PreferencesPreferences in Photoshop are used to further customize the Photoshop workspace and how it behaves. To access Preferences select Edit/Preferences. The Preferences dialog box appears. Preferences are divided into 8 categories. At this point, some of the Preferences may not be clear to you because they relate to concepts covered later in the book. At this point, we’ll briefly discuss a few of the more important settings.
Customize or change your Preferences by selecting the Preference type from the drop-down menu. Photoshop currently has a number of preferences unrelated to web development that we will not explore. What follows is a list of Photoshop’s preferences and recommendations to optimize Photoshop for web development. We begin with Units & Rulers to ensure that you use pixels rather than inches as your standard unit of measurement. You may want to return to the other Preferences settings as you proceed through the material. Until you familiarize yourself with Photoshop’s environment and some of it functions and features, the purpose of some of the Preferences might not be readily apparent. Feel free to proceed to the next chapter.
Preferences - Units & Rulers
UnitsSelect Pixels . Pixels are the recommended measurement as they are the standard unit for web site development. Other options relate to images created for Print.
Column SizeColumn Size and Point/Pica Size control Font attributes. Leave them at the default settings.
Point/Pica SizePoint/Pica Size is Print related settings. Leave it a default, Postscript (72 points/inch).
Preferences – GeneralGeneral Preferences include Color Picker , Interpolation, and Options .Color PickerColor Picker is set to Adobe at default. You can set it to Windows (on Windows based systems) but this limits Photoshop ’s control of color. Keep it at default.
InterpolationInterpolation calculates intermediate values when translating or changing image resolution and dimensions. Keep it at Bicubic.
History StatesChoose a number between 1 and 100 to increase or decrease the number ofHistory State s that Photoshop will commit to memory. Keep in mind that the more History States you allow the higher the demand on your computer’s memory and processing power. Stick with the default for now. We’ll be discussing the History Palette later in the manual.
Preferences - Saving Files
Image PreviewsTo save previews or thumbnails of your images select Always Save in theImage Previews drop-down menu. You will see these thumbnails when you open and {Single-Click} images stored in a directory using Photoshop ’s Open command. To save disk space select Never Save. Select Ask When Saving if you want Photoshop to ask if you desire a thumbnail or not whenever you save an image.
File ExtensionSelect Use Lower Case to force Photoshop to save files with lower case file type extensions. Lower case extensions have become the de-facto standard and are recommended. UNIX servers are case sensitive so a consistent character-case, upper or lower is important to maintain when using your images for the Internet.
File CompatibilityCheck Maximize backwards compatibility in Photoshop format under File Compatibility to ensure programs or applications that don’t support Photoshop’s Layers can load the image. Uncheck to create a smaller file.
Preferences - Display and Cursors
Painting CursorsSelect Standard, Precise or Brush Size . Standard displays an icon of the tool, such as the Paint Brush when you paint on the image. Precisedisplays a cross hair and Brush Size represents the size and shape of the brush. We recommend selecting Brush Size so you can see the area and size your brush will be covering.
Other CursorsSelect Standard or Precise. Standard displays an icon of the tool, such as the Eye Dropper, and Precise displays a cross hair. For increased accuracy in editing, we recommend selecting Precise.
Preferences - Plug-Ins & Scratch DisksPlug-Ins are extra features that extend Photoshop ’s capabilities. Filters , for instance are actually Plug-Ins that can be added and removed.
Plug-Ins FolderBy default, Plug-Ins are stored under the Photoshop \Plug-Ins directory. To change the path select Choose and enter the new path. However, we recommend you keep the path at default.
Scratch DisksScratch Disks are areas of your hard drive Photoshop uses for memory when physical memory (your RAM) is full. An image in Photoshop takes approximately 3-5 times its file size. For instance, if your file takes up 10 Megabytes on your hard drive, Photoshop requires approximately 40 Megabytes of RAM when working with it. As you work on multiple images RAM requirements increase and Photoshop will begin to use your hard drive for virtual (rather than physical) RAM. It is recommended that free space on your hard drive for the Scratch Disk equals at least the amount of physical RAM in your system. If you have 128 Megabytes of RAM for instance, you should have at least 128 Megabytes of storage space on your hard drive for the Scratch Disk. The greater the RAM and free space the better Photoshop performs. If you have more than one hard drive, we recommend installing Photoshop on one and designating your Scratch Diskspace on another. Photoshop can have up to four Scratch Disks. To designate what hard drive will act as your Scratch Disk select the drive letter or volume from the drop down list. By default, Photoshop uses yourStartup hard drive.
Preferences - Memory & Image Cache
Cache SettingsThe Cache is an area of memory Photoshop uses to store low-resolution versions of your images to help with screen updates or refreshes. Recall that typical computer monitors can display no more than 72 ppi. If you are working on an image with a high ppi setting Photoshop makes all the editing and modifications in the selected resolution, but does not need to use the higher ppi to display your image on screen. For web development, you will be working in 72 ppi but we recommend you keep the Cache settings at default. The Cache Level ranges from 1 – 8, the higher the setting the larger the Cache. If you are running out of memory, you might want to decrease the Cache value.
Physical Memory UsagePhysical Memory Usage is a setting unique to Photoshop on the Windows platform. By default, the amount of physical RAM designated for use by Photoshop is 50%. If you are editing many images simultaneously, you may want to increase memory use so that Photoshop does not use theScratch Disk as much. Physical RAM is much faster than the Scratch Disk’svirtual memory. To modify the amount of RAM designated to Photoshop{Click} the drop-down arrow and move the Slider back and forth to increase or decrease RAM use. We recommend keeping the RAM level at default. If you do need to increase the amount, do not increase it to more than 70%. The actual memory used by Photoshop is displayed besidePhotoshop RAM.
ImageReadyImageReady is Photoshop ’s web-specific companion Program. You can launch ImageReady by {Clicking} the “Jump to Default Graphics Editor” button on the Toolbar from within Photoshop. ImageReady’s workspace, made up of a Toolbox , Menus, and Palettes is very similar to Photoshop’s. There are however important differences. Before covering these differences however, it is important to learn to use Photoshop and learn about Image Fundamentals. ImageReady’s web-specific features are introduced in later chapters.
Photoshop and ImageReady work in tandem. You can edit an image in either application and switch or move to the other. For instance, you can edit an image in Photoshop and switch to ImageReady to prepare it for the Internet. Photoshop will automatically open the image you have been editing in ImageReady. If you need to go back to Photoshop to make some changes using Photoshop’s features the image will move back to Photoshop with all the changes you have made to it in ImageReady intact.
Review Questions
- What are the main areas of the Photoshop workspace?
- How is the Option Bar related to the Toolbox ?
- How do you undock and dock the Palettes?
- Which Menu Item will give you access to Photoshop ’s Preferences ?
- How do you reset your Palette arrangement back to its default setting?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment