writing, when you have finished to add the text youcan either click the tiny Commit button on the Option bar, hit the Enter key on the numeric pad of your keyboard

or just hit Command + Enter.

Paragraph Type: This option will create a Text layer with text wrapping into a bounding box. Is pretty useful forboth print and web design. To add a Paragraph layer you must create the bounding box first. You can Click andDrag the cursor diagonally until youve got your desired size.




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Doesnt matter if theres a background image, or any other object, the Type tool will create a new layer for the newtext. Besides, you can easily switch between Point to Paragraph type or vice versa by going to Layer > Type > Convert

to Paragraph Text / Convert to Point Text.

3. Resize and Transform

Obviously, you can resize and transform each text layer as any other, do it by using the Move Tool (V), selecting the

layer and Showing Transform controls. Anyway this kind of transforming will stretch, enlarge, or badly distort the typeshape.

If you really want a good result on a Paragraph Type layer, you must do the following: Select the Type tool, and clickover the Paragraph text, then go to one of the transform handles and click and drag to resize the box, the text will

automatically reflow inside the new box. Shift-drag to preserve the proportion or keep a constant rotation increment,Command-drag to scale the type, Command-drag on a center handle to skew the type box, and Option-drag to resizethe box from its center.




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4. Character Opt ions

Basic Form att ing

Its time to move forward. After typing some text, you obviously want to change the font face, color and more, this isreally simple. First show the Character window by going to Window > Character. The Character window has severalOptions to format characters, following therere some examples about formatting Font Family, Style, Size and Color

(you must double-click on color sample to see the color picker). After committing the type, you can either click on thetext miniature in the Layers panel and change the entire text layer format or with the Type tool selected, click on the

text layer you want to edit, make a selection and change the character format of the selected text.




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Kerning and Tracking

You can easily customize both Kerning and Tracking in Photoshop. Select a text layer or make a text selection and lookin Character window for the Kern and Track values.

Youre able to customize the kern (space between specific pairs of characters) by selecting between Metrics Kerning orOptical Kerning. Metrics will automate adjust kern using the included pairs of the font youre using. Optical will adjustthe kern based on the font shape. Besides you can customize the kern values by typing a numeric value (positive ornegative) in the Kerning field or select one of the presets.

Tracking is very similar, just set a numeric value (positive or negative) to increase / reduce space between the letters.

Besides you can combine both Kern and Track to obtain a nice result.




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Vert ical and Horizont al Scaling

Scale the text layer both horizontally and vertically by changing the Scale values in the Character window. Just asadvice, I almost never use those scaling values because when you distort a typeface youre distorting the shape itself,and sometimes creating an undesirable result, look at the image below, the nice Century Gothics O character is aperfect circle without scaling it, and it turns into an oval when you change the scaling values. Besides notice the

shapes arent regular, i.e. the line width is wider at top and bottom of the O character when you change the vertical

scaling.




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Baseline Shif t

This is very useful when you want to make your text layer fit somewhere, such as around an image. Change this value

to move the baseline of a text selection above or below the baseline of the rest of the text layer.




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Faux Bold and Faux I t alic

Photoshop has the option to auto create a Faux Bold and Italic variation for any typeface, pretty useful sometimes, but

you must take special care in order to distort the type shape as little as possible. Below there are examples of FauxBold on the Arial typeface, which isnt distorting the type shape that much, but applying Faux Italic on Myriad Proactually distorts the original italic style of the typeface (look at the a character for example).




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Font Variant s and Text Decoration

You can easily customize the font variant,

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Adobe Photoshop Basics