Julieanne Kost's Blog

To paint a straight line, hold the shift key while dragging a stroke. Or, click once with a painting tool, then release the mouse, hold the shift key and click again to draw a straight line between the two points.

PSCS5 – The painting tools which have panels associated with them, display the associated panel’s icon is next to the Tool Preset Picker in the Option bar (in previous versions the icon was located to the far right). For example, with the Brush tool selected clicking on the Brush Panel icon quickly toggles the Brush on/off. Similarly, with the Healing Brush Tool, clicking the Clone Source icon will toggle the Clone Source Panel on/off.

PSCS5 – When using the New Natural Media Bristle Tips, clicking in the Bristle Brush Preview will toggle between three different views. Shift-clicking in the preview will toggle a color rendering of the brush. (If you are having a difficult time distinguishing between the different views try selecting a Flat Fan tip shape.) If the Bristle Brush Preview is not visible, click the left most icon on the Brush or Brush Presets panel (a natural media tip must be selected in order for the Bristle brush preview icon to be enabled).

Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click on any brush or swatch in a Panel that you want to delete. (The icon swaps to a pair of scissors) . Of couse you can also delete items using the Preset Manager.

To reorder the brushes in the Brushes panel, select Edit > Presets Manager. Select Brushes for Preset Type, then drag and drop the brush icons into the correct order. Note: this shortcut also works with any of the preset lists in the Preset Manager

When saving a tool preset for a brush (using the fly out menu from the Tool Presets panel or from the Tool Presets Picker), check “Include Color” to save the foreground color.

‘<’ or ‘>’ moves to the “previous” or “next” brush in the list on the Brushes Panel. ‘<’ or ‘>’ + Shift goes to the first or last brush in list. (At first glance these shortcuts may appear to be making the brush larger and smaller, but that would be because you’re moving from a smaller to larger brush (or vice-versa) in the Brushes panel).

To access the Brushes preset picker while anywhere in the image area, control (Mac)/ right mouse (Win) -click with a painting tool selected.