The Photoshop help thread!

[MrSns]

wow thats awsome mate:)

Wish i could do stuff like that.

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Darkness is a friend, an ally. Darkness allows us to understand others, to see what they value when they believe no one else is looking. It allows us to be honest with ourselves, to express those values that we would disavow in the light. The light blinds us. It is only in the dark that we see clearly, and there is a great dark hidden among these worlds

[Gamazson]

Thats why we are posting this stuff :P

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AKA Nexus

[Zyreal]

Pathing a selection seems to be the hard way to do it...quick masking is so much easier and precise...if for some reason Lasso/Magic Wand/Select Color/Magnetic Lasso doesn't work

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[Gamazson]

In the graphic design industry a low level designer can get up to 150+ photos that must be cropped before lunch. That is why we were taught that, it is more precise than any other tool (really once you get the hang of the pen tool it is) the only way to finish that kind of work in the time frame (My record is 40 in 2 hours, man did I get carpal tunnel). And if another designer needs to work on that file at a later date but needs to change the feathering or something, the image is already outlined, all he has to do is click to make the selection. This method is designed to be long term easier, not short term.

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AKA Nexus

[Zyreal]

I was a photo editor before going into law enforcement, I would have to work on literally hundreds of photos a day, I'm also very proficent with the pen tool...however, to me quick mask, brush and bucket tool work best, and fastest.

Two other things,

In the online arena, DPI is almost useless.
And
If you liked feather, you're going to love refine edge...I know I do.

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[Gamazson]

Hmm my hotshot cranky British instructor seems to have skipped a few bits of info. I have never heard of that feature. Care to make a quick tutorial on refined edge?

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AKA Nexus

[Zyreal]

First, get this


(CS3)

Second, pick a picture you want to mess with.










Then do a fast quick mask....






Then go to the select menu...





Then the refine edge dialog comes up.



Okay, so the Refine Edge box is a bit confusing....

Radius and Contrast deal with how feather works...

Smooth works about how you would expect...makes any sharp edges in your selection smoother...would bring the whole selection towards a uniform sphere if the slider was long enough...

Feather is the exact same as it was in the old dialog...

Contract/Expand work pretty much like grow and shrink....pretty self explanatory...

And the boxes on the bottom are different preview modes...there is (from left to right) Selection edges, Quick Mask view, selection on a black background, selection on a white background(used in the SS), and finally Mask view, a selection mask view, akin to viewing a pure selection channel.

And as you can tell from the 3rd pic, whenever you have any selection tool open, or quick mask, there is a refine edge button on the tool options bar.

Did that help any?

- Z


(Cappy pics = Using my Razr as a camera)

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[Gamazson]

I'll download CS3 and give that a shot, albeit not for long. Darn 30 day trials.

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AKA Nexus

[Exile]

*COUGH*Downloadable torrent *COUGH*

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[Gamazson]

**cough**Entering professional design industry can't afford to be caught with pirate software **cough**

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AKA Nexus