GuideGuide: Free Plugin For Dealing With Grids In Photoshop

This article is the fourth in our new series that introduces the latest, useful and freely available tools and techniques, developed and released by active members of the Web design community. The first article covered PrefixFree; the second introduced Foundation, a responsive framework; the third presented Sisyphus.js, a library for Gmail-like client-side drafts. Today we are happy to present Cameron McEfee’s Photoshop extension GuideGuide which provides a tool to create pixel accurate columns, rows, midpoints and baselines.

Take a moment and think about creating a multi-column grid in a Photoshop comp. Have your palms started to sweat? Yes, creating grids in Photoshop is a pain indeed. Some designers just estimate and drag guides arbitrarily onto the stage. Others draw vector shapes, duplicate them to represent columns, then stretch them to fit their design. The hardy few who don’t say things like, “I’m a designer, not a mathematician,” generally use a little math and logic to calculate their grid. If you were to boil that math down, it probably ends up looking something like this:

(siteWidth - (gutterWidth × (numberOfColumns - 1) ) ÷ numberOfColumns = columnWidth

I was sitting at my desk one day doing this exact equation when I thought, “Man, this looks just like code. I wish someone would make a plugin that would do this for me.” Several months and many grids later, it occurred to me that I could probably build the plugin myself.

Enter: GuideGuide

I created GuideGuide for the sole purpose of making one of the most time consuming parts of Photoshop based design as easy as possible. Enter in a few numbers and GuideGuide will draw a grid on your document using Photoshop’s guides. You’ll become drunk with power the first time you watch it happen, I promise. Even better, GuideGuide’s real power is Photoshop’s marquee. If you have an active selection in your Photoshop document, GuideGuide creates the grid you specify within the selection’s boundaries. Anything GuideGuide can do, can be done using either the document or a selection.

Columns and Rows

Designing a site that needs multiple columns and gutters? GuideGuide has your back.

Midpoints

GuideGuide makes finding the midpoint of items within your design a breeze. Simply draw a selection or ⌘ + click (ctrl + click on Windows) to create a selection around the item you want to find the midpoint of. To find its midpoint, click one of the midpoint buttons.

GuideGuide places a guide at the midpoint of the selection. Now you can easily center align elements under the original item.

Save It For Later

If you find yourself frequently using the same grid over and over, you can save it as a set for later use.

The Fun Part

Sure, GuideGuide has its basic rows, columns and midpoints, but with a little creativity it can do a whole lot more.

Measure Navigation

I hate figuring out how wide a navigation element needs to be to evenly fit across the width of a site. Instead, I let GuideGuide do the work for me.

1. Make a selection the width of your site
2. Enter your info, thinking of the columns field as the number of navigation items and the gutter field as the space you want between each item (if you want it).

Element Padding

Want to draw a box around an item but don’t feel like measuring it out exactly?

1. ⌘ + click (ctrl + click on Windows) the item to make a selection around it.
2. Enter a negative margin in one of GuideGuide’s margin fields, and click the icon next to it. GuideGuide will fill that value into all the margin fields.
3. Use the newly placed guides to draw your box.

Baseline Grid

Using GuideGuide’s explicit row height, you can easily create a baseline grid for your design.

1. Enter your desired line height in the row height field.
2. Align your type and other elements to your new baseline grid.

Thoughts?

Do you have an unconventional use for GuideGuide? Post it in the comments of this post. I love hearing the clever and unusual ways people use GuideGuide. Found a bug or have a feature request? If you’d like to request a feature or have found something that is broken, please create an issue on GuideGuide’s support repo over on GitHub.

To download GuideGuide and learn more about some of its hidden features, head on over to guideguide.me. OS X Lion users with CS5 will need to download a patch for Adobe Extension Manager before they will be able to install GuideGuide.

(il)

© Cameron McEfee for Smashing Magazine, 2012.

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When it comes to designing in Photoshop, there is a myriad of ways one could use to achieve a certain result, especially when it comes to photo retouching. Designers use technique they are most confident as well as comfortable with, which is great because it’s always useful to peek into the workflow of our colleagues and learn new design approaches. We have had articles on cloning, compositing, masks and obscure Photoshop time-savers in the past. This article is different.

I’ll be covering some of the useful techniques and tricks which I’ve learned from my experience. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. All images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses. The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering:

• Naturally Increased Light
• Simulate Infrared Images
• Levels
• Color Look With An Adjustment Layer
• Controlling Mid-Tone Contrasts
• Sunset
• Creating Smiles
• Colorful Water Drops
• Skin Color
• Matching Skin Tones
• Reducing Noise
• Retro Look With Curves
• Identifying Layers
• Conserving Resources
• Classy Sepia Look
• Precise Positioning
• Applying Layer Styles Multiple Times

Naturally Increased Light

The light of the sun creates texture. There are shadowy areas and spots where the sunlight can shine without interference. To control the intensity, you can draw more light onto a separate layer or increase already existing light. Create a new layer by going to Layer → New → Layer, or by pressing Shift + Control + N on Windows or Shift + Command + N on a Mac. Set the blending mode to “Color Dodge” and the opacity to about 15%.

Increase light on a separate layer.

Then use the brush tool with a soft brush, and hold the Alt/Option key to pick up colors from the area that you want to brighten. Continue to brush in some light, picking up appropriate colors if the background changes. This way, you increase not only the light, but the saturation, which makes for more realistic results.

The blending mode “Color Dodge” creates realistic results.

Simulate Infrared Images

Open a photo in Camera Raw; you can do this either in Bridge, using the right mouse key and clicking “Open in Camera Raw,” or directly in Photoshop, by selecting File → Open as Smart Object. Apply basic adjustments to optimize your image (for example, with the “Recovery” and “Fill Light” slides), then switch to the “HSL/Grayscale” tab. Check “Convert to Grayscale,” and set the Blues down to around -85. Set the Greens to +90 and the Yellows to +20.

Trees and bushes should now shine in the typical white, and the sky should appear almost black. If you want to go on and simulate some grain, switch to the “Effects” tab, and enter 15 for the amount, 20 for size and 80 for roughness. You could also apply a “Vignette.” Here I used -30 for the amount, 40 for the midpoint and -35 for roundness.

It’s almost like an infrared image.

Levels

When applying a “Levels adjustment,” you can set black and white points in order to decrease color tints, but where are the darkest and brightest spots in the image? Go to New Adjustment Layer → Threshold to find those areas. This function is available under the “Layer” menu.

Move the slider so far to the right that only a few white spots remain in the document. Use the “Color Sampler tool” and set down a point there. Move the slider to the left until only a few black spots remain, and set a second point down there.

One could also find a neutral gray in the image by using a “Threshold adjustment layer.” Add a new blank layer between the original image and the threshold adjustment layer, and fill this layer with 50% gray. Go to Edit → Fill or press Shift + F5, then select “50% Gray” under “Contents” and click “OK.”

Here is the threshold adjustment layer at work.

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Difference.” Select the “Threshold adjustment layer” again and move the slider all the way to the left. Slowly move the slider back to the right until black dots start to appear. These are the neutral gray areas in the image (if neutral grays are present). Add a “Color Sampler spot.”

Now delete both the threshold adjustment layer and the 50% gray layer. Create a new adjustment layer, “Levels.” Use the first Eyedropper tool to click on the darkest area, then use the third Eyedropper on the brightest area.

Here’s a before-and-after comparison.

Now you can use the gray Eyedropper tool on the third Color Sampler spot. The color tint will be decreased. Color Sampler spots can be deleted by dragging them off the canvas with the Color Sampler tool.

Color Look With An Adjustment Layer

Go to the Layer menu, and then New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation, and set the blending mode to “Soft Light” and check “Colorize.” Use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to control the color: for a cool look, for example, set the hue at 210, the saturation at 50 and the lightness at 10; for a warm look, set the hue at 30, the saturation at 30 and the lightness at 5.

Here is Hue/Saturation and Color Fill.

Alternatively, you could use several color layers. Create them from the layer palette with the “New Fill/Adjustment Layer” button. Choose a color, then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.” Reduce the opacity to about 12%, and invert the layer mask with Control/Command + I. Paint in the colored light with a big brush and white color. This works especially well for the lighting in portraits that have a textured background.

Here’s the Color Look with an Adjustment Layer.

