Tutorial and Techniques of Photoshop and PageMaker

Creating Drop Caps

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 14:01:00 +0000

A dropped capital letter, called a drop cap, is the first character of a paragraph that has been enlarged and hangs down into the body of the paragraph. Drop caps are frequently used at the beginning of a story. When set correctly, drop caps can add a professional touch to your publication.

The easiest way to create a drop cap is with the Drop Cap plug-in. All you have to do is place the text cursor in the paragraph and choose Utilities>Plug-ins > Drop Cap which results in the Drop Cap dialog box as shown below. You will be asked to enter the size of the drop cap; three lines is the default. The number of lines will determine how large the drop cap is. Needless to say, you would not want the size to be greater than the number of lines in the paragraph. In fact, drop caps would look out of place on short paragraphs.

Before clicking OK to create the drop cap, you may want to click the Apply command button to preview this special effect. Then, if you do not like the size, you can enter a different number of lines without leaving the dialog box. Note that you must remove the current drop cap with the Remove command button before you can apply a new size.

The Prev and Next buttons allow you to move the cursor to other paragraphs without having to leave the Drop Cap dialog box.

Rotating Text

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 08:44:00 +0000

Rotating Text

Using the text rotation option when you want part of the page oriented differently. You can rotate text in any increment, using one of two ways: the Control palette and the Rotating Tool. Regardless of which method you use, you must first select the text block with the pointer tool. Note that you cannot rotate part of a text block. You can, however, rotate a threaded text block. Once text is rotated, PageMaker allows you to edit and format the text directly, using the text tool. You do not have to un-rotate it or edit it in story view.

The Control Palette’s rotation option is pointed out in figure 1. One way to specify the degree of rotation is to select the text with the pointer tool and type a degree value into the rotation field and press Enter or click the Apply button. A negative value will rotate the block clock-wise, a positive value will rotate it anti clockwise. The number you enter is always measured from the starting position of 0 degrees.

A second way to specify the rotation angle using the Control Palette is to use the nudge buttons. Each time you click a nudge button, the rotation is increased or decreased by 0.1 degree. The button that points up increases while the button that points down decreases the rotation. To rotate in increments of 1 degree – a Power Nudge- hold down the Ctrl key as you click the nudge button.

The second way to rotate text is the Rotating Tool which allows you to forget about rotation degrees and lets you physically move the block to the position you want. First, select the text block with the pointer tool. Then select the rotating tool from the toolbox. You will see a new type of pointer, called a starburst. Move this pointer to the location around which you want to rotate the selected text block, usually the centre. Then click and drag the starburst in the direction you want to rotate the text. The text will rotate on your screen as you drag the pointer. As you drag, you will see a rotation lever, which controls the amount of rotation. Dragging the starburst away from the starting point will give you more control over the rotation. With a longer lever, in other words, you will be able to rotate the text in smaller increments. To rotate the text block in 45 degree increments, hold down the Shift key as you drag the starburst pointer.

Grouping Objects

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 08:43:00 +0000

Grouping Objects

There are times when you have two or more objects that always belong together, as in the case of shadow boxes, the text and the box will always remain together. I such cases, you can Group the objects under question. Then when you move any one of the objects in the group, all will move together, and their relative position will remain constant.

To create a group, follow the following process:

1) Select all the objects that are to be in the group.

2) Choose Element followed by Group or Press (Ctrl + G).

Now to select a group, you need to click any of the objects comprising the group. In case you want to modify one of the objects in the group, you can do so without breaking the group. Hold down the Ctrl key as you click the object you want to modify (with the pointer tool selected). You can then change its attributes, reposition it, resize it, etc. If text is part of the group, you can directly edit it using the text tool as is normally done. However, if you need to ungroup a group, choose:

1) Select the grouped objects.

2) Element à Ungroup or press (Shift + Ctrl + G).

Quick Overall Adjustments to an Image

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 08:17:00 +0000

Quick Overall Adjustments to an Image

There are various ways available in Photoshop to make adjustments in an image. However, the quickest and simplest way is by using the Brightness/Contrast, Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Variations, and Auto Color (Photoshop) commands, all under ‘Image’ menu, which change colors or tonal values in an image but are not as precise or flexible as the high-end color adjustment tools. They provide a quick and simple way to make overall adjustments.

Converting between Point Type and Paragraph Type

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:14:00 +0000

Point text is created with the type tool by clicking once in the document and typing. This kind of text has no right hand or bottom margins and so will create an infinitely long line unless you hit return as you type. This text is generally not what you want to use with SiteGrinder when you are outputting text as text instead of as a graphic or using text as a button or menu.

Paragraph text is created in one of two ways. You can option-click once with the type tool (alt-click on Windows machines) and fill in the dialog that appears with the size of box you desire, or you can click with the text tool without letting up on the button and drag out the rectangle to contain the text. Paragraph text is much better for use with SiteGrinder because it allows for much more careful placement on the final web page, and is required for scroll bar text.

Don't worry if you start out with the wrong rectangle. You can change it later by dragging its control points while you are editing the text. If you drag the control points while the layer is selected but the text is not being edited then you will scale the text as you resize the box, and this scaling cannot be reflected on the web pages SiteGrinder creates unless you output the text as a graphic.

If you need to convert text from point mode to paragraph mode or the other way around you can do this from Photoshop's Layer->Type menu.

Converting between Point Type and Paragraph Type:

You can convert point type to paragraph type to adjust the flow of characters within a bounding box. Or you can convert paragraph type to point type to make each text line flow independently from the others.

When you convert from paragraph type to point type, a carriage return is added at the end of each line of type (with the exception of the last line).

