ACDSee Photo Organizer 10 - Brushes Update

Back in August I wrote about Organizing With ACDSee because I am such a fan of this program! The best time to start using this program is when you get started with digital scrapbooking because you have less supplies to organize at that time. As you all will know, it doesn't take long to collect and/or buy digital scrapbooking goodies once you start!

I recently updated to ACDSee 10 which gave me some great new features:

• bigger previews
• pop-up previews
• being able to unzip my downloads right in ACDSee
• a calendar view that lets me view my photos by date (you CAN use ACDSee for more than just your digital scrapbooking supplies!)
• upload to selected online photo storage sites

Now, ACDSee has provided a free update to version 10 which allows you to . . . drum roll, please . . . work with your brush files from editing programs like Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro!

As a lot of you have found out, brushes can be used much like "stamps" for digital scrapbooking and it is easy to build up a collection of them but when it comes time to choose and load them, the name of the brush set doesn't always give you a clear picture of what is inside the file. Of course, previewing the file doesn't help much as you can see from this screen shot:

 

 

Now, though, not only can you view the brush set but you can view the individual files within the brush set! That's great to start with but there's more!

You can now install those brushes into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements from within ACDSee! In addition, you can organize your brushes just like your other supplies, grouping them into categories for brushes like the following:

• grunge
• word art
• Christmas
• flowers

You may also create a Contact Sheet showing all the brushes contained within the brush set and add this to your organization system.

What are you waiting for? If you want to see this update in action, check out the video on Digiscrapinfo.com. If you already have ACDSee 10, you can get this update. If you haven't yet updated, you can get in on their holiday specials by buying the program with a buddy. (Scroll down to the third deal for $59.99.)

Now . . .

 

Go get this deal!

All Talk and No Action?

One of the major differences between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is the ability to create actions. Actions are like one-button shortcuts for a repetitive, multi-step task. Actions do things like create torn edges, create ribbons, create photo effects . . . almost anything you can think of can be done with an action!

Photoshop Elements users, to a certain extent, also have the ability to use actions but they will be found in the Styles and Effects palette. Elements users do not have the ability to create their own actions.

For those designers using Photoshop who wish to create actions that are useable by Photoshop Elements owners, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Actions cannot call another action.
2. Action sets may only contain a single action.
3. Some Photoshop functions and modes are simply not available in Elements and actions which contain these will not work in Elements.

Additional steps must be taken to prepare an action for use in Photoshop Elements. For further information on this, visit Sue Chastain at About.com: Graphics Software.

Monitor Your Layouts by Measuring Your Monitor

As designers, we are frequently reminded to check our work at 100% zoom. This is to be sure that we leave no stray pixels on our designs. Also, working at 100% helps in erasing or masking difficult areas.

As a digital scrapbooker, however, I would encourage you not to rely on 100% zoom to check your layouts. You may have noticed that when you use 100% zoom, your layout is HUGE! You can only see a small section at a time at this zoom percentage. Relying on this will not give you the true look of your layout when it has been printed. That's how you and others will be viewing it, right?

The correct way to view your layout as it will look after it's printed is to click on the Print Size button on the Options Bar while the Zoom Tool is selected. (Photoshop and Photoshop Elements) However, to be sure your view is accurate, you must do some advance preparation.

First, measure the width of your screen in inches. Second, determine the resolution that you are using. (Do this by right clicking on the desktop, choosing Properties, and then choosing the Settings tab. Note the Screen resolution given for your monitor. Third, divide the width into the resolution and round to the nearest whole number. Fourth, in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements choose Edit, Preferences, Units and Rulers. In the New Document Preset Resolutions, set your Screen Resolution to the whole number you got at pixels/inch. Lastly, restart Photoshop/Photoshop Elements to use your new settings. If you take a ruler and measure an inch when you have your own rulers turned on, you should see that the measurement is now accurate.

Examples:

The width of my main monitor is 14.25 inches. My screen resolution is set to 1600 x 1200.

1600 divided by 14.25 = 112.28070175438596491228070175439

112.28070175438596491228070175439 rounded to the nearest whole number is 112.

