Adobe Photoshop CS4 & Illustrator CS4 FAQ

[Pet]

Adobe Photoshop CS4™ FAQ



Installing Fonts

Windows - Drag your downloaded font to c:\Windows\Fonts, or go to Control Panel and double click on Fonts. Windows will then install the font for you.

Mac - Simple double click the font and it will be installed into your font book.

If you had Photoshop open, simply close it, and re-open and you will be able to use the new font.


Making Patterns

Whether it be for scan lines, or victorian style wallpaper patterns, once you made the repeating pattern that you want to use through the patterns menu, go Edit - Define Pattern. Give it a name, and it is ready for use.

Tip - To make a custom brush, you use the same as above, just use Edit - Define Brush Preset instead.



Adobe Illustrator CS4™ FAQ



Grids, Guides, Smart Guides

Grids - To view a grid over the background, go View - Show Grid. If you want your drawing to snap to the grid, turn on snap to grid via View - Snap to Grid.

Guides - If you have to ruler showing, you simple click on either the left ruler, or top ruler and drag it onto your canvas were you want your guide to be. It will show up as a cyan line that your drawing will snap too, this way you get nice strait lines. This feature can be visible or hidden in View - Guides menu.

Smart Guides - With this feature on, you will get the same effect as with guides, without having to having hundreds of guides up. It will snap to the corners of the document, other lines and points you have drawn.


Pathfinder

Unite - When you have a lot of shapes you want to merge into 1 shape, you can use this tool. If none of the shapes intersect eachother, this will simply make them all into a group. To merge all the shapes into 1, hold down alt (windows) option (mac) as you press the unite button and it will make it all 1 shape, or 1 compound shape.

Minus Front - If you have a shape, and you want to take out a small portion of it, draw out the portion you want removed, and highlight them both, click minus front,and it will take the shape behind and subtract the shape in front.

Intersect - If you have 2 shapes, and you just want the part were they intersect showing, you will use this tool.

Extrude - This is the reverse of intersect, it will remove the part were they intersect and show the rest.

When you have a picture and you want to submit it to be printed on canvas, or on t-shirts, these tools will be very useful. You can combine all of 1 color into 1 shape, that way it is easier for the company to printed it.


Blend

If you have seen the old Mac wallpapers with the waves that neatly blend together, this is a simple way to do that. Draw out 2 lines (try to make them have the same amount of Anchor Points. Select both lines, and go Object - Blend - Blend Options. I would use align to path, that way the lines are smoother looking, and have a better flow. If you have it as smoother color, it will just add lines to graduate from 1 color to the other, this option often leaves a lot of white spaces. If you select specific steps, and set it really high, it can completely fill the gap. After you have picked the settings you like, go Object - Blend - Make, and it will do all the or for you.

[KidBuu]

nice, i can use the pathfinder tip