Important: When you convert paragraph type to point type, all characters that overflow the bounding box are deleted. To avoid losing text, adjust the bounding box so that all type is visible prior to conversion.

To convert between point type and paragraph type:

1. Select the type layer in the Layers palette.

Choose Layer > Type > Convert to Point Text, or Layer > Type > Convert to Paragraph Text.

Blinking Text

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:18:00 +0000

In this tutorial you'll learn how to make a simple layer-style for your pimping' text in Photoshop.

Step 1 – Choosing the Text

Start a new document and type a text with a thick font (our example file is 500x500 pixels). Don't use a small font like Arial Narrow. It won't work on a small font.

Step 2 – Setting Up the Style

Go into your text layers Blending Options (Right Click Layer > Blending Options).

Apply the layer effects shown below, making any modifications as needed.

Step 3 – Rasterize

The copy the layer and "Rasterize" it (right-click on the layer and choose the rasterize option):

Step 4 – Reducing the Height of Rasterized Layer

Then reduce the height of the rasterized layer (CTRL+T)

Step 5 – Adjusting the Layer

Delete the layer styles from this rasterized layers, so the black text remains. If the text is not black, you have to make it black first (CTRL+U -> Saturization 0):

Step 6 – Apply Gaussian Blur

Then move the layer with the back text underneath the layer you created first (drag it in the layers panel) and apply a Gaussian Blur van 3,2. Move the blurred text behind the layer with the layer style. Align it like this:

Step 7 – Final Touch

Choose a white, star-shaped brush (comes with Photoshop).

Make a new layer above all others and apply the star-shaped brush on the edges (don't use it to much!). Finish…. But much more possibilities are still there depends upon your skill.

Apply Image command in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:43:00 +0000

Using the Apply Image command

The Apply Image command lets you blend one image's layer and channel (the source) with a layer and channel of the active image (the destination).

To use the Apply Image command:

Open the source and destination images, and select the desired layer and channel in the destination image. The pixel dimensions of the images must match for image names to appear in the Apply Image dialog box.

Note: If the color modes of the two images differ (for example, one image is RGB and the other is CMYK), you can copy a single channel to another channel between images, but you cannot copy a composite channel to a composite channel in another image.

Choose Image > Apply Image.

Choose the source image, layer, and channel you want to combine with the destination. To use all layers in the source image, select Merged for Layer.

Select Preview to preview the results in the image window.

Select Invert to use the negative of the channel contents in the calculation.

For Blending, choose a blending option.

Enter opacity to specify the effect's strength.

Select Preserve Transparency to apply the results only to opaque areas in the result layer.

Select Mask if you want to apply the blending through a mask. Then choose the image and layer containing the mask. For Channel, you can choose any color or alpha channel to use as the mask. You can also use a mask based on the active selection or the boundaries of the chosen layer (Transparency). Select Invert to reverse the masked and unmasked areas of the channel.

Sites Where To Submit Your Design Related Links

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:36:00 +0000

Sites for Free Photoshop Brushes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Sites for Free Photoshop Brushes

Brusheezy!

Photoshop Roadmap

Photoshop Brushes on deviantART

Arte de Késsia Nina – Brushes

Lush Brushes, Original PSP Brushes by Cari

pootato.org

Blinding Light – Download PS Brushes

BEAUTIFUL-SIN.NET » Brushes

Dying Day

Red Moon Studios Brushes

youthless.net

Bashcorpo | Photoshop® Brushes

Lovely Trash

spy.glass.net……brushes

Misplaced Moments

Get Brushes

Fractured Sanity[Dot]Org

500ml Brushes (Original and Free Photoshop Brushes)

FreePhotoshop.com

PS Brushes.net

PhotoshopGoodies.com

Mel’s Photoshop Brushes

SuitePSDs

MetroStation

jeffsdigital.com – Photoshop Brushes

Alice Grafixx

Panicked|Photoshop Brushes

KLOUD-NINE.com

Brushes for Photoshop – free brushes by damnedinblack.net

7 Days PS Brushes

Pitic Style Brushes

My Photoshop Brushes

Easy Elements Photoshop Brushes

Free Photoshop Brushes

Couleur Rouge Photoshop Brushes

Tom Ledin Photoshop Brushes

Kiss My Pixels

Amadaun Brushes

Encre Photoshop Brushes

r0man Photoshop Brushes

Photoshop Free Brushes

Obsidian Dawn Brushes

Photoshop Decor

Celestial Star

Brushfed Brushes

Photo-shop Brushes

GFX Fever

Emma Alvarez

Chez Plumeau Photoshop Brushes

Common Photoshop Mistakes and Malpractice

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:08:00 +0000

This article was created to raise awareness and educate new Photoshop users.

Below is a list of 12 common mistakes, misuses and various ways new users abuse Photoshop. I hope this article helps educate designers and other individuals new to Photoshop.

Improper extraction methods

Many new and un-experienced Photoshop users depend on the magic wand, quick select or lasso tool to extract backgrounds or objects in an image. Photoshop’s “easy” selection and extraction methods have come a long way, but it still doesn’t compare to the precision you get with the pen tool.

The pen tool can be quite tricky to new users, but once mastered you will wonder how you ever used any other method. Other great methods of quick masking or extraction can also be used. Just don’t use the eraser tool!

Adding a slight feather to your extractions helps improve the appearance of your images.

Setting body copy

Photoshop can be used to create fantastic text effects, but that doesn’t mean you should use it for large areas on text — especially for body copy. That’s what InDesign, Quark or even, Illustrator is for.

Your text will not print as clear and sharp in a raster-based program like Photoshop. Stick with vector-based programs for large amounts of copy.