Controlling Mid-Tone Contrasts

To increase detail in landscape shots, boost the mid-tone contrast. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and then click on Filter → Convert for Smart Filters in the menu. Then go to Filter → Other → High Pass and enter a radius of 3 pixels. Change the blending mode to “Overlay” and double-click the layer next to its name to open the “Layer Style” window.

Layer Style window: This Layer

For the first gradient, “This Layer,” split the sliders by holding the Alt/Option key and trim the layer effect to the “50/100” and “150/200” ranges. As soon as you move the sliders, you’ll see where those numbers are. This increases contrast only for the mid-tones. Double-click the “High Pass” filter in the layer palette to bring the dialog box up again in order to adjust the radius to your liking.

Check out these mid-tone contrasts.

Sunset

A sunset, especially at sea, can be an amazing color spectacle. The hues will depend heavily on the weather, though — but you can push them a bit with a gradient map. Click on the “New Fill/Adjustment Layer” button in the Layer palette and select “Gradient Map” from the list. Click on the gradient to open the “Gradient Editor.”

Gradient Map

Click on the first color patch below the gradient, and change the color to red. Set the color patch on the opposite side to yellow, and click “OK.” Set the blending mode to “Soft Light” and reduce the opacity to about 50%. This will create a warm, almost golden sunset.

Observe the movement from a blue to a golden sunset.

Creating Smiles

Roughly select the area around the mouth with the Polygon Lasso tool. Go to Select → Modify → Feather, and enter a radius of 10 pixels. Confirm, then click on Layer → New → Layer via Copy (or press Control/Command + J), then Edit → Puppet Warp. Photoshop will put a mesh over the entire layer in the shape of your previous selection.

Here’s the mesh over the layer.

You can control the size of the mesh with the “Expansion” value in the Options bar. Increase the density to “More Points” for increased precision. Press Control/Command + H to hide the mesh, then set the first pins to the corners of the mouth. Add more pins to distinctive spots of the mouth. By clicking and dragging the mesh, you can shape a nice smile.

Colorful Water Drops

Macro shots of water drops are appealing, and shapes can be further accentuated with discreet coloring. You could treat the bland surface with a linear gradient from #772222 (RGB 119, 34, 34) to #3333bb (RGB 51, 51, 187). If the photo is on a layer of its own, click on Layer → Layer Style → Gradient Overlay or double-click the layer next to its name.

Layer Style: Gradient Overlay

Set the blend mode to Color, the opacity to 50%, the gradient to “Foreground to background color” and the angle to 90%. The gradient will be saved as a layer style, so you can come back at any time to adjust the values. Double-clicking the style name opens up the dialog window once more.

See the colorful drops with optimized colors.

Skin Color

If the skin is not quite perfect after retouching, it might be because of the general hue. You can control it by going to New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation. Click on the miniature mask, and press Control/Command + I to invert the mask.

Adjustment Layer: Hue/Saturation

Using white color and a soft brush, paint over the skin areas so that only they get treated. For the adjustment, switch from Standard to “Reds” (found in the Hue drop-down menu of the Adjustment layer), and use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to adjust the skin color. Switch to “Yellows” and optimize the skin tone. Getting the colors exactly right depends very much on the image material. Rely on your common sense.

Optimized skin tones

Matching Skin Tones

A sunburn or a blush can disrupt a portrait, especially if there is a contrasting pale person nearby. Photoshop has a tool to correct that: “Match Color” offers control over skin tones. Open your image and use the Quick Selection tool to roughly select the red skin areas.

You can hold down the Alt/Option key and subtract areas from the selection. Click on Select → Modify → Feather and enter a value of about 15 pixels. Use the Control/Command + J shortcut to copy the selection to a new layer.

Adjustments: Match Color

Using the same technique, copy the non-reddened skin to a new layer. In the next step, you’ll have to differentiate between the source layer and the layer to edit, so rename these two layers meaningfully; all it takes is a double-click on the layer name. You could use the naming scheme shown here and call them “Beautiful skin” and “Reddened skin.”

Activate the layer with the red skin, and select Image → Adjustments → Match Color from the menu. For “Source,” select the current document, and for “Layer,” select the one with the beautiful skin. Control the effect using the “Luminance” and “Color Intensity” sliders in the Image Options area. Once you confirm, you can control the effect’s strength with the Opacity slider.

Paler skin after Match Color

Reducing Noise

Noisy images are annoying. One way to reduce noise is through the channels. Copy the background layer by pressing Control/Command + J, switch to the Channels palette, and select the channel that shows the least noise. Drag that channel down to the “New Channel” icon (next to the trash can) and go to Stylize → Find Edges. Then apply a Gaussian Blur with a radius of about 3 pixels.

Look at this copy of the red channel.

Click on the new channel’s miniature icon while holding the Control/Command key to select the content. Activate the “RGB channel” (top-most), and switch back to the Layers palette. When the duplicated background is selected, click on the “Add Layer Mask” icon.

Click on the Layer Miniature icon, and select Filter → Blur → Surface Blur from the menu. Play around with the Radius and Threshold sliders until the noise has been reduced as much as possible. Thanks to the mask you created, the contours are safe.

With and without noise

Retro Look With Curves

Go to Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Curves and switch from RGB to Reds. Then drag the line downwards a little for the shadows and upwards for the highlights, creating a slight “S” curve. Do the same for the Greens. For the Blues, drag the highlights down a little and the shadows up (for an inverted S shape). The shadows should now be slightly blue-ish, the highlights slightly yellow-ish.

Adjustment Layer: Curves

Create a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + N, and fill it with #000066 (RGB 0, 0, 102). Set the blending mode to “Exclusion.” Now copy the background layer by clicking it and pressing Control/Command + J. Set the blending mode for this copy to “Soft Light.”

To decrease the effect overall, activate the top-most layer and then click on the background copy while holding the Shift key, thereby selecting both layers. Alternatively, you can add them to a group with Control/Command + G. Reduce the layer’s (or group’s) opacity. Note that in Photoshop versions prior to CS5, you’ll have to reduce the opacity for each layer individually.

Achieve a simple retro look in a few steps.

Identifying Layers

If you’re ambitious with your collages, then you’ll be familiar with this problem: meaningful layer names are often neglected during the creative process. This can result in layer names like “Layer 4” and “Layer 5 Copy 2,” which are not very helpful when you need to quickly identify the contents of a layer.

Photoshop offers a number of solutions for our laziness. For example, you can click on the element you want to select by using the “Move tool” and holding the right mouse key; you’ll see which layer contents are below the tool. Photoshop will display a list in a drop-down menu, from which you can easily select the desired element.

Right click with the Move tool

Control/Command + left-click with the Move tool selected and, in most cases, you’ll select the corresponding layer of the element that your mouse is over (unless Photoshop can’t distinguish between the multiple layers).

You could also Control/Command + left-click on a layer’s miniature icon to get a selection of the content of that layer. The marching ants will show you what is on that layer and where it is.

Another option is to click on the Layer palette’s Options icon, in the top-right corner, and select “Layers Palette Options.” From here you can adjust the size of the layer’s miniature preview and concentrate the miniature’s content to the layer’s bounds, which should cut down on future guesswork when it comes to layer contents.

Layers Palette options

Conserving Resources

Plug-ins save time, but they’re a bit resource-hungry; at least, they lengthen Photoshop’s start-up time. Your plug-ins might have functionality that you rarely use, so deactivate them until you need them. To do so, create a new folder by going to Adobe → Adobe Photoshop CS5 (or whatever your version) and name it something like Plugins_deactivated.

After disabling some plug-ins.

Now move all of the extensions that you don’t need for the moment. When you restart Photoshop now, those plug-ins won’t load, so the program will start up quickly. Your RAM will be relieved. Because you neither deleted nor uninstalled the plug-ins, they’re available to use anytime. If you need them, just move them back to the plug-in folder.

Classy Sepia Look

The sepia look is an absolute classic. To enhance a black and white image with a classy sepia tone, follow these steps. Click on Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Photo Filter, and select the Sepia filter, with a density of 100%. Double-click the layer (not the layer name) to open up the Layer Style window. This will show the Blending options.

A view of the Layer Style window.

At the bottom of the dialog box for the first gradient, move the white slider to the left while holding the Alt/Option key. This creates a smooth transition between adjusted and unadjusted areas. The sepia will now look elegant.

