I've been thinking about this for a while now.

 

 

 

There are alot of threads from beginners asking for help with Photoshop.

 

 

 

So I thought I'd set up a sort of 'help desk' for anyone wanting help with Photoshop or it's tools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'm no expert but I have been using Photoshop for about three and a half years now, so what I don't know probably won't crop up anywhere, and others will surely help if I can't.

 

 

 

I have Photoshop CS2 myself, and have worked with 6 and 7 for a little while,. so I know the workings of those two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please don't hesitate to ask anything at all, whether you're a complete beginner or a relatively experienced veteran.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to ask about tools, methods, files, anything to do with hosting or outside influences or even ideas of what to make given your experience.

 

 

 

I will always be here to help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please post as many pictures as you can when you propose a problem. If I/we can see the actual interface it is alot easier than guessing blindly.

 

 

 

Try and give details on the problem as much as possible, and if you want to show us the end result (if there is one) that would be awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Pryo

Well ok, here's my question.. I've been trying to cut out a of a background nicely, but it won't work, they always look crappy :-X when I cut them, really blocky and such :s Do you know a way to do it without making it look like crap?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also I'd like to ask how to blend a picture good into a sig (abstract/grunge).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance :D

well for the first question, you can use this method:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

select the layer with the picture on it, and go to

 

 

 

filter --> extract

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then draw a line around the edge of the image, using the paintbrush tool in the window that comes up

 

 

 

depending on your picture, use a different size brush, but most pictures you can just use a 10-30 pixel size brush

 

 

 

keep the edge roughly in the middle as you go round the edge of the picture

 

 

 

then when you are done, click the fill tool and fill in the enclosed space/s with that colour, make sure when you painted the edges there are no gaps (edges dont count)

 

 

 

then click OK and photoshop will have roughly selected what you want to keep

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then use the history brush to fill back in anything that was cropped out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that covers the first question, but the second takes a little longer to explain, so ill have to do that tomorrow

 

 

 

if anyone else wants a go they can try help

I've noticed people with funky font. How do I make this font? I know how to draw on font with paint brushes, but I don't know how to actually create funky font.

I just recently got CS2 I like it but I was wondering If you could mabye make a list of all the hotkey's you know of, It would be real helpful to me, BTW I love the idea of this thread, But An idea is on the orginal topic put some of the more helpfull and detailed answers in their own little quote box on the original post so people won't keep posting the same questions later on, so like just make a little FAQ section that you keep editing, and you could put a list of hotkey's up there too i'm sure they would be helpful to alot of ppl :thumbsup:

good idea qwality, ill do that later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

here are some hotkeys that come to mind, ill add some later as i think of them

 

 

 

if you look, most commands show you the hotkeys next to them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D reverts your colour pallete back to black and white

 

 

 

X reverses the colours from front to back

 

 

 

[ decreases the paintbrush diameter by (10 if it is above 10, and 1 if it is below 10)

 

 

 

] increases the diameter, the same rules apply but in reverse, of course

 

 

 

ctrl+alt+z is undo

 

 

 

ctrl+e merges all the layers together

 

 

 

thats all i can remember atm, those are the useful ones for the moment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've noticed people with funky font. How do I make this font? I know how to draw on font with paint brushes, but I don't know how to actually create funky font.

 

 

 

you need a specialist program for that i think, photoshop doesnt handle vectors

One last question. I have a cityscape, like a skyscraper scape at nighttime with all the lights on. I want to turn all the lights off, and make it so I can turn them on and off at will, and if possible, program it to turn on certain ones first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is there a thing in Photoshop that will allow you to do this? Perhaps something that turns all the yellow, white, and monochromes to black? And will eliminate the reflections and shading of the light on the buildings?

It's possible to get two separate images like that, but photoshop wont animate them or use any kind of macro to do that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ill find out more about the imaging part of it though

This is probably a real stupid question, but I have only just purchased photoshop, and was wondering if there was anyway to cut down on file size? Thanks!

This is probably a real stupid question, but I have only just purchased photoshop, and was wondering if there was anyway to cut down on file size? Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

File>Save for Web

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to adjust the file size on this window

 

 

 

also, see that ickle button with the triangle in it, next to the 'unnamed' drop menu?

 

 

 

hit that and you can specify the file size you want, instead of fiddling around with the knobs to get the correct size

Ah ha! Thank you very much!!

its what im here for \

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and to that question about eh skyscraper image-

 

 

 

after messing about for a short while, i discovered there is no real easy solution to this problem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you would either have to turn off each light individually etc, there isnt really a filter you can just apply

its what im here for \

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking all the credit? =P

It's what we're here for \

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<3

Ok, I'll ditch the cityscape idea, but I have one last question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do I create blue prints? Like actual blue prints, because I've seen companies make them before using Photoshop.

Ok, I'll ditch the cityscape idea, but I have one last question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do I create blue prints? Like actual blue prints, because I've seen companies make them before using Photoshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.escrappers.com/blueprint.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best you'll get. I highly doubt someone made blue prints in photoshop.

nah i reckon its possible, that tutorial does look pretty realistic though...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

using some filters i reckon we could get close

alrite i can help too

 

 

 

and about the keys heres wat i remember ( and use )

 

 

 

Ok, one more question. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you make space art using PS?

well you'd need a proper tutorial for that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but basically you need some star brushes, get them from deviantart or you can make your own,

 

 

 

also if you make a circle selection and fill with a surface texture, use the spherize filter and light source one to get a nice planet effect