Using rainbow gradients

You know you’ve seen them a million times, and every time they get more jarring to look at. Just say no to rainbow gradients! (Caution: Grip your arm chair before clicking the link to the left!) :)

Now that doesn’t mean you should stay clear of gradients all together. I’ve seen plenty of designs and websites as of late using tactful gradients. Try blending the gradients from a lighter shade to a darker shade of the same color, instead of blending 2 or more disconnecting colors.

Assuming K=100 is Black

Many new designers, thought that setting my K in CMYK to 100 would result in black. This is not the case… instead, it results in a dark grey.

Although you can get away with setting your K to 100 for black text, large areas of black should be set to ‘Rich Black’. Try using C=90 M=60 Y=30 K=100 — it will produce a much richer and noticeable black.

Overusing and abusing filters

I shouldn’t have to go into too much detail with this one, but I remember being obsessed with filters when I first experienced Photoshop. Even though they’re “fun and easy” doesn’t mean they make you look professional and experienced.

Overusing and misusing filters can easily make you look like an amateur.

Creating logos in Photoshop

Though this one can be argued, you should create logos in vector-based programs, like Illustrator, as much as possible.

Vectors are easily scalable and retain consistent clarity no matter how large or small you scale them.

Working under 300dpi in print

Many new users fall into the trap of working in 72 dpi (dots per inch). While this is true for the web, it should not be used when printing. Typically 300 dpi is best for print, but you should always check with your printer.

Also, when working with images that are 72 dpi in print, don’t assume you can just increase the resolution or size of the image and everything will be fixed. The image will appear pixelated and of lower resolution once printed.

Not learning shortcuts

No matter which program you are working in, learning shortcuts is a must. Not only will it increase your workflow by saving valuable time, but many of the tools require additional keys for added functionality.

You can even create your own in Photoshop by selecting ‘Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts…’

Not using layers and folders

Everything in Photoshop revolves around layers. I’ve seen many new Photoshop users neglect using little to no layers, only to regret it later. They make it much easier to edit, move, duplicate, delete, etc.

Also, naming your layers and structuring them into folders is essential, especially when dealing with large PSDs or if you’re a web designer. It will help you navigate around your project, save time and reduce headaches.

‘Desaturate’ to convert images to Black & White

This one is often over looked, even by experienced designers. Choosing Image > Adjustments > Desaturate for converting your image to black and white, often produces a flat, “lifeless” photograph.

Try converting by choosing ‘Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer’. Check off ‘Monochrome’ and then adjusting the Red, Green and Blue channel sliders — this produces a much richer image.

Beveled, embossed and drop shadows

Similar to rainbow gradients and abusing filters, beveled and/or embossed text can be labeled as un-experienced. Unless you have a valid reason, stay clear of these or use sparingly.

Drop shadows should also be treated properly and with care. When applying a drop shadow, make certain to pay attention to other lighting in the image. You don’t want drop shadows coming from all directions causing an image to appear unbelievable or fake.

Also, adjusting or toning down drop shadows is important as well. They should be subtle and soft, not dramatic and harsh.

Cut - Short Your Time Consumption by Using Photoshop Shortcuts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:48:00 +0000

Working with Photoshop can be quite time consuming for both beginners and advanced users. Once you’ve worked with it for a while, you begin to find that you’re constantly going back and forth between the same menu items or palette buttons. Fortunately there’s a way to help streamline your Photoshop workflow.

Keyboard commands, or shortcuts, are simply a way to bypass a few mouse clicks when doing tool changes or tool property adjustments. They’re a little awkward and cumbersome at first, but once you pick up a couple of commands on the keyboard you’ll never go back. The whole idea is that while one hand is running the mouse, the other hand might as well be doing something too. This method of working with Photoshop can really decrease your time spent on the computer and give you more time to get behind the camera.

The following are few of most commonly used shortcuts, broken out into three groups: simple, intermediate, and advanced. The simple commands are pretty easy to pull off, and they’re heavily used. The advanced commands take a little coordination, and I don’t use them quite as often. The intermediate commands are somewhere between the two. I’m also only showing the commands for Photoshop CS3 (thought CS2 should be almost identical) on a PC (sorry Mac users).

Simple Photoshop Shortcut Commands

H (Hand Tool) — When zoomed in to a portion of your photo, this command brings up the hand tool which allows for quick panning. Also, if the hand tool is active and you hold down the Ctrl key, you can zoom in without changing to the zoom tool. Likewise, if you hold down the Alt key, you can zoom out without changing tools.
Z (Zoom Tool) — This command just brings up the zoom tool, which allows you to zoom in. Like with the hand tool, if you hold down the Alt key, it temporarily switches to the zoom out mode.
Ctrl + 0 (Fit on Screen) — This is a quick-and-dirty command to get the entire photo in front of your eyes. That’s Ctrl + zero, not the letter “O”.
B (Brush Tool) — The brush is an extremely useful tool when working with masks, and I’m constantly using this command along with the hand and zoom tools.
Ctrl + Z (Undo) — Very useful for the little mistakes we all make.
Tab (Hide/Show Palettes) — Hiding the palettes gives you a little more working room, thus decreasing your need to pan and zoom while editing.

