Julieanne Kost's Blog

In addition to my top 5 favorite features, these little gems certainly help my workflow.

1) Load Swatch Files from HTML, CSS or  SVG Document – use the flyout menu on the Swatches panel to choose Load Swatches. Then, navigate to any HTML, CSS or SVG document and Photoshop will find all of the colors used in that document and load them as swatches.

2) Support for Larger JPEG files – now save JPEG files up to 60,000 x 60,000 pixels.

3) Reposition Paths While Drawing – this one is subtle, but also really powerful. When drawing with the pen tool, pressing the spacebar will allow you to reposition the anchor point – while drawing. The key is that you have to still have the mouse-down for the spacebar to work. Otherwise you get the Hand tool (as expected).

3) Recent Files List – up the limit the “Recent Files” to 100.

4) Smarter Selecting of Layer Names- Photoshop has gotten smarter about the way it names layers when merging them. Instead of always taking the top layer’s name (in the group of layers to be merged), if any of the layers that are going to be merged have been manually renamed (i.e.you renamed them), Photoshop will keep that custom layer name and use it as the new merged layer name. As you can see in the screen shots below, when merging the three layers on the left, Photoshop 13.1 used the custom renamed “Rock” layer as the new merged layer’s name. In previous versions the merged layer would have been named Hue/Saturation 1. Note: if you have created custom names for multiple layers that are all being merged together, then Photoshop will take the top-most custom named layer.

In order to simulate pressure sensitivity when stroking a path, select the path in the paths panel, choose Stroke Path from the fly out menu and check Simulate Pressure. Note, it is important to set up your brush (or whatever tool you want to use), as well as its attributes BEFORE you stroke the path.

In this illustration, the first path was stroked with a brush with the Simulate Pressure option unchecked. The second and third paths both had the Simulate Pressure option checked; the middle illustration demonstrating the brushes Opacity (under Transfer on the Brush Panel) set to Pen Pressure , the right illustration demonstrating Size (under Shape Dynamics on the Brush Panel) and Opacity set to Pen Pressure.

After creating a path (with the pen tool) you can select the path and Choose Edit > Define Custom Shape to add the shape to your Shape Library.

Command (Mac) / Control (Win) -click on the path name in the Paths panel to convert the path to a selection.

To convert an additional path and add it to the selection, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Shift -click the secondary path name in the Paths panel.

To subtract a secondary path from a selection, Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) -click the secondary path name in the Paths panel.

To intersect a secondary path from a selection, Command + Option (Mac) / Control + Alt (Win) + Shift -click the secondary path name in the Paths panel.

Command (Mac) / Control (Win) to toggle from the Path Selection, Pen, Add, Delete or Convert Anchor Point tool to the Direct Selection tool.

Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) -drag a path to duplicate it.

When using the Freeform Pen tool with the Magnetic Option checked in the Options bar, double-click to close the Path. Add the Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) to close the path with straight-line segment.

With a path selected, Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) to toggle the Pen/Freeform Pen tool to the Convert Point tool (when pointer is over anchor point or direction line).

Using the Path Selection tool will select an entire path. However, clicking on a path using the Direct Selection tool will select an anchor point, a direction line or path segment (depending on what part of the path is clicked on). Shift-click to select multiple anchor points, or add the Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) with the Direct Selection tool to select an entire path.

When using either the magnetic Lasso or the Magnetic Pen, the following shortcuts can help to quickly change tool options:

[ or ] decreases/increases the lasso width
[ or ] + Shift goes to the minimum/maximum lasso width
‘,’ (comma) or ‘.’ (period) decreases/increases the edge contrast
‘,’ (comma) or ‘.’ (period) + Shift goes to the minimum/maximum edge contrast
‘;’ (semicolon) or ”’ (apostrophe) decreases/increases the frequency
‘;’ (semicolon) or ”’ (apostrophe) + Shift goes to the minimum/maximum frequency

In order to create a more even stroke of paint than you might be able to accomplish when painting “freehand”, first create a path in the shape of the stroke (with the Pen tool). Next, select the desired options for the Brush (to be used to paint the path), and, from the Paths panel fly-out menu, select Stroke Path. Choose Brush from the drop down menu and Voila, your path is strokes perfectly! You can even choose to check the Simulate Pressure option to simulate pressure sensitivity of the tool.
You can see from the tools listed in the Stroke Path dialog that you can use this technique to stroke with a variety of painting tools making this technique equally useful for dodging and burning, cloning objects etc.
When recording actions, this method enables a workaround for painting as brush strokes can’t be recorded, but stroking paths can be.

When the Freeform Pen tool is selected, try checking the Magnetic option (in the Option bar) to have the Pen tool analyze edge areas in images. To customize the Magnetic settings, in the Options bar click the downward facing triangle to the right of the Custom Shape tool icon and customize the “Width” (how many pixels to look at), “Contrast” (what determines an edge) and “Frequency” (how often to lay down anchor points).

With the Pen tool selected, in the Options bar click the downward facing triangle to the right of the Custom shape tool icon, and select Rubber Band. This option will preview the direction of the path that will be drawn as you move your cursor in the image area. (This is a great learning tool!)

To quickly find the center of a path or shape layer, select the path and choose the Move tool. In the Options bar, check the “Show Transform Controls” option. The transform controls can also be used to transform your path – simply drag the anchor points (shift -drag to constrain proportions). Don’t forget to apply the transformation (tap Return (Mac) or Enter (Win), click the check icon in the Option bar or double click within the transform controls.
Note: if the selected path is a vector mask, the transform controls will be displayed around the layer contents (not the path). Select the path, and then choose Edit > Transform Path.
It’s also worth mentioning that you can transform paths (and therefore shapes) outside of the visible image area and Photoshop will keep track of them.

After drawing a path with the Pen tool, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + Return (Mac) / Enter (Win) crates a selection from the path. Note: this shortcut works with any selected path (shape layer, vector mask etc.).