Photoshop.CS.Bible [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter 8, you can temporarily access the move tool when some other tool is active by pressing Ctrl (Win) or z (Mac). To nudge a layer, press Ctrl or z with an arrow key. Press Ctrl+Shift (z -Shift on the Mac) to nudge in 10-pixel increments.

If part of the layer disappears beyond the edge of the window, no problem. Photoshop saves even the hidden pixels in the layer, enabling you to drag the rest of the layer into view later.

If you Ctrl-drag (Win) or z -drag (Mac) the background image with no portion of it selected, you get an error message telling you that the layer is locked. If some portion of the layer is selected, however, you can drag that selected portion, and Photoshop will fill in the hole with the background color.

Linking layers

Photoshop lets you move multiple layers at a time. To do so, you have to establish a link between the layers you want to move and the active layer. Begin by selecting the first layer in the Layers palette that you want to link. Then click in the second column to the left of the other layer that you want to link. A chain-link icon appears in front of each linked layer, as in Figure 12-23. This icon shows that the linked layers will move in unison when you Ctrl-drag (Win) or z -drag (Mac) the active layer. To break the link, click a link icon, which hides the icon.

Figure 12-23: Click in the second column in the Layers palette to display or hide link icons. Here I've linked all layers except the background, so I can Ctrl-drag them in unison.

You can also link layers with the shortcut menu. As you may recall from the "Switching between layers" section earlier in this chapter, you can bring up a pop-up menu listing the layers in an image by Ctrl-right-clicking (Win) or z -Control-clicking (Mac) an image element with any tool. Add Shift while selecting a layer from the pop-up menu to link or unlink the layer rather than switch to it.

When you drag-and-drop linked layers from one image window into another, all linked layers move together and the layers retain their original order. If you want to move just one layer without its linked buddies, drag the layer name from the Layers palette and drop it into another open image window.

Uniting layers into sets

Linking isn't the only way to keep layers together. You can toss multiple layers into a folder called a set. To create a new set, click the little folder icon along the bottom of the Layers palette. Or better yet, Alt-click (Win) or Option-click (Mac) the icon to display the dialog box shown in Figure 12-24. Here you can name the set, assign a color, and set the blend mode and opacity.

Figure 12-24: Choose the New Layer Set command or Alt-click (Option-click on the Mac) the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create and name a new set.

Notice in Figure 12-24 that a unique Mode option — Pass Through — appears when working with sets. This tells Photoshop to observe the blend modes assigned to the individual layers in the set. By contrast, if you apply a different blend mode such as Multiply to the set, Photoshop overrides the blend modes of the layers in the set and applies Multiply to them all.

The set appears as a folder icon in the Layers palette scrolling list. To add a layer to the set, drag the layer name in the scrolling list and drop it on the folder icon. Layers that are part of a set appear indented, as in Figure 12-25. The triangle to the left of the folder icon permits you to expand and collapse the layers inside the set, a tremendous help when working inside images with a dozen or more layers. Figure 12-26 shows the layers associated with a brochure cover design I put together for a museum I recently imagined. When all sets are expanded, the layers don't even begin to fit on screen. But with sets collapsed, you can assess the construction of the image at a glance.

Figure 12-25: Click the triangle to the left of a folder icon to show or hide all layers and nested sets within a set.

Figure 12-26: Sets are a terrific help when working with complex, multilayer compositions, such as this one. Witness the difference between all sets expanded (first palette) and all sets collapsed (second).

Here are some other ways to create and modify sets:

Double-click a set name to rename it.

Drag a set name up or down the palette to move it.

When a set is expanded, you can drag a layer within the set, move a layer out of the set, or drop a layer into the set at a specific position.

To duplicate a set, drag it onto the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Hate dragging all those layers into a set? Wish you could move more than one at a time? Well, you can't, but you can do the next best thing. Link the layers that you want to make part of a set. Then choose New Set From Linked from the Layers palette menu. All linked layers go into the new set.

In case you're wondering, "Can I link layers in different sets?," yes, you can. If you're wondering, "Can I link sets together?," I'll be happy to tell you that it's possible not only to link sets, but also to link individual layers to entire sets. You have to admit, it's pretty hot stuff.

As you know, Ctrl-right-clicking (Win) or z -Control-clicking (Mac) in the image window displays a shortcut menu of layers under the cursor. If one of the layers belongs to a set, Photoshop lists the set name along with the individual layer names in the shortcut menu. Select the set name to make it active.