Subtle sepia

Precise Positioning

I’m sure you’ve often been irritated by Photoshop’s tendency to position elements on its own, but the program is just trying to help you align an element that is on its own layer with the outer edge of the document or with the edge of another object. To your frustration, the layer’s content will jump to the edge, even though you wanted to leave a few pixels of space in between. You can temporarily deactivate the automatic snapping by holding the Control/Command key as you position.

A banner, close to the edge.

Applying Layer Styles Multiple Times

Usually, layer styles can be applied only once. For example, if you click on Layer → Layer Style → Drop Shadow, you cannot create a double drop shadow, one of which has an angle of 120°, a distance of 2 pixels and a size of 2 pixels, and the other of which has an angle of 180°, a distance of 12 pixels and a size of 12 pixels.

Actually, it is possible! It just requires a little detour. Create the first drop shadow as you normally would. Then right-click on the layer and select “Convert to Smart Object” from the menu. This smart object can be assigned another drop shadow, and you can convert the smart object into yet another smart object. This way, you can easily add a third and fourth drop shadow. Alternatively, you could apply multiple strokes.

Three shadows in combination.

By the way, to put one or even several styles onto their own layers at once, right-click on the FX symbol and select “Create Layer” from the list. Now you can apply filters to these styles, but they won’t be editable anymore.

Stay tuned

The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks. Please stay tuned and subscribe to our RSS-feed and join us on Facebook.

Huge thanks to Carlos Lanenga for his valuable suggestions for this article.

© Dirk Metzmacher for WorldGates, 2012.

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Photo Retouching Tips And Tricks In Photoshop

Two weeks ago we published the first part of Photoshop tips and tricks for photo retouching. Today, we’ll be presenting the rest of the article. We hope that these techniques will be quite useful for your workflow. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. We have had articles on various tools in Adobe Photoshop but this one is focused more on the techniques rather than the tools provided. Please note that all images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering in this follow-up:

• Defining Colors
• Controlling Folders
• Split-Toning Effect
• Flexible Vignette
• Skin Retouching In Camera Raw
• Setting Lights
• Distinguished Paleness
• Dodge And Burn Look
• Bright Eyes
• The Orton Effect
• Optimizing Lasso Selections
• Aligning Layer Contents
• Restoring Selections
• More Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Defining Colors

If you want to redefine the foreground and background colors, use the Eyedropper tool to select the foreground color, and then switch the position with the background color, maybe by using the shortcut X, and pick up the next color. But there is an easier way. First, define the foreground color just as you’re accustomed to, but then define the background color by holding the Alt/Option key. Instead of changing the foreground color, you’ll redefine the background color with just one click.

Define foreground and background colors.

Controlling Folders

Folders give structure to layers, which is especially important if you’re working on demanding compositions. Folders are often collapsed, so you can’t see the contents at first sight. This conserves space but it’s not always desirable. If you want nested layers to reveal their contents and offer a quick overview, hold the Control/Command key and click on one of the triangles to expand. All folders at the first level will expand. You can collapse them again using the same trick. To expand all nested folders inside the folders as well, hold the Alt/Option key as well as the Control/Command key.

Hold the Control/Command key to expand the folder.

Split-Toning Effect

Create two new gradient maps via Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Gradient Map. You could, for example, create a gradient from dark-blue to beige and another from dark-brown to white. To change a gradient, click on it to open up the “Gradient Editor” dialog box. There, click on your chosen color patches and open up the color picker via the “Color field.”

Blending Options: This Layer

Confirm with “OK,” double-click the layer with the second gradient map and, under “This Layer,” move the right slider to the left. To make the transition a little smoother, click on the slider while holding down the Alt/Option key and move it to the right. Confirm with “OK.”

Split-Toning Effect

Flexible Vignette

To create a non-destructive vignette, go to New Adjustment Layer → Levels. Darken the image completely by, for example, setting the Highlights down to 80. Now use the Brush tool with black color to paint the light center into the layer mask. Instead of using a brush to paint the area, you could use the Elliptical Marquee tool and fill the selection with black.

Adjustment Layer: Levels

You can use the Move tool to adjust the vignette’s position any time, or blur it using the “Gaussian Blur.” You can also increase or decrease the darkening. To do so, open the Levels Adjustment dialog box again.

Skin Retouching In Camera Raw

Again, open a photo in Camera Raw (for example, by using the right mouse key from Bridge and clicking “Open in Camera Raw”). In general, you can use the Spot Healing Brush tool and all other tools and sliders to improve the image. When you’re happy with it, hold the Shift key and click on “Open Object.” The image will be put on a new layer as a Smart Object.

You could also click the blue link at the bottom of the screen, which opens the “Workflow Options” dialog window. From there, you can control some other settings as well. Make sure to check the “Open in Photoshop as Smart Object” checkbox, and then confirm with “OK” to open the images (without having to holding Shift).

Here, layers are smart objects.

Right-click on the layer and choose “New Smart Object via Copy,” and then open the Camera Raw dialog box again by double-clicking the layer icon. Set the “Clarity” value to -100 and confirm with “OK.” Hold the Alt/Option key and click on the “Create Layer Mask” button, then use a soft brush to paint over the optimized skin. Use the opacity slider to control the amount of retouching.

Here is optimized skin with the help of Camera Raw.

Setting Lights

If you want to do some virtual re-positioning of your strobes, then neutralize the shot first. Go to Select → Color Range, and set Select option to “Highlights.” Copy the selection content to a new layer by hitting Control/Command + J. Activate the background layer again, and select the “Shadows” this time. Bring those to their own layer, too, with Control/Command + J, and then set the blending mode to “Screen” and the highlights to “Multiply.”

Highlights and shadows

Reduce the opacity to about 30%, depending on the image content. “Shadows/Highlights” might also help. On a new layer, filled with a neutral gray and its blending mode set to “Overlay,” paint in the desired light quality with the Dodge and Burn tools. Alternatively, add a new layer and set its blending mode to “Soft Light” or “Overlay” and, with a low opacity brush, paint black and white on this layer.

The lights were neutralized a bit.

Distinguished Paleness

For a distinguished paleness, copy the background layer and set its blending mode to “Screen.” Use Image → Adjustments → Desaturate or “Black & White,” then “Shadows/Highlights” to increase the effect. The exact adjustment options can vary according to your image content.

Here’s the layer after creating the mask.

The effect will cover the entire image unless you click on the “Create Layer Mask” button while holding the Alt/Option key, and then paint the pale areas with the brush tool and white color. You can control the effect’s strength with the opacity slider.

Distinguished paleness.

Dodge And Burn Look

Copy the reduced layers to a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E, and then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.” Use Control/Command + I to invert the layer content, and apply Filter → Blur → Surface Blur with a radius of about 70 pixels and a threshold of 40 levels. Press Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E again, delete the layer below, and set the blending mode to “Overlay.” Apply a “Gaussian Blur” to make the contours a little softer, and then click Image → Adjustments → Desaturate.

Dodge and Burn Look

Bright Eyes

To make eyes appear brilliant, click on New Adjustment Layer → Exposure. Fill the layer mask with black (or invert the mask), and paint with white over the irises and with black over the pupils. Set the blending mode of the adjustment layer to “Luminosity.” Increase the exposure in concert with the gamma value to give the iris structure more contrast. Also, try changing the “Offset slider.”

Create beautiful eyes with exposure.

The Orton Effect

With the Orton effect, sharp and blurred versions of a photo are mixed together. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and click on Image → Apply Image. Change the blending mode to “Screen” and click “OK.” Copy the current layer again with Control/Command + J. Apply a Gaussian Blur to this copy by clicking Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur. The value will depend on the size of the image. The shapes should always blur slightly. Set the blending mode for the layer to “Multiply.”

The Orton effect creates contrast and depth.

Optimizing Lasso Selections

Many users (even professionals) prefer the Lasso Selection tool to the Path tool for uncomplicated selections. To switch to the Polygon Lasso tool for a short stretch, hold the Alt/Option key while working. To switch back to the regular Lasso tool, just release the Alt/Option key while depressing the mouse button.

Switching between the Lasso and Polygon Lasso tools is easy.

It often happens that, during a zoom, you hit the edge of the work area while making a selection. Just keep the space bar pressed to switch to the Hand tool, and you can quickly change the displayed image section.

