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Photoshop

Interface

The Toolbox

The Toolbox (or Tools panel) contains a wide range of tools used to create and manipulate images.

Toolbox Display

Although it is normally docked, the Toolbox can be moved anywhere within Photoshop's workspace by clicking and holding on the top bar and then dragging the panel to another spot. To hide the Toolbox select Window > Tools. The check mark beside Tools in the menu will disappear. To restore the Toolbox, go to Window > Tools again.

The expand/collapse button at the top of the Toolbox will toggle it between a one-column and two-column layout.

Tools

Each tool (except the Blur, Sharpen, and Smudge tools) has its own keystroke associated with it to activate it. We will give you an overview of these tools in this lecture.

Selecting Tools

Select a tool by clicking on its button or by pressing its shortcut key on the keyboard. Some tools have a small black triangle in the bottom right corner of the button. Click and hold on a tool button displaying a triangle to see other variations of the tool that appear in a fly-out menu. To do this using the keyboard, hold down the Shift key while repeating the tool's shortcut letter to cycle through the tool variations. In the example shown here, the Brush tool is currently selected and the user's cursor is hovering over the Pencil tool so that's why it's highlighted in yellow.

Tool Options

Each tool has a set of properties or options that you can modify. These properties are contained in the Tool Options bar. For example, when you select the Brush tool, the Tool Options will change to display all the settings available for the Brush. You can set the brush size, the hardness or softness of the brush and various settings that determine how it operates. An example of the Tool Options bar for the Eyedropper tool is shown below.

Painting and Editing Tools Overview

The tools will be covered in more depth as the course goes on. This will introduce you to what each icon represents. The variations of the tools are shown in parentheses.

Blur Tool (Sharpen Tool, Smudge Tool)

The Blur tool blurs areas of an image, the Sharpen tool sharpens areas of an image and the Smudge tool creates an effect like finger painting.

Brush Tool (Pencil Tool, Colour Replacement Tool, Mixer Brush Tool)

The Brush tool is used to paint freehand hard- or soft-edged lines depending on the Brush type selected in the Brushes panel. The Pencil tool performs a similar action as the Brush with the difference being that the pencil tool only draws hard-edged lines. The Mixer Brush tool emulates real-life painting by allowing colours to be combined on a brush and various wetness settings to be applied.

Clone Stamp Tool (Pattern Stamp Tool)

The Clone Stamp tool is used to copy a portion of an image and paint it onto another portion of the image. The Pattern Stamp tool paints a pre-defined pattern on an image.

Crop Tool (Slice Tool, Slice Select Tool)

The Crop tool is used to define a portion of an image and then delete or hide everything outside the defined area. The Slice tool allows you to slice up an image like a puzzle to accommodate HTML tables and other Web applications that require an image to be cut into pieces and placed together in a browser. The Slice Select tool allows you to select a slice of an image and apply information to it. (These tools are beyond the scope of this course so will not be covered.)

Dodge Tool (Burn Tool, Sponge Tool)

The Dodge tool lightens areas of an image, the Burn tool darkens areas of an image, and the Sponge tool is used for changing the colour saturation in areas of an image.

Eraser Tool (Background Eraser Tool, Magic Eraser Tool)

This tool can be used to change pixel colour to be transparent, to the background colour, or to a saved version of the image. The Background Eraser tool will erase only sampled parts of an image while leaving others. The Magic Eraser tool will erase one colour completely from the image.

Eyedropper Tool (Colour Sampler Tool, Ruler Tool, Note Tool, Count Tool)

The Eyedropper tool previews or selects colour from an image. The Colour Sampler tool lets you set reference points in an image and compare the colour values of one with another. The Ruler tool is used to measure distances and angles. The Notes tool places a text notation in Photoshop documents. The Count tool lets you count items in an image. Each time you click in the image, a number appears, starting with "1" and incrementing by one with each click.

Gradient Tool (Paint Bucket Tool)

The Gradient tool is used to create gradient fills. Gradients are gradual shifts from one colour to another or one colour to transparency. The effect is similar to the way the sky shifts from dark blue to a lighter blue as you look toward the horizon. The Paint Bucket tool effectively pours a solid colour of your choice into a designated area of an image.

Hand Tool

The Hand tool will pull the images around the screen, allowing you to view different parts of the image.

History Brush Tool (Art History Brush Tool)

The History Brush tool paints with an earlier version of an image. The Art History Brush tool does the same but paints with stylized strokes that simulate the look of different paint styles.

Horizontal Type Tool (Vertical Type Tool, Horizontal Type Mask Tool, Vertical Type Mask Tool)

The Horizontal Type tool is used to create and modify text flowing horizontally. As you would expect, the Vertical Type Tool arranged the letters vertically. The Mask versions of these tools are produced as selections.

