Beyond Basic PhotoShop Having learned the PhotoShop Tools & Palettes, and explored some of the possibilities of image manipulation &/or composition using the Selection tools, students will experiment with the Layers palette and learn some of the fundamental tasks associated with it. Specifically, this week students will: Log-on to the Social Science Mac Lab Computers If necessary, review the "primer" on Tools & Palettes Learn about working with layers in PhotoShop Learn about the Text tool Complete an image editing assignment At your leasure, read through a brief PhotoShop F.A.Q. BONUS, try your hand at "cloning sheep"! Finally, don't forget to Log-out! Working With Layers Layers are easily the most powerful and useful feature in PhotoShop. The Layers palette releases us from the shackles of single-layer images and gives us the ability to really explore our creative ideas. Because layers play such an important role in PhotoShop, to deny yourself any crucial information about them is asking for trouble. Therefore, you should be completely comfortable with the technique of using layers in PhotoShop before moving on. At first glance, layers might seem complex, but the idea behind them is rather simple -- you isolate different parts of your image onto independent layers. These layers act as if they were separate documents stacked one on top of the other. By putting each image on a its own layer, you can freely change the look and layout of your document without committing to the changes. When you view a single layer by itself, a checkerboard pattern indicates the areas that are transparent. It is also important to remember that PhotoShop handles layers as if they are separate documents -- so, you can only edit one layer at a time. The layer you're currently working on is highlighted in the Layers palette. You should also see a little Paintbrush icon next to it [indicating that the layers is active for editing]. To change the active layer, just click the name of another layer! You can view or hide layers by clicking on the Eyeball icon in the Layers palette. You can also change the stacking order of the layers by dragging the name of one layer above or below the name of another layer. However, PhotoShop will not allow you to drag a layer below the Background layer. If, on the other hand, you wish to move the Background layer, just change its name by double-clicking its name in the Layers palette and filling in title bar with a the new name. Your Background will then become "just another layer" in your image document. PhotoShop will automatically create the majority of layers for you. A new layer is added anytime you copy and paste an image or drag a layer between documents. If you're starting from scratch, however, you can click the "New Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette [looks like a block of post-it notes with a corner turned up] to create a new, empty layer. A bunch of really neat options are also available under the "Layers" menu and the "Effects" option. Many of these are new with version 5.0 of PhotoShop and allow you to create, in one simple step, the same results that would normally have required multiple layers and a lot of memory. Layers Practice Ok, you try it now! Locate and download [using Fetch] the file named Liz.sit.hqx, in the "week_09" sub-directory in the "spring_1999" directory of the "www.soc.hawaii.edu" server. After Stuffit Expander decompresses the file, you should then be able to load the "Liz" file into PhotoShop and experiment with turning the layers off and on, or rearranging their order, or playing with their opacity for different views. When you are finished, move on to the discussion of the Text tool below... PhotoShop's Text Tool Type, as a graphic element, tends to be over-looked in video, multimedia, &/or website production. I don't know why this is the case -- perhaps because we're so biased in favor of the picture elements of a production that we only notice text &/or type effects when they are done badly. This means that, as multimedia title developers, we've got a tough job; we must come up with a type style that not only grabs the reader's attention, but also does the best possible job of enhancing the title's message and organizing its content. If we use a background [graphic or color], we will want to make sure that we've designed one that perfectly complements our primary text, titles, and the hyperlink colors as well! Fortunately, with PhotoShop 5.0, Adobe has completely rethought the way text is created and manipulated. With the previous versions of PhotoShop, there were very few circumstances under which anyone would recommend using the Type tool. With the "new and improved" Type tools you can mix multiple typefaces, fine tune tracking, kerning, leading, and baseline shift almost as effortlessly as you can in a page layout application. Best of all, you can now manipulate your text in special "type layers" that retain their formatting characteristics and can be edited at any time! Entering Text To add text to your document, choose the Horizontal Type Tool [the one that looks like a solid "T"] and click anywhere on the image where you wish to place text. PhotoShop will present you with the "Type Tool" dialog box [as shown below] where you can enter and edit the text you want to add to your image file. Other Type tools include the Horizontal Type Mask, the Vertical Type [with a downward pointing arrow], and the Vertical Type Mask [again, with a downward pointing arrow]. Whereas the "horizontal" and "vertical" Type tools have rather obvious functions, the Type Mask tools are used for creating selections in the