Aligning Layer Contents

Some areas in Photoshop are hardly ever noticed. This is one of them. If you activate the Move tool, you’ll see some mysterious symbols to the right called Align tools, in the option bar next to Auto-Select and the Transform controls (which are basically equivalent to Free Transform).

Align tools

If you activate just one layer, the Align tools won’t do anything, but if you select two or more layers by holding the Control/Command key, then you can align the layer’s contents with these buttons. Choose from options such as “Align Top Edge” and “Align Vertical Center.”

Restoring Selections

Often, while in the middle of working on a tricky selection, you’ll accidentally deselect it by clicking once too often. You can restore the lost selection by pressing Shift + Control/Command + D. This will get the ants marching again. You can also undo (Control/Command + Z) the action, and even perform multiple undos with Control/Command + Alt/Option + Z.

By the way, you can hold the Alt/Option key to subtract elements from the selection at any time, or hold the Shift key to add to the selection. Pressing a combination of both keys creates a selection intersection. Important selections that you might need later can be saved by going to Select → Save Selection.

Restore lost selections.

More Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Workflow:

• Mastering Photoshop: Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers by Thomas Giannattasio
• Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-Saving Tips by Daniel Durrans
• Mastering Photoshop: Noise, Textures, Gradients and Rounded Rectangles by Marc Edwards
• Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools by Vitaly Friedman
• The Ultimate Guide To Cloning In Photoshop by Joshua Johnson
• The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions by Jacob Gube
• Unveiling Photoshop Masks by Thomas Giannattasio

(al) (vf) (ik)

© Dirk Metzmacher for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Pixel Perfection When Rotating, Pasting And Nudging In Photoshop

When creating Web and app interfaces, most designers slave over every single pixel, making sure it’s got exactly the right color, texture and position. If you’re not careful, though, some common functions like moving, rotating and pasting can undo your hard work, resulting in a blurry mess. But with some small changes to your workflow, you should be able to maintain the highest-quality artwork from the start to the end of the project.

Pixel-Perfect Rotation

If you’re not careful, rotating layers in Photoshop can damage them in a very noticeable, pixel-mashing way.

When rotating layers with Free Transform (and some other tools) to exactly 90 or 270°, the quality of the outcome is determined by the layer’s size. If the layer is of an even width and even height, then you’ll be fine. If it’s of an odd width and odd height, you’ll also be okay. But if they’re of an odd width by even height or even width by odd height, then you’ll see something like the result below:

In this case, the artwork is 20 × 9 pixels: even-by-odd dimensions. The results for bitmap layers and vector layers are different, but they both produce unusable results because the origin of rotation doesn’t fall on an exact pixel boundary.

A Fix

Because even-by-odd or odd-by-even dimensions are the problem, we need a way to ensure that the contents of the layer are odd-by-odd or even-by-even. Probably any method you can think of will solve this problem, be it adding a square bitmap mask to a layer or adding more content to the layer that you’re rotating. You could also draw a square on another layer and rotate both at once.

As long as the dimensions for the layer or layers are even-by-even or odd-by-odd, it’ll be fine.

An Easier Fix

Changing the origin of rotation to the top left (or any other corner) will ensure it is on a pixel boundary, guaranteeing perfect results every time. To do this, click on a corner origin after selecting the Free Transform tool, but before rotating. This works brilliantly and is the simplest solution yet.

Bitmap and vector masks are affected by this issue as well, so please take care. But the issue affects only rotated layers, either via “Free Transform” or “Transform” under the Edit menu. Rotating the entire canvas via Image → Image Rotation has no problem.

To make things even easier, I’ve created some Photoshop Actions and Workflows that take care of everything for you.

Pixel-Perfect Vector Pasting

If you’ve drawn pixel-snapped artwork in Illustrator and pasted it into Photoshop as a shape layer, you may have noticed that the result is not quite what you expect (i.e. a perfectly sharp image), but rather a blurry mess. Here’s how to fix that.

Below is some artwork as it appears in Illustrator: perfectly formed, snapped to the pixel grid, and at the size we intend to use it in Photoshop.

Below are the same paths pasted into Photoshop a few times. Notice how only the top-left version is sharp, while the others are half a pixel out on the x axis, y axis or both.

What Went Wrong?

Photoshop’s pasting behavior works in one of two ways. If you’ve made a selection, then the clipboard’s contents are pasted so that the center of the clipboard is aligned with the center of the selection. If a selection hasn’t been made, then the contents are pasted so that the center of the clipboard aligns with the center of your current view. The level you’re zoomed into and the portion of the document you’re viewing determines the result.

A Fix

Our test artwork is 32 pixels wide by 12 pixels high. Drawing a 32 × 12 marquee selection in Photoshop forces the artwork to land exactly where we want it and to be pixel-aligned. This works every single time.

An Easier Fix

The marquee doesn’t have to be the exact size of your artwork, though. In our case, a 2 × 2-pixel selection would work just as well, because the center of an even-width-and-height marquee selection and the center of even-width-and-height clipboard contents would fall exactly on a pixel boundary, which is what we want. If the artwork was an odd width and height, then a 1 × 1 selection would have been required.

If you couldn’t be bothered noting your artwork’s dimensions, then by drawing an appropriately sized marquee, you can draw a 2 × 2-pixel selection and paste. If the image is blurry on the x axis only, make the selection 1 × 2 and paste again. If the image is blurry on the y axis only, make the selection 2 × 1 and paste again. If the image is blurry on both axes, make the selection 1 × 1 and paste again.

It may sound complex, but in practice it’s very quick; you’ll only ever have to paste twice to get sharp vector paths from Illustrator.

Smart Objects

Pasting elements as smart objects doesn’t come with the same issue (at least not in Photoshop CS5 anyway). I like to use Shape layers, though: they allow more control and editability and have better anti-aliasing.

Pixel-Perfect Vector Nudging

When nudging vector points, Photoshop exhibits some strange behavior, related to how far you’re zoomed in. At 100%, nudging with the arrow keys will move your vector point exactly 1 pixel. At 200%, nudging moves the point by half a pixel. At 300%, it moves by a third of a pixel.

The behavior seems intentional, but it’s not usually what I’m after. Most of the time, I want to nudge in whole pixel increments. Here’s how you can do that, without zooming out to 100%.

Open your document, and then create a second window by going to Window → Arrange → New Window. You can then resize the new window and place it out of the way.

Large view

Edit in the other window as normal, zooming in as far as you’d like. You’ll now be able to press Command + ` to switch back to the window that’s zoomed to 100%, nudge using the arrow keys, and then press Command + ` to switch back again. Because the other window is zoomed to 100%, nudging will move the selected vector points exactly 1 pixel.

Large view

Please note that holding Shift while using the arrow keys to nudge always moves by 10 pixels, no matter how far in you’re zoomed. Also, dragging points with the mouse will snap to pixels in most situations — most, but not all.

While not perfect, this technique does remove some of the frustration with editing detailed vector paths in Photoshop. Or maybe it’s just another reason why complex shapes should be drawn in Illustrator first, and then pasted as shape layers?

Take Charge Of Your Pixels

Using the correct techniques, it should be easy to place pixels exactly where you want. Remember, you’re the one in charge. Demand that they fall in line. Accept nothing less than pixel perfection.

Would you like to know more about a particular technique or Photoshop feature? Please let us know in the comments.

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© Marc Edwards for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Useful Photoshop Tools and Techniques For Your Workflow

Productivity is a crucial asset of professional designers. Photoshop is an extremely powerful application for photo processing and image manipulation, and we can make it even more powerful by using handy tools, actions, plugins and templates to save time for solving mundane regular tasks. The better our professional tool set is, the more time we can spend to focus on the actual design process rather than the tool we are using to implement it on screen.

Here at Smashing Magazine, we’re continuously searching for recent time-saving, useful Photoshop resources for our readers, to make the search of these ever-growing techniques easier. We hope that these techniques will help you improve your design skills as well as your professional workflow when using Adobe Photoshop. A sincere thanks to all designers and developers whose articles are featured in this roundup. We respect and appreciate your contributions to the design community.

Useful Photoshop Tools

Mr. Stacks
A small Photoshop script that can quickly generate storyboards, stacks and PDFs for project CDs, client presentations or anything else — right from the Layers Comps in your Photoshop file. The script would be useful for a series of animations, storytelling elements in a design and advertising.