Intermediate Photoshop Shortcut Commands

[ (Decrease Brush Size) -- Quickly decrease your brush size to get into those tighter spots.
] (Increase Brush Size) — Quickly increase your brush size for the larger areas.
Shift + [ (Decrease Brush Softness) -- Decrease the softness of the brush by 25%.
Shift + ] (Increase Brush Softness) — Increase the softness of the brush by 25%.
1->0 (Tool Opacity) — I usually run my brush opacity around 5% or 10%, but some things require a bit more opacity. Just press one of the numbers from 1 to 0 and your tool opacity will change from 10% up to 100%. If you want finer control, press a second number quickly after the first, and you can get any percentage you want. So pressing 4 will get you 40% opacity, while pressing 4 then 3 will give you 43% opacity.
Shift + 1->0 (Tool Flow) — This works exactly like the opacity changer, but you just have to hold the Shift key down while you hit the numbers.
Ctrl + Tab (Next Point on Curves Adjustment) — When using the curves adjustment dialog, you can place multiple points on the curve and adjust them accordingly. Sometimes you want to make very minor shifts in those points by nudging with the keyboard, but clicking on the point to activate it usually moves it to an undesired location. Use this command to switch focus from point to point without moving them around.

Advanced Photoshop Shortcut Commands

Ctrl + Shift + N (New Layer) — This will bring up the new layer dialog box and place a new layer on top of the active layer.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N (New Layer No Dialog) — This command skips the dialog box and just places a new layer on top of the active layer.
Ctrl + Shift + C (Copy Merged) — This works basically like the copy command, except you get a merged copy of the composite image sent to the clipboard. This command only works if you’ve made a selection on the image first (use Ctrl+A to select all), otherwise you’ll get a copy of nothing. This is useful if you want to duplicate what you see on the screen into another image file or even another layer.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E (Stamp Visible) — This is actually one of my favorite commands. First, I’ll create a new empty layer on top of the stack. Then I’ll select that new layer and use this command. It does basically the same thing as the copy merged command, except it places the copy right into the new layer. I use this for creating layer blends, sharpening, and any other type of editing that can’t be done non-destructively.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + K (Show Keyboard Commands) — If you forget any of these commands, or if you want to check on other commands, use this to bring up the help dialog on keyboard shortcuts.

These are only the Photoshop keyboard shortcuts that are commonly use during post-processing, but there are certainly a lot more of them that may be useful for you

Editing and Removing Style in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Editing a Style:

To make a formatting change to a style, you do not edit the actual text; you revise the style. If you format the actual text, you change only the local formatting of that text.

Before you edit a style, it is important that you understand the list of formats it contains. The bottom of the Edit Style dialog box lists the formats. The various formats are separated by a plus sign. Most formats have short, sometime abbreviated, description followed by a colon and a value – face: Time New Roman + size:11. Formats that do not require a value are simply listed with a brief description – flush left indicates that the text is left aligned.

To revise the formatting associated with a style, click the appropriate button – Char (Character Specification dialog box), Para (Paragraph Specification dialog box), Tab (Tab/Indent dialog box), or Hyph (Hyphenation dialog box) – and make your changes.

One way to get to the Edit Style dialog box is by choosing Type > Define Styles. You then select the style name from the Style list and click the Edit command button. A faster way is to hold down the Ctrl key as you click the style name in the Styles Palette or double click on the style name in the Style Palette.

Removing Style:

If you do not intend to use the default styles in your publication, you should delete them so as not to confuse with the ones being used. Also if a style you created is no longer in use, it is not a idea to delete it.

To remove style names, choose Types > Define Styles (or press Ctrl + 3). In the resulting Define Style dialog box, click the style name to be removed. Click the Remove command button. Repeat this process until you have deleted the ones you intend to. Then click Ok. If the deleted style had been assigned to a paragraph, that paragraph has no style associated with it now. If you remove a style name accidentally, and you discover the error before you choose Ok in the Define Styles dialog box, click the Cancel command button. Any styles you removed will be restored.

Creating Style in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:40:00 +0000

Creating Style:

To create a style, you use the Define Style dialog box to assign a style name to a formatted paragraph, and the formatting contained in the paragraph is then associated with the name. The style contains instructions on character formatting (such as font, size, leading, and type style), as well as paragraph formatting (such as indents, tabs, space above and below, hyphenation, window / orphan control, and column breaks). Note that only one type style can be associated with a style.

You can create style at any point in the design and layout process, but the earlier the better. You can refine the style later. To create a style, click anywhere in the formatted paragraph with the text tool selected, for which you wish to create the style. Choose Type > Define Styles (or Ctrl + 3). When the Define Styles dialog box appears, [Selection] is highlighted. This indicates the style is based on the formatting in the selected paragraph. The paragraph and character formats are listed at the bottom of the dialog box. Click the New command button. The Edit Style dialog box appears.

In the Name text box, type a name for the style (up to 31 characters). Hold down the Shift and click Ok to close both dialog boxes. The new style is now listed in your Styles Palette. However, this style is not yet applied to any paragraph, not even the current one, because creating a style does not apply the style.

PageMaker offers a couple of other ways to create a style. These techniques bypass the menu and are even faster than the Ctrl + 3 keyboard shortcut. The first shortcut uses the keyboard : hold down Ctrl and click [No Style] in the Style palette. This takes you directly to the Edit Style dialog box.

The second shortcut uses the Ctrl Palettes. The style field is available in the palette’s paragraph view, so you may have to click the button to see this field.

To create a new style in the Control Palette, select the Paragraph-style field and type the new name. When you press Enter, PageMaker will display the message – Style Name does not exist. Press Ok to add this style. After you click Ok, the style name will be added and the style is automatically applied to the currently selected paragraph(s). This is the only technique that creates and assigns style names in one step.

Managing libraries with the Preset Manager (Photoshop)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:06:00 +0000

Managing libraries with the Preset Manager

The Preset Manager centralizes management of brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, contours, custom shapes, and preset tools. You can use the Preset Manager to change the current set of preset items and create new libraries. Once you load a library in the Preset Manager, you can access the library's items in all locations that the type of preset is available, such as the options bar, Styles palette, Gradient Editor dialog box, and so on.

Illustration of rearranging tool presets in the Preset Manager

To display the Preset Manager:

Choose Edit > Preset Manager.

To switch between preset types:

Choose an option from the Preset Type pop-up menu.

To change how items are displayed:

Choose a display option palette menu:

Text Only to display the name of each preset item.

Small Thumbnail or Large Thumbnail to display a thumbnail of each preset item. (These options are not available for tool presets.)

Small List or Large List to display the name and thumbnail of each preset item. (These options are not available for swatch presets.)

Stroke Thumbnail to display a sample brush stroke and brush thumbnail of each brush preset. (This option is available for brush presets only.)

To load a library of preset items:

Do one of the following:

Choose a library file from the bottom of the palette menu. Click OK to replace the current list, or click Append to append the current list.

To add a library to the current list, click Load, select the library file you want to add, and click Load.

To replace the current list with a different library, choose Replace Preset Type from the palette menu. Select the library file you want to use, and click Load.

Note: Each type of library has its own file extension and default folder in the Presets folder in the Photoshop program folder.

To rename presets items:

Select a preset item. Shift-click to select multiple items:

Do one of the following:

Click Rename, then enter a new name for the brush, swatch, and so on.

If the Preset Manager is set to display presets as thumbnails, double-click a preset, enter a new name, and click OK.

If the Preset Manager is set to display presets as a list or text only, double-click a preset, enter a new name inline, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).

To rearrange preset items:

Drag an item up or down in the list.

To delete preset items:

Do one of the following:

Select a preset item, and click Delete.

Alt-click (Windows) or Options-click (Mac OS) the items you want to delete.

To create a new library of presets:

Do one of the following:

To save all the presets in the list as a library, make sure that no items are selected.

To save a subset of the current list as a library, hold down Shift, and select the items you want to save.

Click Save Set, choose a location for the library, enter a filename, and click Save.

You can save the library anywhere. However, if you place the library file in the appropriate Presets folder inside the Photoshop program folder, the library name will appear at the bottom of the palette menu after you restart Photoshop.

To return to the default library of preset items:

Choose Reset Preset Type from the palette menu. You can either replace the current list or append the default library to the current list.

Changing Text & Placing a New Story in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:13:00 +0000

Changing Text

The Change command searches for a word, or formatting attribute and replaces it with another. This may be use, for example, to have a replacement of shorthand codes typed throughout the story, where typing the actual word(s) may be cumbersome.

In order to do this, move the cursor to the beginning of the story and choose Utilities>Change or press Ctrl + H. Next to Find What, type the text you want to find. Next to Change To, type the replacement text. If needed, turn on Match Case and Whole Word option. To replace text in all the stories in the publication, turn on the All Stories option. Or to replace text in all stories in all open publications, turn on the All Publications option. Choose the Change All command button to replace all occurrence without prompting. If you do not want to replace all the occurrences of the given text, you can use the Find & Change and Find command buttons. After filling in the Change dialog box, click the Find button. PageMaker then stops at the first occurrence of the word. If you want to replace the word, choose the Change & Find button to change the word and find the next occurrence. If you do not want to replace the word, choose Find Next to search for the next occurrence.

As already mentioned, the Change command can also find and replace special characters, such as carriage returns and tabs. The carriage return code is ^p, and the tab code is ^t. You should actually type the caret (^); do not press the Ctrl. To remove tabs, search for ^t and do not type anything in the Change To text box, because you want to replace the tab space with nothing.

An extremely powerful use of the Change command is to search for and replace formatting attributes. You can replace fonts, sizes, type styles and paragraph styles. This capability makes is easy to revise a story’s formatting. To replace one or more attributes, use the Char Attributes or Para Attributes command button in the Change dialog box. In the top half of the box, you indicate the attributes you want to locate. In the bottom half, you specify the new attributes.

Placing a New Story

There are two ways to create a new story in the Story Editor. You can either press Ctrl + E in layout view, with no story selected, or choose New Story from the Story menu when you are in story view. When you create a new story in the Story Editor, it exists only in the Story Editor – it is not part of the publication. To incorporate it into your document, you must close the story window and place it on the page. After you close the window, you will be warned that your story has not been placed. Choose the Place command button, and the cursor turns into a loaded text icon. Just place the icon at the top of the first column in which you want to place the text and click.

Typing-Importing & Searching for Text in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Typing in the Story Editor:

As when using the text tool, you have the insertion point and the I-beam in the story view. Remember that the spacebar should be pressed only once between sentences and words. Allow the text to wrap as you type, and press Enter only at the end paragraphs. Do not double space between paragraphs. To put space between paragraphs to enhancereadability, use paragraph formatting. Also notice that Story Editor automatically adds a certain amount of extra space between the paragraphs for easy identification of paragraphs. This extra space appears only in story view, and disappears (until added explicitly using paragraph formatting options) in the layout view or on the final printout. Also do not press Tab key at the beginning of the paragraphs. If you want certain extra space before the first line of a paragraph, use paragraph formatting options for the same. As already mentioned, though many formatting informations are not displayed in the story view, the type styles (bold, italics, etc.) are visible under it, and can be turned on or off just as it is done in the layout view (i.e., just as discussed in the chapter on character formatting) that displays in story view are indents and paragraph spacing.

Importing Text

The Story Editor allows the import of text files into a story window. You might want to do this so that you can edit the file before placing it on a publication page. The types of files that the Story Editor can import depends on which import filters were selected when installing the PageMaker. There are a number to choose from including Word for Windows and WordPerfect. To import a file, use the Place command on the File menu and select the desired file name. The story will display in a new story window. To place the imported story in the current window (assuming it is empty), turn on the Replacing Entire Story option in the Place dialog box after you click the file name.