shape of text -- this works the same as the "normal" Type tools, except that they do not give you an on-screen preview and they do not create a Type layer; instead, you get a text-shaped selection on the active layer. The top of the Type Tool dialog box offers a wide range of choices for editing text. However, before you start adjusting these settings, you might want to enter some text and then highlight it so you can affect some changes. To do this, drag across a range of text, or type Command-A to select all the text. Text & Layer Effects The addition of Type layers in PhotoShop 5.0 is a most welcome "invention." After adding text to your image, the text will appear on a special Type layer [distinguished by a "T" on the right-hand side of it's associated layer]. This layer is special because you can double-click its name to re-edit the text. PhotoShop will not permanently conver the text to pixels until you choose "Layer--Text--Render Layer," or flatten the image. Furthermore, PhotoShop allows you to use a number of "Layer Effects" to change the look of your text with the added benefit of being able to edit the text after you have applied the effect! These Layer Effects allow you to create some great looking text through the use of edge embossing, extruded or indented type, inner shadow, drop shadow, beveled type or glow effects. To add a Layer Effect to the currently active Type layer, choose onf of the options from the "Layer" menu's "Effects" option. This brief "primer" only scratches the surface of what you can do with text in PhotoShop. One things for certain, with almost 100 filters, you can have hours of fun experimenting with the possibilities! As we have by now learned [some of us, the hard way!], a PhotoShop image can be composed of many layer. Each layer can be edited as discrete artwork, allowing unlimited flexibility in composing and revising an image. PhotoShopallows you to view and manipulate layers using the Layers palette [discussed above]. All new layers in an image are transparent until you add artwork [or, pixel values]. Working with layers in PhotoShop is analogous to placing portions of a drawing on sheets of acetate -- individual sheets of acetate may be edited, repositioned, and deleted without affecting the other sheets and when the sheets are stacked, the entire drawing is visible. To begin the Layer Basics lesson for today's lab, download the "photoshop_02.sit.hqx" compressed file from the "lab_08" sub-directory in the "summer_2000" directory on the "www.soc.hawaii.edu" server. If Stuffit Expander does not automatically uncompress the downloaded file, you will need to launch in manually. The compressed lesson file contains everything you need to complete this lab assignment [three graphic files & the instructions in pdf format]. Alternatively, the "pdf" documentation -- Lesson02.pdf -- can be accessed through your web browser [if equiped with the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in] which will provide you with an online guide for completing this assignment. PAY ATTENTION!As was the case with our last lesson, you will NOT be able to access the the "Adobe Photoshop 5 Prefs" file in the "Adobe Photoshop Settings" folder because of the security software installed on the Macs in the Lab. Instead, you will have to launch PhotoShop and return the tool palettes to their default locations. To do this, choose the "File" menu and then the "Preferences" and "General" options, click on the "Reset Palette Locations to Default" button. If you turn off the "Save Palette Locations" check box in the same dialog box, each time you launch PhotoShop, the palettes will be at their [space-hogging] default locations -- you can always move them later. In this lesson, you will learn how to do the following: Organize artwork in layers. Create a new layer. View and hide layers. Select layers. Remove artwork on layers. Reorder layers to change the placement of artwork in the image. Apply modes to layers to vary the effect of artwork on the layer. Link layers to affect them simultaneously. Apply a gradient to a layer. Add text with layer effects. Save a copy of the file with the layers flattened. When you have finished the above outlined tasks, and your image looks similar to the picture [above right], then you should save the image to your own diskette or your Mac's "Guest" folder. You should then convert the image to GIF format using one of the techniques outlined in Lab #07 session and name the file "first-initial_lastname-2.GIF" and upload it to the "all_pau" sub-directory in the "summer_2000" directory on the "www.soc.hawaii.edu" server as a RAW DATA file. Now it's "pau hana" time! PLEASE NOTE: If you are a Windows user [poor thing!], the following keyboard equivalents apply: Control = Command on Macs Alt = Option on Macs Right mouse button = Control on Macs Tutorial excerpted from Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book, part of the official training series for Adobe graphics & publishing software. Published by Adobe Press & available in several languages. ISBN: 1-56830-466-8, US$45, 466 pages, paperback. Available from Amazon.com Some PhotoShop FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions] What does the Shift key allow me to do? Holding down the shift key while making a selection with the Marquee tool will constrain your selection to either a Square or Circle. When using the line tool, holding the shift key will allow you to draw perfect horizontal, vertical or 45 degree angle lines. Holding down the shift key will also allow you to select more than one area at once. How do I subtract from a selection? To subtract