Photoshop Tych Panel
Every photographer and Web designer who has spent time arranging images and photographs knows that scaling and resizing takes time. But even existing templates are unnecessary when you try out Reimund Trost’s latest little Tych Panel for Photoshop. It completely automates the n-Tych creation process, and it has a lot of layouts to choose from. The tool has been open sourced by Reimund Trost and can be freely used, modified and redistributed in any way.

Pixel Proliferation: A Toolset For Managing Screen Resolutions
This tool will help you to manage screens resolutions more easily. The toolset contains a collection of PS5 marquee-tool presets for common screen resolutions, covering fixed-screen resolution sizes, ratios for less common resolutions and standard ratios. Also, a collection of layered CS5 PSDs provides common devices for computing and design presentations. Finally, there is a reference chart for resolutions and design landscape. Useful.

Generating CSS positions for Sprites
A Photoshop plug-in by Arnau March that generates sprites with your given CSS file. You can then add the sprite locations and also create hover and click effects with the help of jQuery. You might want to check out CSS Sprite: Photoshop Script Combines Two Images for CSS Hover as well: the article presents a simple JSX Photoshop script for creating image sprites, and you can also assign a keyboard shortcut to it.

Golden Crop
Golden Crop is a Photoshop Script making cropping with respect to division rules (golden rule, 1/3 rule) very easy with visual guides. Requires installed Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 or CS5 (either x86 or amd64 version). Works on Windows and Mac.

Browser UI
The Browser UI is an action that creates a browser window around any size Photoshop document you can throw at it. The free version includes only Internet Explorer 6 UI. The deluxe edition with current versions of Chrome, Safari and Firefox is not free ($ 3).

Open With Photoshop 0.6
An add-on for Firefox that is a new companion for Web and graphic designers to open up any Web image with Adobe Photoshop via a single and quick mouse click. A useful time saver.

foxGuide: Photoshop Guides Inside Firefox
A Firefox extension that displays horizontal and vertical guides. You can move or remove the floating guides on a webpage just the way you do it Photoshop with the help of foxGuide. Guides are useful for laying out elements symmetrically, structure a design and improving the overall layout.

Modular Grid Pattern: create a modular grid in Photoshop, Fireworks and GIMP
Modular Grid Pattern is application for web designers, which helps you quickly and easily to create a modular grid in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks, GIMP, Microsoft Expression Design and other applications. The extension requires Adobe Photoshop CS5

960gs ExtendScript for Photoshop CS5
The script is very raw and crashes easily with the wrong input or settings. However, it has some nice features such as disabling gutters by putting 0 for gutter width and optionally adding evenly-spaced horizontal guides.

Workspace import/export script for Photoshop
John Nack has written a script to enable simple importing and exporting of Photoshop workspaces. It should work in both CS4 and CS5 (although it is a little more robust in CS5), so you can use it to migrate workspaces from CS4 to CS5 in addition to using it to enable easier sharing of CS5 workspaces between machines or people.

Subpixel Hinted Font-Rendering
This technique is great for your concepts when you want to simulate actual text in your Photoshop file. Thomas Maier has saved his workflow as an action. You can download the subpixel-rendering technique and use it for free.

GuideGuide 1.0
What actually started out as a script that drew guidelines at the middle of the document, turned out to become a quite helpful extension for Photoshop when working with columns, rows and midpoints in CS4 & CS5. You can download Cameron McEfee’s GuideGuide to help you find midpoints, make margins and create rows and columns much easier while working in Photoshop.

Photoshop Animation to Sprite Sheet
This tool enables you to easily export a framed animation in Adobe Photoshop to a packed sprite sheet. The tool is available for Photoshop CS3 or higher. Developed by Peter Jones.

Automatic Tile Cutter
Some images are made of dozens to thousands of tile images, depending on the zoom level. At the distant zoom levels you only need a few images to cover a large area. Creating and then uniquely naming each of these images would be a daunting task if you had to do it by hand. Will James has solved this problem and released a batch processing script to use with Photoshop 7 or CS that will carve all the titles you need and name them exactly as you need them named.

The Image Processor Script
The Image Processor in Photoshop CS4 is a simple way to quickly resize and convert a bunch of images to JPEG, PSD or TIFF format. The modified script allows exporting CMYK JPEGs as CMYK, as well as support for exporting PNG images.

Further Resources

Adobe Photoshop Scripts
Trevor Morris provides more than a dozen of free scripts for Adobe Photoshop. All scripts are commented, making them easy to modify and/or learn from. Among other scripts, you’ll find Layers to Comps, Rename Layers, Sort Layers and Distribute Layers Vertically scripts.

The Photoshop Scripting Community Forum
PS-Scripts is a community for Photoshop scripting and automation. The site contains articles Members of the community release their script on the site’s forum; for instance, you can find the Smart Object links panel, Listing fonts used in PSD files (alternative), Distribute Layers. Unfortunately, the forum’s activity is quite low, although the scripts are being released quite often.

Russel Brown’s Scripts Page
Russel Brown provides a number of free useful Adobe Photoshop Scripts and Panels for CS4 and CS5. Among other things, Adobe Emailer Panel, Image Processor Pro and Edit Layers in ACR scripts are available.

Scriptopedia
Another community that helps to find scripts and scripters for Photoshop and other Adobe applications. The site is frequently updated; you’ll find various scripts as well as tutorials on the site.

Useful References and Articles

The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web Designers
The recently updated Photoshop Etiquette can be quite useful when wanting to improve the clarity of a PSD when transferred. This site provides you with rules that will show you examples and bonus points ranging from external as well as internal file organization to exporting and design practices.

Photoshop Secret Shortcuts
This old, yet still very useful article by Nick La provides an overview of secret (i.e. not documented) Photoshop shortcuts that the author has learned from years of experience.

Photoshop Tip: Organizing Layers
Daniel Mall has thought of a super handy Photoshop file organization trick that separates layer groups for different stages of a page within the same PSD. You can prefix your layer groups with a bullet to organize your PSDs but also using a hyphen will enable you to create a horizontal divider in the context menu.

Photoshoptimize: Optimize Photoshop Performance
To improve the performance of Photoshop, this list of best tips will help any designer to optimize Adobe Photoshop for Mac as well as PC; from reducing cache levels to disabling export clipboard in Photoshop, and much more.

Super Crisp Font Anti-Aliasing With Sub-Pixel Hinting
David Leggett shares with us the most useful technique in creating concepts in Photoshop, especially when you’re working on a website layout in Photoshop, and want an accurate representation of what a font is going to look like in your content body. This surely helps bring the frustrating times when working with small font using anti-aliasing in Adobe Photoshop to an end.

Freebies, Goodies

100+ Free HTML Email PSD Templates
CampaignMonitor has released a large collection of freely available high quality email templates which have been thoroughly tested in more than 20 of the most popular email clients like Outlook 2010, Gmail, Lotus Notes, Apple Mail and the iPhone. They are completely free. Every template contains a Photoshop document, HTML template and a Campaign Monitor Template. The complete packages with all templates is 320 Mb.

Bottles and Cans Photoshop CS4 Actions
3 exclusive Photoshop CS4 Actions that might save you some time when you are working on the next soda, wine or bottle label design.

Pricing Table PSD Template
A free pricing table template with various button states.

Search and Email Input Text PSD Template
A free template for search field and email input fields. You can find new freebies released every Friday on the site.

Free PSD: Seven Tickets
Seven Tickets inspired by Seven Dribbble Shots.

Free PSD: Simple Download Buttons
Orman Clark has released a set of simple download buttons in three different states: nroaml,normal, hover and active. These download buttons use a subtle icon to suggest the action of downloading. The download includes the editable PSD. You can download even more PSD buttons.

Album Cover Art Carousel (PSD)
The download (PSD) includes styles for the covert art, the hover and/or active state, and the next/previous arrows. Try experimenting with the colour of the album cover hover state, a vivid orange looks great.

Flip-Clock Countdown (PSD)
A groovy little countdown flip-clock design: the perfect event/product launch companion.

Big Green Button (PSD)
This template is perfect for when a regular sized button just isn’t cutting it; this big fat round button should grab a visitors’ attention with ease. The download (PSD) displays a pricing plan as an example.

Free PSD: Tagtastic Tag Cloud
The topic of this article is a nice and simple little tag cloud – tagtastic!