112 is the setting I use in my Preferences.

The width of my secondary monitor is 13.25 inches. My screen resolution is set to 1280 x 1024.

1280 divided by 13.25 = 96.603773584905660377358490566038

96.603773584905660377358490566038 rounded to the nearest whole number is 97.

97 is the setting I use in my Preferences.

The width of my laptop monitor is 13 inches. My screen resolution is set to 1280 x 800.

1280 divided by 13 = 98.461538461538461538461538461538

98.461538461538461538461538461538 rounded to the nearest whole number is 98.

98 is the setting I use in my Preferences.

Using this strategy, you will have better success in judging what textured papers will look like once they have been printed. For more help with textures, read my previous articles, Adding Texture to Your Layouts and Using Patterns to Add Texture. Try using these settings and see if you get a more accurate view of your layouts. Leave me a comment below as to how you made out with this strategy!

Scrapbooking Shortcuts for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

I use a number of keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop (PS) and Photoshop Elements (PE) to help me work faster and more efficiently. I hate having to dig through menus to find a command when I can execute it easily with a couple of keys!

Tonight, I have prepared my list of favorite shortcuts - the ones that I find useful and use frequently. I do not use ALL the shortcuts that are available for PS or PE - I draw the line at having to stand on my head while holding down five or more different keys at the same time, using various parts of my body, in order to execute a command! There is only one shortcut that I will list here that uses four keys at the same time but the shortcut is so useful to me and I use it so frequently that my dexterity has improved considerably since I began using it!

It is my hope that you will try out some of the keyboard shortcuts on my list and find the ones that work the best for you. Once you have those ones memorized, you can always add more shortcuts to your scrapbooking arsenal, a few at a time.

Control+A . . . selects all of a layer or all of text that you are editing at the time

Control+C . . . copy a selection of text or something that is selected with a marquee of some sort

Control+D . . . deselect

Control+E . . . select layers and then you can merge them together or if you are on a layer and choose this shortcut, you will merge down to the next layer

Control+I . . . this will invert colors on your current layer (black will become white, colors will change to their complementary colors)

Control+J . . . this is a BIG favorite of mine! This will duplicate the current layer or duplicate the current selection to a new layer. MUCH faster than right clicking and choosing duplicate.

Control+N . . . brings up the Create New Document dialog box

Control+T . . . Free Transform (thus the "T") and from here, I can right click to choose Distort, Skew, etc.

Control+V . . . pastes - this will be pasted onto a new layer so you don't have to create one first

Control+X . . . cuts the current selection

Control+V . . . temporarily lets you switch to the Move Tool from a different tool

Control+Z . . . backup one step (PS) or multiple steps if you repeat it in PE

Alt+Backspace . . . fills the current layer or selection with the foreground color

Control+Backspace . . . fills the current layer or selection with the background color

Control+Shift+I . . . this will inverse a selection

[ . . . using this square bracket key allows you to make your paint brush smaller

] . . . makes the paint brush bigger

D . . . using this letter will reset your color swatches to the default colors of black and white

X . . . swaps the foreground and background colors, whatever they may be

V . . . switches to the Move Tool


Now for my ultimate favorite shortcut . . . drum roll, please! . . .


Control+Alt+Shift+E . . . in PS, select your top most visible layer and this shortcut will merge all visible layers/effects to a new layer while leaving the existing layers intact. To execute this tricky shortcut, I use my ring finger on the Control key, middle finger on Shift, pointer finger on Alt and use my right hand to add the E. In PE, you will need to create the layer first.

One more set of shortcuts that is a life saver and works in both PS and PE is to easily center something on a layer (especially crucial to PE since there are no guidelines to use) . . .

1. Control+A to select the entire layer.
2. Control+X to cut the entire layer.
3. Control+V to paste it back again. It will be exactly in the center of your document!

(Special note: This will NOT work with shapes - the layer must be rasterized first.)


I am sure there are other invaluable shortcuts that you have found to be useful. If you would like to leave me a suggestion for a useful shortcut, I will add it to the list here!