PS-37: How to Quickly Nudge a Heavy Group

Everybody goes through this frustration of trying to move a heavy bunch of layers and all of a sudden the software freezes. Here's a fast and quick method to move the layers or groups to the exact location without using multiple movements.

You can download the work file if you do not have any document to work with.

Workfile >> Nudge_a_Group.zip

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01. There are more than 600 boxes to mimic a heavy layers and all are created with shape layers. Four boxes are for reference. If i have use the arrow key on the keyboard to nudge the 'Boxes' group it will take couple of sec to just go to the next pixel.

If you have downloaded the work file you can try it by yourself.

(fig 1.0)

02. Let's say we need to move the boxes to the top left of the reference box. Using the move tool, we cannot able to align properly, because of the heavy layers.

(fig 2.0)

03. In order to move the boxes to the correction location, use the box guide. Select the reference box layer. Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail or Go to Select > Load Selection..., in the Load Selection box, click OK to activate the running ants.

Now select the 'Boxes' group. Click the Top and the Left alignment button in the option bar. You can see the boxes move to the exact position (fig 3.0 - 2).

(fig 3.0)

04. You can try moving the boxes to the other reference locations by using the same selection method.

What if we need to move the box back to the center?

(fig 3.1)

05. Since we do not have any reference box, we can use the Rectangle marquee tool. Select the Rectangle marquee tool and create a simple box (doesn't have to be perfect), make sure the top and the left are aligned with the grid because you need two reference points.

Use the same alignment to move the box. The alignment is based on the selection, so use the top and left.

(fig 4.0)

06. Use a some layer or element as a guide and move your groups, if you do not have any layer or guide create a simple box. This method is much faster than using the move tool, especially if you have many of layers. It also works on larger documents with heavy layers.

Another alternative method is converting the layers to Smart object, this will also move the layers faster.

PS-36: How to Move the Mask without moving the layer

When you create a mask for the layer, the link will be automatically creates between the layer and mask. Sometimes we need to move the mask around without moving the layer and how do we do that?

Also moving the mask is different between layer mask and vector mask. we will look at both in this tutorial.

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01. Here we have a simple rectangle (with grids) with circular mask applied. To see the full rectangle i have reduced the density for the mask to 50 percent, the border is just for reference.

(fig 1.0)

02.When you select the layer (by clicking on the empty space) it will select the layer thumbnail which is indicated by a square around the thumbnail. If we move the rectangle the circular mask also moves along with it, because of the link created between the two thumbnails in the layers palette.

You can also select the mask (by clicking on the mask thumbnail) thumbnail from the layers palette and move the circular mask; since it is linked, again both moves together.

(fig 1.1)

03. To move them separately, un-link the chain (click on the chain symbol between the thumbnails) and select the mask thumbnail and move. This will move only the mask and the rectangle stays in one place. Once you made the adjustment, re-link the chain back (clicking between the thumbnail space again).

(fig 2.0)

04. Here i have a same Rectangle grid with a shape layer applied as a mask.

(I have deleted the layer mask and added the vector mask, if you do not delete the layer mask, you will see two masks side by side.)

(fig 3.0)

05. If we unlink the chain and select the mask thumbnail (notice the layer thumbnail is still active) and moving the mask will again move both together.

When it comes to Vector mask, the link does not matter. But how do we move only the mask and not the rectangle?

(fig 3.1)

06. When you have a shape layer as a mask, you cannot move the mask with the 'Move tool,' you have to use the Path Selection tool. Even if the link is active or deactive, you can move the path individually.

(fig 4.0)

07. Make sure to re-link the mask with the layer once you are done, because the link does not matter if you have the Path selection tool; once you switch to move tool, the link matters.

(fig 4.1)

PS-35 - How to create a Perfect Guides

Creating grid is very easy inside photoshop and there are two method to do that. One is entering the value in the popup window and another is manually. I'll explain both method here.

Guides will come in handy, in fact if you want to create a Print bleeds inside photoshop , you need to create guide first.

To Create Print Bleed inside photoshop, check this tutorial Tutorial 34 - How to create a Print bleed for your canvas

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01. Here's a simple document 8 x 10 (reduced by 50 percent). First lets create the grid with the value method, then we will see the manual method.

(fig 1.0)

02. Go to View menu and select 'New Guide...' and on the New Guide window, do not enter any value, just leave it to 0px and click OK. Repeat this step again for the other orientation.