The Ultimate Free Master PSD File
The download features one master .PSD file with folders, assets, grid folders and layer comps ready to be used. The master file is using the best practice featured in Dan Rose’s Photoshop Etiquette.

OS X Leopard GUI Freebie
A freebie including a GUI set for Mac’s OS X Leopard operative system for all Web developers who want to integrate great designs into their applications. This package includes fully editable vector Photoshop sources and a customizable Fireworks PNG file; the original fonts that were utilized for the making of the GUI are also included.

Tabs Icons: Interface Icons for iOS & Designers
You can find free iPhone tab bar icons for Mac OSX Lion and iOS here which are specially designed and optimized for toolbars and tab bars. All these icons have been created for iPhone, iPhone 4 and iPad and are provided as fully editable and scalable Photoshop PSD files.

Designmoo
Designmoo is a community for discovering and sharing free PSDs, vectors, textures, patterns and fonts.

Premum Pixels
Premium Pixels is Orman Clark’s remarkable resource with free design resources and tutorials.

Last Click

PSDcleanup
It’s very difficult for coders to work with someone else’s PSD files if they’re not organized correctly. This online service helps fixes that problem by organizing PSDs and polishing them for you. We aren’t advertising here, but it’s quite sad that services like this one exist at all.

Method & Craft
Method & Craft features the stories behind the work and the techniques professionals have developed throughout their professional career. A very useful resource for designers permanently looking to improve their skills.

Related Articles

Mastering Photoshop: Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers
Keyboard shortcuts can be very useful and are truly essential to our busy, daily workflow. Occasionally, we stumble upon a shortcut we wish we’d learned years ago. Please note that the shortcuts listed in this article are for Photoshop CS4 on OS X and can also be converted apposite to Windows.

Pixel Perfection When Rotating, Pasting And Nudging In Photoshop
When creating Web and app interfaces, most designers slave over every single pixel, making sure it’s got exactly the right color, texture and position. If you’re not careful, though, some common functions like moving, rotating and pasting can undo your hard work, resulting in a blurry mess. But with some small changes to your workflow, you should be able to maintain the highest-quality artwork from the start to the end of the project.

Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-Saving Tips
Daniel Durrans shares his own time-saving tips for compositing in Photoshop with us and emphasizes on adapting a certain technique for each one of us to make our work more efficient and improve our workflow.

Useful Photoshop Tips And Tricks For Photo Retouching
In case you’ve been searching for some insight on the most useful techniques tips and tricks when working in Photoshop, then this is the article you shouldn’t miss out on. Dirk Metzmacher shares with us even more tips and tricks to improve your workflow.

Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools
Our recent overview of useful Adobe Photoshop techniques and tutorials that we have found and collected over the last months.

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© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Mastering Photoshop Techniques: Layer Styles

Layer Styles are nothing new. They’ve been used and abused again and again. Despite their ubiquity, or perhaps because of it, many designers do not yet realize the full potential of this handy menu. Its beauty lies in our ability to create an effect and then copy, modify, export, hide or trash it, without degrading the content of the layer.

Below we present, step by step, several practical techniques to help you refine your designs, increase productivity and reduce layer clutter. You will find more useful Photoshop techniques and tutorials in our hand-picked selection, Best of Photoshop on Smashing Magazine.

Download the source files (.zip, 1.6 Mb).

The Bump Map Effect

“Wait, what?” you exclaim, “There’s no bump map effect in the Layer Styles menu!” That’s true, but by combining Pattern Overlay and Bevel and Emboss, we can achieve a textured, bump-mapped surface with a controllable light source.

This technique requires two images: one for texture and color, and the other to serve as a depth map. The depth map needn’t have any hue because it determines depth based on a composite value, black being the lowest, white the highest. In some cases, you may be able to use the same image for both, but in our example we’ll use completely different ones.

Step by Step

1. We’ll start by creating our bump map pattern. Open the diamond-plate.psd file.
2. Inside you’ll find a number of white shapes on a black background. Create a pattern from this document: Select All (Cmd/Ctrl + A), then “Edit” → “Define Pattern.” Name it “diamond plate bump map” and click okay.

   
   Creating the diamond plate pattern.

3. Now, open the start.psd file.
4. Repeat step 2 to create a pattern from the “patchy gray” layer. This will be used later to add texture to our background.

   
   Defining the texture pattern.

5. After creating the pattern, delete the “patchy gray” layer. It’s no longer needed.
6. Use the Rectangular Shape tool to create a shape layer about 20 pixels wider and 20 pixels higher than the canvas. Change the color of this layer to a dark, brownish, chromatic gray.

   
   Creating the shape layer for our background.

7. Be sure that the shape layer doesn’t have any Layer Styles already applied to it (Photoshop will often apply the most recent Layer Style automatically). Then, begin the new Layer Style by adding a Pattern Overlay.

   
   Adding a Pattern Overlay effect.

8. Choose the “patchy gray” pattern from the pattern picker, and change the Blend Mode to Soft Light. This will add the texture to our background layer.

   
   
   Adding a pattern overlay effect.

9. Next, add a Bevel and Emboss, along with the Texture effect. This time, change the Texture effect’s Pattern to the “diamond plate bump map” pattern created in step 2. We now have a grungy diamond plate background.

   
   
   Applying the Bevel and Emboss texture effect.

10. As with most Layer Style effects, the default values are rarely ideal. By tweaking the Bevel Type and Size, Gloss Contour, Highlights, Shadows and Light settings you can achieve some dramatic results.

    
    
    Tweaking the Bevel and Emboss settings.

11. With a few extra effects, you can shape the background layer even more. The example has a Gradient Overlay to simulate reflected light by darkening certain regions of the image.

    
    
    Using the Gradient Overlay to darken some regions.

12. You may notice that the highlights from the Bevel and Emboss filter all seem to have the same value. This is because the Bevel and Emboss effects are very high on the Layer Style’s stacking order. To darken the highlights that lie outside our main light source, simply paint a Layer Mask using the Brush tool.

    
    Painting a mask to increase the appearance of light in the background.

We now have a textured, bump-mapped background that is completely dynamic; everything about it can be modified easily from within the Layer Styles menu. Consolidating complex imagery into one dynamic layer like this can reduce layer clutter dramatically and allows you (and whoever else may be using the file) to easily find and modify things. Now, let’s move on to creating our icon.

3-D Modeling

By combining some interior effects, we can use the Layer Styles menu to create simulated 3-D objects: great for icons, buttons and other interface objects. We’ll now model the base of the round icon in the example image using a single layer.

Step by Step

1. Begin by creating a circular shape layer with a rich red fill.

   
   Creating the shape layer for the icon’s base.

2. As is often the case when modeling a 3-D shape, let’s begin by adding a Gradient Overlay to our Layer Style. A white-to-black Radial-styled gradient set to Linear Burn works best for our implementation. Be sure the white area of the gradient is at the origin.

   
   Adding Gradient Overlay set to Linear Burn.

3. We now have a dramatically shaded sphere with a head-on light source. By decreasing the opacity of the gradient, we can flatten the shape to a more concave button.

   
   Reducing the Opacity for a subtler effect.

4. Let’s also move the direction of the light to the upper-left. While leaving the Layer Style menu open, move the mouse over the image itself (the Move Tool icon should appear). Simply click and drag the epicenter of the gradient to the upper-left of the shape layer.

   
   Repositioning the gradient within the Layer Styles menu.

5. While Bevel and Emboss may seem like more logical tools, you can often get a cleaner, more customizable beveled look by using a combination of other effects. First, add a black Inner Glow, set to Multiply. Adjust the Choke, Size, Opacity and Contour until you have a softened edge inside the shape.

   
   
   Adding a Glow to darken the edge of the base.

6. Like for any well-rendered spherical surface, we have to add some reflected light in our shadow region. This is easily achieved with the Inner Shadow effect. Change the color to white and the Blend Mode to Linear Dodge. Adjust the angle so that it appears in the lower-right of our shape. Tweak the Contour, Distance, Size and Opacity to create a subtler effect.

   
   
   Adding subtle reflected light using Inner Shadow.

7. To enhance the feeling that the shape is part of the document’s “environment,” we can add some effects to interact with the background. Drop Shadow is usually the easiest tool to use for this. Massage the settings until everything feels right.

   
   
   A simple Drop Shadow goes a long way.