Click the triangle next to a folder icon to open or close the set and show or hide the layers and nested sets it contains. Alt-click (Option-click on the Mac) the triangle next to a folder icon to show or hide every element contained in the set, including nested sets and layer styles.

Anytime a set name is active in the Layers palette, you can move or transform all layers in the set as a unit, much as if they were linked. To move or transform a single layer in the set, just select that layer and go about your business as you normally would.

Locking layers

Photoshop lets you protect a layer by locking it. But unlike other programs that lock or unlock layers in their entirety, Photoshop lets you lock some attributes of a layer and leave other attributes unlocked. Figure 12-27 labels the four Lock buttons available in the Layers palette. Here's how they work:

Figure 12-27: The Lock buttons at the top of the Layers palette let you protect certain layer attributes.

Lock transparency: This button protects the transparency of a layer. When selected, you can paint inside a layer without harming the transparent pixels. This option is so useful, I devote an entire section to it (see "Preserving transparency" later in this chapter).

Lock pixels: Select this button to prohibit further editing of the pixels in the active layer. Paint and edit tools will no longer function, nor will filters or other pixel-level commands. However, you'll still be able to move and transform the layer as you like. Note that selecting this button dims and selects the Lock Transparency button as well. After all, if you can't edit pixels, you can't edit pixels — whether they're opaque or transparent.

Lock position: Select this button to prevent the layer from being moved or transformed. You can, however, edit the pixels.

Lock all: To lock everything about a layer, select this button. You can't paint, edit, filter, move, transform, delete, or otherwise change a hair on the layer's head. About all you can do is duplicate the layer, move it up and down the stack, add it to a set, and merge it with one or more other layers. This button is applicable to layers and sets alike.

Photoshop shows you which layers are locked by displaying two kinds of lock icons in the Layers palette. As labeled in Figure 12-27, the hollow lock means one attribute is locked; the filled lock means all attributes are locked.

Using guides

Photoshop's grids and guides allow you to move selections and layers into alignment. When combined with the move tool, they also enable you to create rows and columns of image elements and even align layers by their centers.

To create a guide, press Ctrl+R (z -R on the Mac) or choose View Rulers to display the horizontal and vertical rulers. Then drag a guideline from the ruler. At the top of Figure 12-28, you can see me dragging a horizontal guide down from the top ruler. Then Ctrl-drag (Win) or z -drag (Mac) layers and selections in alignment with the guide. In the bottom portion of the figure, I've dragged the MO disk, film reel, and tape — each on different layers — so they snap into alignment at their centers. (The reel has some film hanging from it, which Photoshop considers in calculating the center.) You'll know when the layer snaps into alignment because the move cursor becomes hollow, like the labeled cursor in Figure 12-28.

Figure 12-28: Drag from one of the rulers to create a guide (top), and then Ctrl-drag (z -drag on the Mac) each layer or selection into alignment (bottom).

Guides are straightforward creatures. I mean, you don't have to study them rigorously for years to understand them — a few minutes are all you need to master them. But there are a few hidden treats:

If you know the exact position where you want to put a guideline, choose View New Guide. After selecting from a horizontal or vertical guide, enter the location of the guide as measured from the ruler origin, by default in the upper-left corner of the image. For example, enter "1 in" for 1 inch, "2.5 cm" for 2.5 centimeters, or "200 px" for 200 pixels.

You can show and hide all guides by choosing View Show Guides. When the guides are hidden, layers and selections do not snap into alignment.

You can hide or show guides also by pressing Ctrl+H (Win) or z -H (Mac). But be aware that this turns on or off the visibility of other elements, including the grid, selection outlines, paths, and notes. To hide and show just the guides, press Ctrl+semicolon (;) under Windows or z -semicolon (;) on the Mac.

You can turn a guide's snappiness on and off by choosing View Snap To Guides. You can also press Ctrl+Shift+semicolon (z -Shift-semicolon on the Mac). Again, this shortcut affects the snappiness of everything, including the grid, the perimeter of the image, and Web slices.

TipTo turn off the snappiness in the middle of a brushstroke or layer move- ment, press Ctrl (Win) or z (Mac) in mid-drag. Release Ctrl or z to return to snappy land.

As with all image elements in Photoshop, you can move a guide with the move tool. If some other tool is active, Ctrl-dragging (Win) or z -dragging (Mac) also works.

To lock all guides so you can't accidentally move them while you're trying to Ctrl-drag or z -drag something else, press Ctrl+Alt+semicolon (z -Option- semicolon on the Mac) or choose View Lock Guides. Press Ctrl+Alt+semicolon again to unlock all guides.

