Julieanne Kost's Blog

• After creating your own custom Stroke patterns (using the Stroke Options), save them as a preset. Don’t forget that you can save a Tool Preset in order to save all of the Options for the shape tool (fill, stroke, size etc.).

• To copy and paste the Fill or Stroke attributes from one shape to another, click the color swatch next to Fill or Stroke in the Options bar. Then, click the gear icon and choose Copy Fill (or Copy Stroke). Then select another Shape layer, click the color swatch next to Fill or Stroke, select the gear, and choose Paste Fill (or Paste Stroke).

• An even easier way to quickly apply the fill and shape from one layer to another is to Control -click (Mac) / Right Mouse -click (Win) on the layers panel (to the right of the layer name), and select Copy Shape Attributes (this will copy both the stroke and the fill unlike the tip above that copies one or the other). In the Layers panel, select the layer(s) to paste the attributes and Control -click (Mac) / Right Mouse -click (Win) and select Paste Shape Attributes.  Note: you can also Control -click (Mac) / Right Mouse -click (Win) directly on the layer in the image area, but it might be more difficult to select the layers to paste the attributes on.

• All shapes on a shape layer will have the same Fill and Stroke attributes. To apply different attributes to different shapes, put each shape on it’s own layer by selecting the shape and choosing Layer > New > Shape Layer Via Cut  or use the shortcut: Command + Shift + J (Mac) | Control  + Shift + J (Win). Note: when cutting a shape to it’s own layer and/or when merging 2 (or more) shape layers to the same layer, they no longer rasterize but remain vectors!

• There is a new badge for shape layers in the Layers panel (Shape layers are no longer represented by a Fill layer with a vector mask).

• Although the Shape Layer icon (badge) has changed, you can still double-click the shape layer icon to change the color of the shape’s fill.

• Because shapes are often very small in relation to the entire image, the Layers panel displays the contents of shape layers as large as possible in the Layer thumbnail – ignoring the relationship of the shape to the entire document (as other layers appear by default).

• Selecting a Shape layer in the Layers panel automatically displays the path in the image area (making it easier to quickly edit the shape).

• Command + H (Mac) | Control + H (Win) hides the path.

• Clicking on a shape in the image area with the Path Selection tool will automatically select that layer in the Layers panel.

• If you delete all of the paths on a shape layer, the layer will automaticallly be deleted.

Several improvements were made to the shape layers (and vector tools) in Photoshop CS6. If you missed yesterday’s video, here is a quick list of changes that you’ll find in the Options bar when working with Shapes:

• Before drawing with the Pen or Shape tools, quickly select between Shape, Path or Pixels from the drop-down list (these options were previously represented by icons which was a bit confusing).

• Click the Fill and Stroke color swatches to choose the type of content: none (for a transparent shape), solid color, gradient and/or pattern.

• The Shape color picker (displayed when clicking on the Fill or Stroke swatch), keeps track of your Recently Used Colors. That would be nice throughout the application!

• Add a stroke, dash and/or dotted line to a path and customize its alignment, caps, corners, gap and dash amounts by clicking the Stroke Options icon in the Options bar.

• Easily change the height and width for shapes (without going to Free Transform) using the new numeric entry options.

• By default, the shape tools draw a new Shape Layer every time you click and drag with the tool. However, you can use the new Path Operations drop-down list in the Options bar (path operations were previously represented by icons) in order to add additional shapes to a single Shape Layer (including Combine, Subtract, Intersect, Extrude or Merge  Shape Components).

• With multiple shapes selected, use the Path Alignment and Path Arrangement drop-down lists to choose to align selected shapes (to the Selection or Canvas), distribute shapes, and/or change the stacking order of shapes.

• Specify a shape’s size by clicking (instead of dragging) in the image area. The Create Polygon (or Create Rectangle etc.) dialog appears, with all of the options specific to the selected Shape tool.

Tomorrow, Tuesday May 15th at 9:15am ET, Adobe, in partnership with leaders in the publishing industry, will reveal the latest advancements in digital publishing! Follow the live blog to see what’s coming in the next generation of Digital Publishing Suite: http://adobe.ly/DPSnyc2012

Take a tour of the new features and improved vector workflow in Photoshop CS6. In this video tutorial (Working with Shape Layers in Photoshop CS6), Julieanne demonstrates how to quickly add custom strokes and fills to Shape layers, combine shapes without rasterizing layers, and use new alignment options and Pixel Grid for better rendering.

The new Color Lookup Adjustment Layer in Photoshop CS 6 has several options (3DLUT File, Abstract, and Device Link) that are used to load different “looks”. These looks are achieved by remapping every color in the image to a different one using a lookup table (LUT). I think that many photographers and designers will find their resulting color shifts quite interesting.

Note: historically, LUTs have been used primarily by the film industry as they’re an excellent way to apply  color adjustments from one application in another application that may not share the same math. For instance, a film workflow may involve 6 different compositing and rendering applications — some with good color adjustments and some without. If they create one 3DLUT that contains all of their adjustments, then they can use that LUT in all the applications to get their desired look. In the film and video industry, they may have LUTs for source normalization, scene color correction, creative color appearance and output simulation.

Here are some examples of the LUTs that Chris Cox included in Photoshop CS6. You can think of these tables as a sort of meta-adjustment, a way to apply pre-packaged adjustments (sometimes lots of adjustments together) in one step.

Of course Chris provided more “looks” than appear in the illustration above, so I created a downoadable file (LUTimage_replace.psd) that you can use to quickly see your own image with each look applied:LUTimage_replace.psd

To replace the Venice image with your own:

• Open YOUR image and crop it to 1500 x 1000 pixels at 150 ppi (it can be either horizontal or vertical).

• Choose File > Save As to save your cropped version of the file with a new name (please don’t save over your original).