Searching for Text

Using the Story Editor’s Find command is probably the fastest way to move your cursor in a long story. The Find command searches for the spcified characters from the cursor location forward through the story. To begin a search from top of the story, press Ctrl + PageUP before you initiate the Find Command. If you begin the search from somewhere in the middle of the story

Using the Story Editor in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:17:00 +0000

The Story Editor

The Story Editor is yet another way to type and edit text in PageMaker. Just click the text you want to edit, press Ctrl + E (or use Edit > Edit Story from the menu), and your story appears in its own word processing window. All the text tool’s editing commands (insert, deletec cut and paste) are available in the Story Editor. The Story Editor is also equipped with two powerful features that are not there when you use the text tool: a spelling checker and a search-and-replace feature.

You will probably not format a text very often in the Story Editor (even though you are allowed to) because it does not display most formatting effects on the screen. When you are in Story Editor, you are interested in the content, and not the form. Though Story Editor does show the type styles (Bold, Italics, etc.), it does not show the page layout, graphics or formatting. When you are in Story Editor, you are in what is called the Story View, as opposed to the Layout View, the one we had been using so far. While the story view looks different, it contains exactly the same text. Any editing changes you make in story view are automatically made in layout view, and vice versa. While Story view focuses on the publication text, layout view emphasizes on the final format.

You may use the Story Editor in certain ways. You can use it to edit text that is already placed in the publication. You can correct typing mistakes, check the spelling in the story, or use the search and replace feature. Secondly, although you may not want to do the formatting in the Story Editor, you may want to use it to change your formatting, using the find and replace feature. For example, if the subheads are in 14 point Times New Roman, the Story Editor can automatically change them to 16 point Helvetica. Another way to use the Story Editor is to create and type an entire story from scratch using the Editor. The Story Editor offers several advantages. You can type and edit much faster in story view than in layout view because the Story Editor does not display fonts and graphics on the screen, nor does it concern itself with line or page breaks.

Using the Story Editor:

To edit an existing story in the Story Editor, click in the text with the text tool, or select the text block, with the pointer tool, and press Ctrl + E or choose Edit > Edit Story. You can also load an existing story in the Story Editor by triple clicking on the text block with the pointe tool. To create a new story in the Story Editor, press Ctrl + E without any text or text blocks selected. At this point, you can either type in the story or, if already exists in a word processing file, you can import it into the Story Editor.

When you load the Story Editor, you are actually opening a window. The Story Window lies on top of the publication window, and it has its own buttons and scroll bars. The Story Editor’s menu bar is slightly different from the one you see in the publication window because you have different capabilities in each view. A new option, Story is available. The Element menu is not present because you do not see graphics in the story view. The Layout menu is also not offered because it is irrelevant in story view; you work here with a continuous stream of text rather than with pages.

A story window is partitioned into two vertical areas separated by a solid line. The right area is where you type your story; the left area displays the style name (the Styles will be discusses later). You can toggle the style name column on and off by choosing Display Style Names on the Story menu.

Mixing Color Channels in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:07:00 +0000

Mixing color channels - Photoshop

The Channel Mixer command lets you modify a color channel using a mix of the current color channels. With this command, you can do the following:

Make creative color adjustments not easily done with the other color adjustment tools.
Create high-quality grayscale images by choosing the percentage contribution from each color channel.
Create high-quality sepia-tone or other tinted images.
Convert images to and from alternative color spaces, such as YCbCr, which is used in digital video.
Swap or duplicate channels.

To mix color channels:

In the Channels palette, select the composite color channel.

Choose Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer.

For Output Channel, choose the channel in which to blend one or more existing (or source) channels.

Drag any source channel's slider to the left to decrease the channel's contribution to the output channel or to the right to increase it, or enter a value between -200% and +200% in the text box. Using a negative value inverts the source channel before adding it to the output channel.

Drag the slider or enter a value for the Constant option. This option adds a black or white channel of varying opacity--negative values act as a black channel, positive values act as a white channel.

Select Monochrome to apply the same settings to all the output channels, creating a color image that contains only gray values.

Use the Channel Mixer with the Monochrome option applied to control the amount of detail and contrast in the images you plan to convert to grayscale.

If you select and then deselect the Monochrome option, you can modify the blend of each channel separately, creating a handtinted appearance.

Paragraph and Line Breaks AND Adding Widows and Orphans (PageMaker)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Paragraph and Line Breaks:

The Paragraph Specification dialog box offers a variety of options for controlling your paragraph and line breaks.

The Keep with Next… Lines option in the Paragraph Specification dialog box will prevent your subheads from being stranded at the bottom of a column. It essentially glues two paragraphs together so they would not be separated. Keep Lines Together option prevents a paragraph from being split between two columns. This option is ideal for tables whose lines should not be separated. To start a particular section on a new page or column, use the Page Break Before or the Column Break Before option. Click in the single paragraph that should appear at the top of the page or column before turning on this option. These types of breaks are sometimes referred to as hard, or forced, breaks. The other column and page breaks are soft, and their positions will vary according to the amount and format of text in the column. Note that PageMaker has an option for controlling line breaks: Break and No Break are choices in the Line End option of the Character Specification dialog box. If you do not want a line break at a certain location in your text, you can select the text and turn on No Break. Another way to keep text from breaking onto two lines is with non-breaking or hard spaces. Instead of typing a space, press Ctrl + Shift + H between words you want to keep together.