Lasso Tool (Polygonal Lasso Tool Magnetic Lasso Tool)

The Lasso tool is used to create irregular-shaped selections by allowing you to draw freehand around a portion of an image. The Polygonal Lasso tool allows for irregularly shaped selections in straight line segments only. The Magnetic Lasso tool will automatically snap (or hold the selection) to defined parts of the image.

Move Tool

The Move tool is used to reposition elements within an image, including layers, selections or text. It's also used to align or distribute image elements to help you in laying out your content.

Path Component Selection Tool (Direct Selection Tool)

These tools are used to select and manipulate paths and vector shapes.

Pen Tool (Freeform Pen Tool, Add Anchor Point Tool, Delete Anchor Point Tool, Convert Point Tool)

This tool set is used to create and manipulate paths and vector shapes. A vector shape is made from a path which consists of lines or curves between anchor points. Paths can also be converted into selections.

Quick Selection Tool (Magic Wand Tool)

The Quick Selection tool is a popular new tool that has more sophisticated capabilities tan the Magic Wand tool. The Magic Wand tool is used to create selections in images based on the colour of pixels.

Rectangular Marquee Tool (Elliptical Marquee Tool, Single Row Marquee Tool, Single Column Marquee Tool)

The Marquee tools are used to select a portion of an image for manipulation purposes.

Shape Tools (Rectangle Tool, Rounded Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool, Polygon Tool, Line Tool, Custom Shape Tool)

These tools draw vector shapes that can be scaled and edited with no loss in quality.

Spot Healing Brush Tool (Healing Brush Tool, Patch Tool, Red Eye Tool)

The Spot Healing Brush tool works just like the Healing Brush Tool, except that you don't need to sample an area. The Healing Brush tool operates similar to the Clone Stamp tool. It includes the additional capability of matching the texture and lighting of the cloned area to the underlying area. It automatically uses the surrounding pixels to fix a spot the you click on. The Patch tool will also match the texture and lighting of the clone to the targeted area but rather than painting on the cloned area, a selection of the cloned area is dragged to the targeted area. The Red Eye tool helps to remove the "red eye" effect from photographs.

Zoom Tool

The Zoom tool shrinks or magnifies your view of the image.

3D Object Rotate Tool (3D Object Roll Tool, 3D Object Pan Tool, 3D Object Slide Tool, 3D Object Scale Tool)

(Not covered in this course.)

3D Rotate Camera Tool (3D Roll Camera Tool, 3D Pan Camera Tool, 3D Walk Camera Tool, 3D Zoom Camera Tool)

(Not covered in this course.)

Other Tools

Foreground/Background Colours

The current foreground colour, or the colour you are currently painting with, is displayed in the foreground colour box. By default, this is black. The current background colour is displayed in the background colour box. The default is white. Click the Default Colours icon to restore these colours to default. To switch the foreground and background colours, click the swap arrow.

Edit Mode

Photoshop works in Standard mode and Quick Mask mode. This button toggles between the two modes. Editing modes are covered in detail in later sections.

Keyboard Shortcuts

As you use Photoshop more and more, you will want to start learning the keyboard shortcuts applicable to your operating system. By using a combination of mouse and keyboard, you can get much more done in the same amount of time. The letter that activates each Toolbox item is displayed next to the icon in the Toolbox when clicked on or rolled over.

The Toolbox Summary

• The Toolbox can be moved anywhere on the screen by clicking and dragging it by its top bar.
• Tools are used to manipulate images or create new image elements.
• Select a tool by either clicking on the tool button or by using the one-letter keystroke if a shortcut is available.
• The keyboard shortcuts are displayed when you roll over the tool button with the mouse pointer or display the fly-out menu for a tool.
• A small black triangle on the lower-right corner of a tool button indicates that there are other variations of the tool available.
• Each tool has features or properties that can be modified in the Tool Options bar.

The Toolbox Keyboard Shortcuts:

• Move tool: V
• Marquee tool: M
• Lasso tool: L
• Quick Selection tool: W
• Crop tool: C
• Eyedropper tool: I
• Healing Brush tool: J
• Brush tool: B
• Clone Stamp tool: S
• History Brush tool: Y
• Eraser tool: E
• Gradient tool: G
• Blur tool: (no shortcut key)
• Dodge tool: O
• Pen tool: P
• Type tool: T
• Path Component Selection tool: A
• Shape tool: U
• Hand tool: H
• Zoom tool: Z
• Toggle Colours: X
• Set Default Colours: D
• Cycle through tool variations: Shift-<letter>

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Photoshop - TOC - Introduction - Books -
Interface - Links - Questions -
1 - [ 2 ] - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - A - B - C - D - E -

Photoshop - TOC - Introduction - Books -
Interface - Links - Questions -
1 - [ 2 ] - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - A - B - C - D - E -