from a selection hold down your Option key. When using the Marquee tool, holding down the Option key will let you draw your selection from the middle as opposed to the corner. How do I tell which layer I am working on? You can tell which layer you are working on by looking at the layers palette. The high-lighted layer is the current, active one. How can I adjust the Opacity of a layer? In PhotoShop 4.0, the Opacity slider bar allows you to drag the slider triangle [left or right] to select the level of opacity [solidness of the image] of the layer. Alternatively, you can press a number on the keyboard to change the opacity of the active layer. In PhotoShop 5.0, you see a percentage box which allows you to enter a number [as above] or click and drag on a pop-up slider bar to select the desired level of opacity. Can I select different overlay modes for different layers? The overlay modes pop-up menu: The different overlay modes mixes every pixel in the active layer with the pixel directly behind it according to one of several mathematical equations. Experiment with each one to see what it does. How Can I adjust the order of layers in my graphic file? Layer order: Drag a layer name up or down in the scrolling list to move it forward or backward in layering order. The only trick is to make sure that the black bar appears at the point where you want to move the layer before you release the mouse button. What other Layer functions exist? View column: You already know that you can hide layers and display them by clicking in the view column--the one with all the eyeballs. But did you know that you can Option-click in front of a layer to display only that layer and hide all the others? Flatten Image and Merge Layers: Choose the Merge Layers command to merge all visible layers into a single layer. If the layer is not visible--that is, no eyeball icon appears in front of the layer name--PhotoShop does not get rid of it; the layer remains independent. The Flatten Image command, on the other hand, merges all visible layers and throws away the invisible ones. What if I make a mistake? If you make a mistake, you can choose Undo from the Edit menu or simply hit Command-Z on your keyboard. The Command key is the one with the apple and pretzel symbols on it. Prior to PhotoShop 5.0, users only had one level of Undo, so you could not undo mistakes made several steps earlier. Fortunately, Adobe did a fine job of delivering the goods with version 5.0 and topping the list was multiple levels of undo -- finally! How does the Clone tool work? One of the most common uses for the clone tool is to touch up blemishes in a photo. To clone part of an image, select the rubber stamp tool icon and choose either the Clone (Aligned) or Clone (Non-aligned) in the Options palette. Option-click in the image window to specify a point of reference in the portion you want to clone. Then click or drag with the tool to some other region of the image to paint a cloned spot or line. In the example below, option-clicked above the girls right eye. Then, painted the line shown inside the white rectangle. The rubber stamp cursor shows the end of the drag; the cross-shaped clone reference cursor shows the corresponding point in the original image. What's the difference between Aligned & Non-aligned? To understand how the Clone (Aligned) option works, think of the locations where you Option-click and begin dragging with the rubber stamp tool as opposite ends of an imaginary straight line. The length and angle of that imaginary line remains fixed until you Option-click a second time. Clone (Aligned) tells PhotoShop to clone an image continuously, no matter how many areas you paint. The Clone (Non-aligned) option is used to repeatedly clone from a single portion of an image. You can see in the example below that the length and angle of the imaginary line change every time you paint a new area with the rubber stamp tool. CLONING SHEEP: Try It Yourself! With the "Rubber Stamp" tool, you're not limited to just cloning from what's in the active document. You can open a second document and clone that image as well. All you have to do is move your cursor outside the current image window and on top of another document that is open. Then, Option-click anywhere in the second document and apply it within the original -- it will copy from one document and paste it into another! Available in the "Lab_08" sub-directory is a file entitled "cloning_sheep.sit.hqx" which contains three (3) graphic files. Download the graphic files and "un-Stuff" the archive folder [if your computer doesn't do this automatically] Open PhotoShop and load both the "sheep" and "grass.PSD" files. With BOTH files visable on your desktop, select the Rubber Stamp tool and Option-click on the sheep. Move to the "grass.PSD" document and begin "cloning" the sheep on the grassy knoll -- "clone" as many as you wish experimenting with the aligned vs. non-aligned methods described above. For a different way of "cloning" sheep, try selecting just the sheep's image using the Magic Wand tool &/or the Lasso tool and Option-click on the sheep [now surrounded with "marching ants"]. Next, open the "grass.JPG" image file and "clone" the cartoon sheep behind the fence. WARNING: In order to clone between two documents, both documents need to be in the same color mode. If one document is in RGB mode and the other in Index mode, PhotoShop won't let you clone between them until one is coverted to the other's color mode.   [ Syllabus ][ Lab Assignments ][ Downloadable Resources ][ Back to Home ]   Copyright © 1999-2000   By: M. R. Ogden -- ogden@hawaii.edu   (Rev. 14 June 2000)