TipWhen moving a guide, press Shift to snap the guide to the nearest ruler tick mark.

To convert a horizontal guide to a vertical guide or vice versa, press Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) while moving the guide.

If you rotate your document in exact multiples of 90 degrees or flip the image horizontally or vertically, your guides also rotate unless they are locked.

TipYou can position a guide outside the image if you want. To do so, make the image window larger than the image. Now you can drag a guide into the empty canvas surrounding the image. You can then snap a layer or selection into alignment with the guide.

To edit the color of the guides, Ctrl-double-click (Win) or z -double-click (Mac) a guide to display the Guides, Grid & Slices panel of the Preferences dialog box. You can also change the guides from solid lines to dashed. (This is only for screen purposes, by the way. Guides don't print.)

On the Mac, guides are saved with any file format. But on the PC, the only formats that let you save guides are Photoshop (PSD), JPEG, TIFF, PDF, and EPS.

If you don't need your guides anymore, choose View Clear Guides to delete them all in one housekeeping operation. I wish I had a command like this built into my office — I'd choose Maid Clear Dust and be done with it.

Automatic alignment and distribution

Photoshop lets you align and distribute layers by choosing commands from the Layer Align Linked or Distribute Linked submenus. The commands are straightforward — and familiar if you've ever used a drawing or page-layout program — but applying them is a little unusual. The following steps show you how to align two or more layers.

STEPS: Aligning Layers

Select the layer that will serve as the anchor. Whenever you align layers, one layer remains still and the others align to it. The active layer is the one that remains still.

Link the layers that you want to align. Click in front of the layers you want to align to display the link icon. (And be sure to unlink any layers you don't want to align.) You have to link at least two layers — after all, there's no point in aligning a layer to itself.

Choose a command from the Layer Align Linked submenu. If you don't like the result, press Ctrl+Z (z -Z on the Mac) and try a different command.

The Distribute Linked commands space linked layers evenly. So it doesn't matter which of the linked layers is selected — the command distributes all linked layers with respect to the two horizontal or vertical extremes. Naturally, it's meaningless to space one or two layers, so the Distribute Linked commands require three or more layers to be linked. And there is no such thing as Distribute to Selection.

Setting up the grid

Photoshop offers a grid, which is a regular series of snapping increments. You view the grid — and turn it on — by choosing View Show Grid. Turn the snapping forces of the grid on and off by choosing View Snap To Grid.

You edit the grid in the Guides, Grid & Slices panel of the Preferences dialog box, which you can get to by pressing Ctrl+K and then Ctrl+6 (z -K and then z -6 on the Mac) or by Ctrl-double-clicking (Win) or z -double-clicking (Mac) on a guide. I explain how to use these options in the "Guides, Grid & Slices" section of Chapter 2. But for the record, you enter the major grid increments in the Gridline Every option box and enter the minor increments in the Subdivisions option box. For example, in Figure 12-29, I set the Gridline Every value to 50 pixels and the Subdivisions value to 5. This means a moved layer will snap in 10-pixel (50 pixels divided by 5) increments. Figure 12-29 also demonstrates each of the three Style settings.

Figure 12-29: Here are the three styles of grid with the Grid Preferences options shown at the bottom.

Using the measure tool

The final method for controlling movements in Photoshop is the measure tool. Alt-click (Win) or Option-click (Mac) the eyedropper tool a couple of times to select the measure tool. Then drag from one point to another point in the image window. Photoshop itemizes the distance and angle between the two points in the Info palette. The measure tool is even smart enough to automatically display the Info palette if it's hidden.

From that point on, any time you select the measure tool, Photoshop displays the original measurement line. This way, you can measure a distance, edit the image, and press I (or Shift+I) to refer back to the measurement.

To measure the distance and angle between two other points, you can draw a new line with the measure tool. Or drag the endpoints of the existing measurement line.

Photoshop accommodates only one measurement line per document. But you can break the line in two using what Adobe calls the "protractor" feature. Alt-drag (Win) or Option-drag (Mac) on one of the endpoints to draw forth a second segment. The Info palette then measures the angle between the two segments. As demonstrated in Figure 12-30, the D1 item in the Info palette lists the length of the first segment, D2 lists the length of the second segment, and A tells the angle between the segments.

Figure 12-30: Here I measured the angle of the key, and then Alt-dragged (Option-dragged on the Mac) from the top endpoint to measure the angle between the key and lock.