This will creates a guide on top and left of the canvas. It does not matter even if you move the ruler. If you don't know what i am talking about, Check this tutorial Tutorial 25 - Adjusting the Scale position

(fig 2.0)

03. To create the guide on the other sides, Go to the New Guide window and enter the dimension of your canvas in the vertical and horizontal position.

Here's the thing, if you get confused between which one is width and which one is height. Remember, Vertical is for width and Horizontal is for height. You can remember 'H' in Horizontal for 'H' in height.

(fig 3.0)

04. If you prefer the manual method, just turn on the 'Snap' from the View menu, this will snap the guide to the edge of the canvas when you drag from the ruler and move closer to the edge.

(fig 4.0)

PS-34 - Creating a Print bleed to your canvas

Creating a print bleeds is something which the web designers or other web user won't use much, but when we need to print something with a proper printing guidelines then we will be wondering how to get it done.

It's the easiest thing you can do inside Photoshop. This will work on all your documents but for the sake of this tutorial i'll create from a new document.

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01. I'll create a new Wallet size document, which is 2x3 inches with 300dpi.

(fig 1.0)

02. If your ruler is in pixels, change to inches. Not that it matters, but it is a good practice when working with print documents.

Drag and drop the Guide to all four edges. The guide is the original document size, and whatever space outside the guide (after we extend the document) is the bleed.

To create a Perfect Guides, check this tutorial Tutorial 35 - How to create a Perfect guides

(fig 2.0)

03. Now go to Image menu and select 'Canvas Size.' In the Canvas size window add the bleed to the existing width and height. I'll add .25 to the width and height of my document. Leave other options as it is.

If your document ruler is set to inches, the Width and Height will show you in inches automatically, if not you have to manually use the dropdown to change from pixel to inches.

(fig 3.0)

04. Click OK on the Canvas size window to extend your document.

(fig 4.0)

05. If the foreground and the background color is set to default (foreground to black and background to white), after you extend the document the bleed area will be in white (background color)

If you want the bleed area to be in different color, then use the Canvas extension color dropdown in the Canvas size window. You can also click on the Color well (small box next to the dropdown) to open the Color picker window.

Note, the canvas extension color will change the color only to the extended area (outside the guide) and does not affect the original document background (inside the guide)

(fig 5.0)

PS-33 - Display Font names in English

By default Photoshop displays non-Roman font names in their own language, you can show them in Roman-names.

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01. If you open the font list and you go to the bottom, you might see like this. non-Roman font names

(If your font size is smaller than the one i have here - Go to Type (menu) > Font Preview Size > Large)

(fig 1.0)

02. Go to Edit > Preferences > Type and Turn On the the 'Show Font Names in English'

(fig 2.0)

03. You don't need to re-open Photoshop. Now you scroll down the list, you should able to see all the names in english.

(fig 3.0)

PS-32 - Applying the Original Color to the Color Overlay Quickly

Sometimes when you are not sure what color you need to apply and you want to see before you finalize it, you can use the Color Overlay option from the Layers Style.

But how do you pick the original layer color to the Color Overlay quickly?

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01. Here i have a stripe on a red background. The stripe colors are orange, which is the original color.
What i need here is to apply the same orange color through Color Overlay. Because it is easy to control the color through color overlay.

(fig 1.0)

02. When i 'Turn On' the Color Overlay, you can see the default color on the current layer (The white is my default color, you might have different one).

Technically it hasn't applied to the layer, notice the layer in the layers palette

(fig 2.0)

03. To change the default Color Overlay color to the original Orange (the stripe) color, i could pick the color from the foreground color well. But what if for some reason the foreground color has some different color.

What is the other method?

(fig 3.0)

04. Even thought the stripe color is white (based on the Color Overlay) i can still pick the color directly from the stripe using the eyedropper. It will change my Color Overlay to the Original layer color, which is Orange.

How does it work?

(fig 4.0)

05. Like i said earlier, technically the color is not applied to the layer. If you see on the right hand side you can see the Preview checkbox, turning off will reveal the original stripe color. Since it is a preview that is visible on the layer, you can still pick the color without turning off.

(fig 5.0)

06. Remember, when applying the Color Overlay for the 1st time, the layer is clean. So we can able to pick the orange color.