8. Using the Outer Glow effect, we can simulate the reflected red light that our background image would absorb if this were an actual setting. Change the glow’s color to a darker red, and change the Blend Mode to darken. Again, work with the Size and Opacity settings to create the desired effect. This is one of those effects that, when used correctly, no one should notice because it just looks natural.

   
   
   A red Glow to add more “environment.”

Please notice that Layer Style gradients can’t be dithered, which can make them lower quality than their Gradient Layer and Gradient Tool counterparts (— Marc Edwards).

Diffuse vs. Specular Light

Now, our icon reflects a simulated diffuse light, which gives it the look of a matte-finished surface. If you prefer a glossier appearance, you can easily create a specular highlight using (what else?) Layer Styles.

Step by Step

1. Duplicate the current shape layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J).
2. Clear the new layer’s Layer Styles: right-click the layer in the Layers palette and select “Clear Layer Style.”
3. We also need to modify the shape of the layer to give the reflected light a sharper edge. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the shape path in the layer’s vector mask. Copy it (Cmd/Ctrl + C) and paste it (Cmd/Ctrl + V) above the current path. Change this path’s mode to Subtract from shape area (-). Then move the shape down and to the right to create a crescent shape. You may also want to make the negative shape larger to create a more natural inside curve: simply Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl + T) and then scale the shape up.

   
   Modifying the shape of the specular highlight.

4. Because we need this layer only for its Layer Styles, we can set its Fill Opacity to 0%.

   
   Dropping the layer’s fill to 0%.

5. We also want this layer to inherit the Layer Styles of the underlying layer, so create a Clipping Mask on the new layer (Cmd/Ctrl + Option + G).

   
   Creating a Clipping Mask to inherit effects.

6. Now, begin the Layer Style with a Gradient Overlay. Use the default black-to-white gradient, and set the Blend Mode to Screen. Knock the Opacity down to about 50%, and change the angle to about 115°. You may need to change the positioning of the gradient, which you can do by clicking and dragging inside the document window, just as you did in the 3-D modeling section.

   
   
   Setting the Gradient Overlay to Screen.

7. This is a good start for the highlight, but it still looks somewhat unnatural. Using a transparent inside stroke, we can shrink the perimeter of the interior effects. Add a Stroke effect to the layer and drop its opacity to 0%. Change the position to Inside, and work with the size slider until the highlight begins about where the darker inner glow ends on the underlying layer (the example image uses 5 pixels).

   
   
   Using a 0% Inside Stroke to shrink the perimeter of interior effects.

8. To add a more dynamic look to your highlight, you can add a white Inner Shadow set to Screen with a custom contour. Tweak the distance and size settings to finish off the effect.

   
   
   The Inner Shadow creates a more dynamic specular reflection.

X-Ray Vision

Step by Step

To create the die-cut type inside our icon, we could turn the text layer into a shape layer and use the paths to mask away areas from the base. However, this would result in degenerated content; we would no longer be able to modify the type. Instead, we’ll simulate a mask using the Knockout Blending Option. This will also allow us to apply custom effects to the cut-out area.

1. Create a new Type Layer with the text “fx”, and position it within the circular base. The example uses 120 point Garamond Bold Italic.
2. Drop the Fill Opacity to 100%.
3. Begin your Layer Style by adding an Inner Shadow. Increase the size, and increase the opacity to about 90%. You may also want to modify the distance and contour to your liking.

   
   The beginnings of the die-cut effect.

4. We now have the beginnings of a die-cut effect, except that the text still shows the base below it. To fix this, go to the Blending Options section in the Layer Styles menu. Change the Knockout from None to Shallow (this setting samples pixels from the layer directly beneath the current layer’s group). Because our text layer doesn’t belong to a layer group, it samples instead from the Background layer. (Using a Deep Knockout would always sample from the Background layer, regardless of the layer’s group.)

   
   
   Shallow Knockout samples pixels from the layer directly beneath the current layer’s group.

5. To get the text layer to sample from our diamond plate layer, start by clicking “Okay” to close the Layer Style menu. Select the text layer and both of the buttons that make up the base, and group the layers (Cmd/Ctrl + G). As you can see, the “fx” shapes are now drawing pixels from the textured layer directly below the new layer group.

   
   Grouping the icon so that the Knockout samples from the diamond plate layer.

6. The knockout effect is very convincing, but the type still feels detached from the base. Let’s add a beveled effect to simulate the surface quality of the base. Start by adding an outside Stroke with a size of 2; then drop the opacity to 0%. This doesn’t achieve anything but is necessary for the next step.
7. Now add a Bevel and Emboss effect. Change the Style to Stroke Emboss and Technique to Chisel Hard. This will apply the bevel’s lighting effects within the stroke area created in the step above. Modify the settings to achieve a subtle and smooth edge.

   
   
   Adding a Stroke Emboss.

8. Let’s take the bevel one step further by adding a thin specular highlight to the bottom-right edges of the shape. We can use a white Drop Shadow effect, set to Screen, to add a bright highlight just at the edge of the bevel. You’ll want to modify the distance and size to give the highlight a sharp edge.

   
   
   Adding a thin specular highlight using a Drop Shadow.

9. Finish off the Layer Style with more shading within the die-cut letters by adding a simple black-to-white Gradient Overlay, set to Multiply.

   
   Finishing off the die-cut.

Quick Tips

Despite frequent misuse, the Layer Styles menu really is a powerful tool that every designer should learn to work with. Not only does it provide a level of speed and control not easily found through other means, but it provides invaluable flexibility. Our example shows how a multi-dimensional icon and a completely dynamic background can be consolidated within four simple Shape layers, allowing them to be easily modified, reused and repurposed throughout your designs. Below are a few extra tips to remember when working on your next project.

Effects Stacking Order

You may have noticed sometimes that an effect isn’t visible when another effect is being used. For example, a Color Overlay seems to override a Gradient Overlay. This is because of the Layer Styles Stacking Order. Just as with the Layer’s Palette, one layer will cover another that is lower down in the stacking order. Unfortunately, the Layer Styles menu doesn’t allow you to rearrange the order of effects. One way around this (even if you sacrifice the ability to edit) is to use Create Layers, which turns all of your Layer Style effects into actual layers that you can move.

Interior Effects Stacking Order:

• Stroke
• Bevel and Emboss
• Inner Shadow
• Innger Glow
• Satin
• Color Overlay
• Gradient Overlay
• Pattern Overlay

Exterior Effects Stacking Order:

• Stroke
• Outer Glow
• Drop Shadow

Non-Color-Specific Styles

Though not always possible, you may want to use black, white and grays for your effects. Using monochromatic colors in conjunction with the proper Blend Mode allows you to create styles that are non-color-specific, meaning you can modify the color of the actual layer, and your Layer Style will update appropriately.

Scaling Effects

There may be times when you’ve created a Layer Style that looks great at the original size, but when the shape is increased or decreased, your beautiful style is destroyed. Fortunately, Photoshop provides a method to adjust styles that are out of whack. Simply choose Layer → Layer Style → Scale Effects, and then input the percentage you need.

Inconspicuous Menu Options

A number of hidden commands are available to you from within the Layer Styles menu. Depending on the effect, you will have access to either the Hand tool or the Move tool by simply mousing over the document window. The Hand tool allows you to move the document around just as you would outside the Layer Styles menu, and the Move tool repositions the current effect and updates the settings automatically. When using the Move tool, you can still access the Hand tool by holding the space bar. While using either of the tools, you can zoom in and out by holding Space + Cmd or Space + Option respectively. Don’t forget, as with most other menus in Photoshop, holding “Option” will change the “Cancel” button to a “Reset” button, allowing you to undo any changes.

Thanks to Marc Edwards and Ricardo Gimenes for their assistance in editing the article.

(al)

© Thomas Giannattasio for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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The Lost Art Of Design Etiquette

Endless layers in Photoshop. Overstuffed image folders. That jQuery plug-in that has 12 files associated with it. Hundreds or thousands of individual pieces go into making a website. No wonder we go off the deep end when we can’t find a closing div — er, section tag. We work with a ridiculously large number of things, and how we organize them (or choose not to) is often left to personal preference. But our messy habits result in confusion for the designer or developer who inherits your work.

Does it really need to be this way?

Us Vs. Them?