• Open the “LUTimage_replace.psd” file and in the Layers panel, select the “JKOST_original” layer.

• Choose Layer > Smart Objects > Replace Contents, navigate to your cropped image, and choose Place.

• Voila! All copies of the original image are updated and are displayed with the appropriate LUT (through the magic of Smart Objects).

Note: The Mac operating system includes 6 Abstract profiles  (Black & White, Blue Tone, Gray Tone, Lightness Decrease, Lightness Increase, and Sepia).  The last row of images in the “LUTimage_replace.psd” image (Abstract Mac) show these  profiles. Windows users will be able to see the LUT in this file, and the profiles will display in the Abstract list for this file, but the 6 profiles will not be available in the Abstract list to apply to other images.

If you have your own LUTs, you can copy them here to have them appear in Photoshop’s Color Lookup adjustment layer’s options:

• Abstract and Device Link profiles are stored in Library > Application Support > Adobe > Color Profiles.

• The 3DLUTs are stored in Applications > Photoshop CS6 > Presets > 3DLUTs.

Because this feature was designed for the film and video industry that have their own LUT files, there currently is no way to create LUT files in Photoshop. You can currently, create LUTs in products such as Adobe SpeedGrade CS6. If you would be interested in such a feature within Photoshop, then we could consider it in a future release. I would suggest posting your comments/requests to one of these locations:

http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family

Just as tapping 00 (zero-zero) in Photoshop CS6 will change the Opacity of a layer to 0%, adding the Shift key will change the Fill to 0%. Note: this shortcut works only if you have a tool selected that doesn’t have an Opacity or Flow setting – for example, the Move or Lasso tool.  If you have a tool selected that does have an Opacity and Flow setting (like the Brush or Clone Stamp), then using the numeric keys changes the Tool options, not the Layers panel options.

Jeff Tranberry has posted excellent information here about how to uninstall the Photoshop CS6 Beta as well as How to Install and Activate Photoshop CS6, Get the Latest Camera Support for Photoshop CS6 with Adobe Camera Raw 7.1, and Review Learning Resources for Photoshop CS6.

In this episode, join Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist Julieanne Kost as she shows off some of the new features of Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, part of the new Adobe Creative Cloud. See the blazingly fast performance of the new Mercury Graphics Engine. Learn about the new improved processing and enhanced controls in Adobe Camera Raw 7, the new photographic blur effects, how to straighten objects using the new Adaptive Wide Angle, and more. Explore many of the timesaving and user-inspired enhancements including new type styles, re-engineered Shape layers, and the all-new Crop tool.

I ran out of time before I could cover video but here is a link to another video that I have done. Video Features in Photoshop CS6.

In this video tutorial (Tilt-Shift, Iris and Field Blur in Photoshop CS6), you’ll discover how to create photographic blur effects in a few clicks using intuitive, on-canvas controls in Photoshop CS6. Julieanne demonstrates how to soften select areas using the Tilt-Shift blur, uniformly blur your entire image and then sharpen a single focal point with Iris blur, or select multiple focal points and then let Field blur vary the blurriness between them.

There are several new features in Photoshop CS6 that make working with layers more efficient.

• In previous versions of Photoshop, we could select the Move tool (or the Marquee, Lasso, Quick Select etc. – basically any tool that didn’t have an Opacity setting), and use the numeric keys on the keyboard to change the opacity of a layer. Tapping one number assigns the percentage of the tapped number (1 = 10%, 2= 20% etc. and 0 = 100%). Tapping two numbers quickly will give you that exact amount (5 + 4 = 54%). In Photoshop CS6, tapping 0 + 0 quickly will set the Layer’s opacity to 0 (zero). This works with either a single layer or multiple layers selected.

• With multiple layers selected, you can now change the Blend Mode for all selected layers.

• If a layer is targeted (selected) in the Layers panel, but hidden (the eye is toggled off) the Opacity and Blend Mode are now visible.

• With multiple layers selected, you can now lock all selected layers by tapping the lock icon.

• With multiple layers selected, Command + J (Mac) | Control + J (Win) will duplicate the selected layers. This shortcut works for Layer Groups as well.

• With Multiple layers selected, Control -click (Mac) / Right Mouse -click (Win) on the eye icon in the Layers panel to change the color label of all selected layers at once.

When renaming layers in the Layers panel, double-click the layer name to rename it. Then, without pressing the Enter/Return key to apply the new name, simply tap the Tab key to move to the layer below. This makes it much faster to rename a larger number of layers.

Shift + Tab moves to the layer above.

Join Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist Julieanne Kost, Thursday, May 3, 2012, 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT,  as she shows off some of the new features of  Photoshop CS6 Extended, part of the new Adobe Creative Cloud. See the blazingly fast performance of the new Mercury Graphics Engine and the imaging magic of Content-Aware Patch Content-Aware Move. Also explore the intuitive video editing capabilities of Photoshop CS6 and 3D capabilities of Photoshop CS6 Extended. See why Photoshop CS6 Extended is a whole new experience in digital imaging.

Click here for registration and more information.

The ability to search (filter) layers based on a variety of criteria has been added to the Layers panel in Photoshop CS6 which should make working with multi-layered documents much easier. Choose a “Filter Type” by clicking the drop down menu at the top left of the Layers panel and choose from Kind, Name, Effect, Mode, Attribute and/or Color. Then, use the corresponding options that appear to the right of the Filter Type to narrow down the search. The “light switch” to the right of the Filter options toggles the filtering on and off. Note: when filtering by Kind, you can click on more than one icon at a time in order to narrow down the search. Click an icon again to toggle if off.

If you download the latest  Lightroom Release Candidate 2 from the Adobe labs site  you will notice that you can now export JPEG files from the book module!