Adding Widows and Orphans:

In PageMaker, widow and orphans are straggling words that appear at the top or bottom of a column. A widow is the beginning of a paragraph that sits at the bottom of a column. An orphan is the end of a paragraph at the top of a column.

To add widow or orphan control to existing text, first select the text. When widow or orphan control is activated, your columns may end up with ragged bottoms, but most designers prefer ragged bottoms to widow or orphans. In fact, the white space from ragged bottoms might contribute to a friendlier, more open feeling to your page.

Note that single line paragraphs, such as subheads, are not considered widows. So even if you have widow / orphan control turned on, your subheads might fall at the bottom of the column.

Setting up Column Guides:
You create columns to control the flow of text in text blocks that you place automatically, and to help position text and graphics. How you specify columns is determined by the command you use. For more details click Setting Column Guides In Pagemaker.

Align to Grid Option and Adding Rules in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:39:00 +0000

Align to Grid Option:

Sometimes you will have a particular item, such as a table, that uses a different leading from the body text, causing the baselines of type to fail to line up on the leading grid. You can use PageMaker’s Align Next Paragraph to Grid option. This option, when applied to a paragraph (such as a table), will position the following paragraph on the leading grid. You access this option through the Paragraph Specification dialog box, but it is several boxes deep in the Paragraph Rule Options dialog box. On the Paragraph Specification dialog box, click the Rules command button. Then click the Options in the resulting. Paragraph Rules dialog box. Click Align Next Paragraph to Grid option. Next to the Grid Size, type the value of your body text leading (the magic number). Hold down Shift and click OK to close all the dialog boxes.

Adding Rules Above or Below Paragraphs:

You can specify rules as a paragraph attribute so that the rules move and resize with the paragraph on the page. To apply a paragraph rule, select the paragraph (s) you want to edit. Choose Type > Paragraph and click Rules. Click Rule Above Paragraph or Rule Below Paragraph, or both. Define stroke attributes, i.e., choose a stroke pattern and the weight thereof. To specify a weight not listed on the menu, choose Custom and then type the weight from 0 to 800 points. Choose the defined color or tint from the Stroke Color pop-up menu. Choose the stroke width you want, either Width of Text (from the left indent to the line end or right indent) or Width of Column (from the left side of the text object to the right side of the text object, regardless of left or right indents or where the line ends). Set left or right indent for the rule (not for text). Click Options to set the space between the paragraph and the rules. Click Align to Grid to align the baselines of columns in multicolumn text, so that paragraph rules will also align vertically. For rules above the paragraph, PageMaker measures from the baseline of the first line in the paragraph to the top of the rule, adding space before the paragraph as necessary. For rules below a paragraph, PageMaker measures from the baseline of the last line in the paragraph to the bottom of the rule below, adding space below as necessary.

Adding Paragraph Spacing in PageMaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:51:00 +0000

Adding Paragraph Spacing

You should not press Enter key to insert an extra space between paragraphs. There are several reasons for avoiding blank lines created with a carriage return.

Point 1

If the blank line lands at the top of a column, this extra space will cause the column to start lower than the other columns.

Point 2

The blank lines could possibly throw off the leading grid, so that the baselines of the type do not align.

Point 3

You cannot precisely control the amount of space – one carriage return might not add enough space and two might add too much.

None of these problems arise when you use PageMaker’s paragraph spacing options. In the Paragraph Specification dialog box, you can set the amount of space before and after your paragraphs. Another way to specify the paragraph spacing is in the Control Palette, these fields are marked in figure below.

In determining how much space to add before and after a subhead, you should keep in mind that a subhead, you should keep in mind that a subhead introduces a new topic and should therefore be separated from the text above it and tied to the text below it. You can show this relationship by placing more space above the subhead than below it. The leading of your subhead plus the space above and below it should be a multiple of your magic number. For example, suppose the leading of your publication is 12, and your subhead have 14 point leading. To keep on the leading grid, you should add 10 points of space above the subheads (14 point leading plus 10 points of space equals 24 multiple of the magic number).

Paragraph Formatting - II (PageMaker)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:45:00 +0000

Tips on Formatting:

On a professionally produced page, all textual and graphic elements have depths that are numerically related. They are multiple of a predetermined magic number. If the magic number is 12, all headlines, graphic boxes, and other page elements have depths of 12, 24, 36, 48 and so on. This magic number is the size of the leading for your body text. Do not think your page’s dimension in terms of inches or points. Instead, think of your page as being divided in increments that match your magic number. Designers refer to this as a leading grid. When all your elements are multiples of your magic number, something magical happens – the baseline in one column is exactly line up with the baseline in the adjacent column. Your top and bottom margins are key players in your leading grid, although they do not have to be multiples of your leading. Your goal is to get the active area of your page (your page size minus the margins) to be a multiple of your leading. The exact margin size is the amount left over after subtracting the active page area from the page size. Consider the following example for this purpose:

Step 1

Determine the leading for your body text. It should be a round number that is easy to work with, such as 14 (not 14.4).

Step 2

Decide approximately what margin you want. For instance, you may want about 4 – pica top and bottom margins for your publication.

Step 3

Subtract both of these margins (8 picas) from the vertical page size (51 picas, say) to get the current active page size (43 picas). A landscape letter – size page is 51 picas high – 8.5 inches multiplied by 6 picas per inch.

Step 4

Convert the active page size from picas to points by multiplying 43 picas by 12 to get 516 points.

Step 5

Divide the page size calculated in step 4 by your leading. If the paper size is 516 points and your leading is 14, the result is 36.86. If the number of lines does not result in an integer, continue with steps 6 through 8, else you are done.