But picking the color for the second time on the same layer will not work.

(fig 6.0)

07. If you 'Group' the Stripe layer and apply color overlay, even though it is the 1st time for the group, it will pick the existing color that has been applied to the Stripe layer, which is white.

PS-31 - Keyboard shortcut to add Vector Mask directly to the layer

Masking is wonderful when it comes to photoshop. Being able to access the tools quickly is more important and also speed up your workflow. Here's a small tutorial on how to add Vector mask directly to the layer.

This is a small part from the Masking. There is so much to cover in Masking so I'll make separate tutorials or Essentials to cover everything about 'Masking in Photoshop'. This is not that tutorial.

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01. If we click the mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette, by default the first mask that is added to the selected layer is Layer Mask.

Did you know you can also add the Mask from the layer's menu. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.

(fig 1.0)

02. Clicking the mask icon again will add a Vector Mask to the same layer. The Vector mask will be next to the Layer Mask.

Once you have added two masks, the mask icon will be disabled.

(fig 2.0)

03. You can also add a Vector Mask from the Properties panel.

And also you can add from the layer menu. Go to Layer > Vector Mask > Reveal all

(fig 2.1)

04. Keep in mind that the 'Mask Property' (or mask options) will visible in the properties panel only if you have any one of the mask in the layers palette. If you just select the layer and open the properties panel, it will be empty.

(fig 3.0)

05. If you want to apply Vector Mask without adding layer mask to the layer is to hold the 'Ctrl' on the keyboard and click the mask icon.
This will applies the Vector mask first. You can also go to Layer > Vector Mask > Reveal all.

(To see which mask you have applied, open the properties panel.)

Windows / Mac Keyboard set

(fig 4.0)

06. Layer mask can be applied to both Normal layer and a Shape layer
Vector mask can only be applied to the Normal layer and not Shape layer

(When working with Shape layer, the layer elements act as a mask by changing the Path Operations from the Shape options tool bar)

Layer/Group	Layer Mask	Vector Mask
Normal Layer	Yes	Yes
Shape Layer	Yes	N/A
Smart Object	Yes	Yes
Group	Yes	Yes

PS-30 - Fixing the Text Alignment position Quickly

How many times you created a text and realized that you need to change the alignment, to do so the whole position changes and you have to re-align it again. Well here's a quick tip to fix that.

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01. When you create a text, by default it will be a Point type. The flow of the text is based on the alignment you set in the option bar. If you change the alignment after you created the text, you will see the alignment shifts.

When you are in the edit mode, you can see the dot in the baseline (fig 1.0 - 2) which is the starting position of the text. Notice the dot stays in the same place and only the text direction changes.

(fig 1.0)

02. Before you change to different alignment, Convert the text from Point to Paragraph by going to Type Menu > Convert to Paragraph Text or right-click on the text and select from the Contextual menu.

Notice the text placement from Point to Paragraph is exactly the same after we converted.

(fig 2.0)

03. Make sure your text is not in the edit mode when you use the contextual menu. Both Edit and the Normal mode will reveal the contextual menu, but the options are different.

Normal mode is where your text layer is selected in the layers palette and you right-click on the text to reveal the menu.

(fig 3.0)

04. Notice how little the alignment position changes in the Paragraph Text. Once you are done with the alignment, Convert it back to Point Text from the Type menu or from the Context menu.

The point text is not constrained with anything (fig 4.0 - 3) , so if you keep on typing without moving to the next line, the text goes out of the canvas. But with paragraph, everything stays inside the box.

To learn more about Point Text and Paragraph Text and other Text options, Go here >> Photoshop Essentials

(fig 4.0)

05. You can download this action file to make things faster. This action is created from this tutorial. You can create your own if you don't want to download this.
It's just my way of working. Basically it saves time going to the type menu converting and changing the alignment and converting again. Instead the action will takes care of everything.

// Photoshop Action >> beekeeper_text-alignment-position.zip

The action includes

• Convert Point > Paragraph
• Convert Paragraph > Point
• Left alignment
• Right alignment
• Center alignment

'Convert Point > Paragraph' and 'Convert Paragraph > Point' are pretty straight forward. It does what it says

If you want to change the alignment after you created the Point text, then use one of these Left alignment or Right alignment or Center alignment. This will Convert Point text to Paragraph, change the alignment and Convert it back to point text.

(fig 5.0)