Step 6

Take the integer of the number of lines calculated in step 4(36) and multiply it by your leading (14) to get an active page size that is a multiple of your magic number. Your active page size in this example is 504 points. To convert this number back to picas, divide it by 12 (42 picas).

Step 7

Subtract the active page size (42 picas) from the total page size (51 picas) to get the total available for top and bottom margins (9 picas).

Step 8

Divide the total margin (9 picas) by two to get the value of each of the margins (4.5 picas).

Chapter 3 - Paragraph Formatting - I (PageMaker)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Paragraph Formatting:

Paragraph formatting is about the options that affect the paragraph or group of paragraphs, like centering, justifying, indentation, vertical spacing, hyphenation, paragraph breaks, etc. Most of these options are in the Paragraph Specification dialog box, accessed by choosing Paragraph from the Type menu, the keyboard shortcut being Ctrl + M. You can also make paragraph formatting changes in the Control Palette. To access the Control palette’s paragraph formatting options, click the paragraph symbol (fig 1). This results in the palette’s paragraph view. To return in the Character View of the control palette, you have to click the capital T.

Aligning Paragraphs:

PageMaker offers four ways to align text: left, right, centered, or justified. The default paragraph alignment is left; that is, the text is lined up at the left edge of the text block. Left-alignment text is sometimes called ragged right because the right side of the paragraph is uneven. To eliminate this ragged look, you can choose justified alignment. With this alignment, small amounts of space are inserted between words so that the right and left ends of the paragraph are even and smooth. The last line of the paragraph is not justified unless you choose the Force Justify alignment option.

The main advantage of justified text is that you can fit more text on the page because more words are hyphenated. On the other hand, left-aligned text is the easiest to read because fewer words are hyphenated, and also as there are no extra spaces between words. When justified text is used, make sure that the Hyphenation option on the Type menu is turned on, so that you do not get large gaps between words.

The other alignment types, centered and right, are usually applied to single-line paragraphs or special text designed to stand out from the rest. The Force Justify option is almost often used on a single line paragraph so that the text spans the entire width of the text block.

You can change the alignment of a paragraph several different ways: by using the alignment submenu, filling in the Paragraph Specification dialog box, pressing keyboard shortcuts, or using the Control palette (for more details on Paragraph Specification click here Formatting Paragraph in PageMaker .

Indenting Paragraphs:

An Indent is extra space on the left or right side of the paragraph. Frequently, the first line of each paragraph of body text is indented. This can be done by specifying a first-line indent. After you set up a first-line indent, you do not have to press the Tab key at the beginning of each paragraph. However, if the indent is too small, the purpose of the indent is lost – one paragraph is not easily distinguishable from the next. On the other hand, when a first-line indent is too large, it looks out of place or amateurish. In most cases, a one-pica first-line indent works fine, unless your lines of body text are long, in which cases you might want to go up to two picas. (to know about setting indents click here Setting Indents and Tabs in PageMaker.

Rotating and Flipping Images in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:32:00 +0000

Rotating and flipping entire images

The Rotate Canvas commands let you rotate or flip an entire image. The commands do not work on individual layers or parts of layers, paths, or selection borders.

To rotate or flip an entire image:

Choose Image > Rotate Canvas, and choose one of the following commands from the submenu:

· 180°to rotate the image by a half-turn.

· 90° CW to rotate the image clockwise by a quarter-turn.

· 90° CCW to rotate the image counterclockwise by a quarter-turn.

· Arbitrary to rotate the image by the angle you specify. If you choose this option, enter an angle between -359.99 and 359.99 in the angle text box, and then select CW or CCW to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. Click OK.

· Flip Canvas Horizontal (Photoshop) or Flip Horizontal (ImageReady) to flip the image horizontally, along the vertical axis.

· Flip Canvas Vertical (Photoshop) or Flip Vertical (ImageReady) to flip the image vertically, along the horizontal axis.

Chapter 2 - Character Formatting - IV (PageMaker)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:57:00 +0000

Aligning Text Blocks with a Ruler Guide:

When you are positioning text blocks and graphics, you may want to use PageMaker’s ruler guides to align elements in the same way you would use a T-Square or a ruler. These guides can be horizontal or vertical, you are allowed up to 120 ruler guides in any combination of horizontal and vertical. Like the margin guides, the ruler guides do not print.

To insert a vertical ruler guide, click in the vertical ruler and drag the guide to the right. To insert a horizontal ruler guide, click in the horizontal ruler and drag the guide down onto the page. If your rulers are not displayed on the screen, choose Show Guides from the View menu or press Ctrl + ;.

Positioning text blocks is even easier if the Snap to Guides option is turned on. This option creates a magnetic effect between the object you are moving and the various guides on the page (ruler, margin, column). To see if the Snap to Guides option is turned on, choose View menu and check the tick against the said option.

Aligning Text Blocks Automatically:

PageMaker allows another way to align text blocks; with the Element > Align Objects command. Using the Align Object dialog box, shown in fig. 1, you can align objects vertically at the top, center, or button, and / or horizontally at the left, centre, or right. You can also choose to space or distribute the objects by a fixed amount (such as 1 inch apart) or within the boundary of the selected objects. When one of the text blocks is already in position, you may find Align Object command to be faster than using the ruler guides.

Before you issue the Arrange>Align Object command, you should select the text blocks (two or more) that you want to align. When you are aligning text blocks, PageMaker keeps one of the selected blocks stationary and aligns the other selected block (s) with the stationary one. The block which remains stationary depends on which side you are aligning the text block. If you are aligning the blocks at the top, the top-most block is held stationary: if you are aligning at the left, the left-most block is the stationary object. Similar rules are used for bottom and right alignment. For center alignment (horizontal or vertical), no particular block is held stationary.