The great divide between designers and developers is well documented. Designers complain when developers would rather backgrounds not have any images. Developers gripe when given a Photoshop document with missing fonts. If those were the only problems we face, we’d be thrilled.

Unfortunately, not every studio is a breeding ground for pixel-crafting harmony. Sometimes designers work on one floor, developers on another. If you asked a good number of them, they’d say they were content with that arrangement. No wonder communication breakdowns are so frequent. The only brains we have to pick are those of our fellow designers or fellow developers, with little crossover it seems. Proximity doesn’t always improve proficiency, but don’t tell that to bees.

The essence of teamwork. You’ve heard of designer bees and developer bees, right?

Web designers have the unique ability to communicate through layout, shape, typography and, ultimately, simplicity. That same discipline must be exercised internally when sharing their artwork with colleagues — using, coincidentally, those same tools. As challenging as it may be, we can bring sophistication to our interfaces in Photoshop, so that our artwork achieves clarity through order. Just as our client has a target audience, we should also be considerate of the internal audience that uses our work.

We’re nibbling at the edges of websites that deliver a happy marriage between remarkable aesthetic and solid function. Seeing some websites already achieving that is exciting. But to fill the Web with more of it, designers and developers will need to combine their skills in even more proficient and efficient ways.

A Call to Arms

Let’s start a revolution that has less to do with being nice and more to do with holding one another to higher standards. Let’s get caught up not in the sexy pixels of tomorrow, but rather in attention to detail in our workflow. What if we made it easier for others to actually use and edit our work? Yes, my friends: let’s start an etiquette revolution.

Make better websites, not war. Fist bumps, man hugs and peace signs, people.

More Than Just Chivalry

Why etiquette? I agree: at first it does sound stuffy and time-consuming, especially if what we’ve done has always worked. The client won’t see the etiquette, we’ll still get paid, and all is well. But let’s reason here: whether you’re in a group or creating websites all by yourself, the level of detail in your craft reflects how much you value your profession and should be apparent in the finished product.

Even so, internally, inheriting messy artwork can be a point of contention for developers. A design could be the most beautiful and useful thing in the world, but if it’s not practically built, it will waste precious time and money. All of the investigative work of the developer in posing questions to the designer about what’s confusing in their PSD should not have been necessary; the work should have been clear from the beginning, and the designer as organized as ever.

Can both the individual and group benefit from some good ol’ fashioned etiquette?

Personal Gain

Here’s a plain illustration of my point. Think of the designer or developer whose work inspires you most. Imagine you had the opportunity to work with them on a project. They got the ball rolling with a PSD or a directory of coded files, and handed it off to you for editing. How surprised would you be if the layers were unnamed? Or the code wasn’t indented, all smushed together? You likely wouldn’t see that, right? Every layer, every line of code reflects on who they are.

Even if you’re a one-person shop, holding yourself to high standard of organization has always been good practice. By doing so, you make less work for yourself when you need to go back to edit something. More importantly, if you were ever to pass off a PSD to a developer or client, you’d want it to speak to your attention to detail and professionalism.

(Aside to Fireworks users: I’m about to make a ton of references to PSDs, so feel free to substitute “Fireworks PNGs.”)

Collective Gain

Have you ever inherited a PSD from a designer and, on seeing the missing fonts, unnamed layers and myriad of masks, knew you were in for about four hours of work just to get started? No? Must be just me, then.

Indulge me, then. Those hours, even if few, are time spent by someone less familiar with the file than the designer and, thus, unnecessary. Our job as Web designers is to run a tight PSD ship. In theory, I should be able to organize my PSD in a fraction of the time that someone else could, just because of my familiarity as the designer. The result? An easier process for the inheritor and less time billed for the company.

Equally important, how much less disgruntled would developers be if designers handed over their work without so many blunders? How many projects would come in under budget? How about world peace? Too far?

Let’s apply the same clarity that we bring to the canvas to the “Layers” panel, too. Now we’re on our way to higher standards.

Let’s look at some recurring issues and see how to resolve them.

Common Mistakes

Didn’t Put the File on the Server

Just your luck. A deadline is fast approaching, and you’ve set aside a good amount of your day to plough through editing a PSD that a fellow designer has just finished working on. Problem is, you can’t get to it because it’s sitting on their desktop instead of the server. How convenient. And doesn’t this always happen when they’re on vacation?

If you’re like me, your short-term memory could use a reminder at 5:00 pm daily.

The remedy
Depending on the hardware, designers should work directly off a networked server, and use their computers only for local back-ups. Alternatively, you could set an alert (in iCal or your app of choice) at the end of each day to remind you to commit your files to a shared spot.

Unnamed or Unused Layers

The developer didn’t expect to need a machete to use your file. Thicker than the Amazon rainforest, your PSD has layers-a-plenty, some even with such distinguished names as “Layer 0 copy.”

The remedy
Name layers and make folders as you go in Photoshop. Yes, it takes discipline, but it’s easier than having to go back to rename and delete after the fact. Use folders, too: they’re there for a reason.

Distinguishing “Layer 0” from “Layer 1” is hard. Let’s use our words.

Unpurchased Stock Photos

Hello there, Mr. iStockphoto watermark. Curious to see you in the final PSD. If we could have only mustered the $ 3 for credits, I could have gotten rid of you myself.

The remedy
For everything, proofread, proofread, proofread. Your text and your images.

Ouch! See what happens when we forget to buy the stock?

Inaccurate File Names

You look confused, developer. Clearly, you should be using website_LATEST-v3_FINAL.psd instead of website_USE_THIS_ONE_ULTIMATE.psd.

The remedy
One file, named accurately. Archive the rest if you think you might need to go back to the third of your nine iterations for some reason.

No amount of highlights and descriptions is as good as maintaining a single file and archiving the rest.

Missing Fonts

Does this sound familiar?

The following fonts are missing for text layer “myFont, notYours”:

Guilty Culprit Extra Condensed

Font substitution will occur. Continue?

Ain’t that something? Confirming wouldn’t be a good solution in this case, because then the developer would be doing some guesswork to match the font that the designer presumably has more knowledge of. This usually happens when a font needs to be used as image text, so a straight substitution might not be an option.

The remedy
Ideally, the designer would be considerate enough to include the (licensed) font somewhere within arm’s reach of the PSD. Alternatively, the studio could install common fonts on all production computers. Apps like Fontcase, Suitcase Fusion and Linotype FontExplorer X will manage your fonts for you.

Inconsistent or Inaccurate Content

If I’ve learned anything from working with developers, it’s that they don’t like to do things twice. Rightfully so. Whether it’s unpurchased stock photos, inconsistent type sizes or inconsistent colors, when they’re not caught the first time around, images need to be reproduced and code needs to be altered. And sadness overcomes all those involved.

The remedy
Develop a brand guide if one doesn’t exist, and have someone check your work before you hand it off. Think of it as quality control.

Tips And Tools

Name Files For Function

Be descriptive but practical when naming PSDs, JPEGs, etc. Something like header_bg.jpg is a little more indicative than blue_box.jpg, isn’t it?

Conserve File Size

I may sound like an old curmudgeon, but file size is still pertinent today. When exporting images, remember that a background at 80 quality will still look close to one at 100 quality but will likely be at least 33% smaller in size. Everyone still likes pages that load quickly, even if our Internet connection speeds have increased over the years.

Snap to Pixels

When I’m cutting up a PSD, one of the most common things I have to negotiate are those 1-pixel semi-transparent lines on the outer edges of shapes. The best way to remove them is pretty well cloaked in the vastness of Photoshop’s settings. When choosing a shape to draw, such as a rectangle, look towards the top of the screen at a row of those same shapes, with an arrow at the end of the row. Click that arrow, and you’ll see more options. Check the box “Snap to Pixels,” and you’ll see that the shape you draw will have much more precise edges.

Use Version Control

A fantastic way to cut down on the chaos of sharing files is to use a version-control system such as Git or Subversion. You designers, don’t feel that only developers can geek out about this. Using some type of revision control for our PSDs and other artwork files is equally important, because those files tend to get revised and transferred quite a bit. Version control is crucial when multiple people are working on front-end and back-end development, because overwriting someone’s work when uploading your own is all too easy.

Communicate

The saying “Communication goes both ways” never meant so much as it does here. Designers should freely communicate their decisions to developers, who themselves should express their concerns about programming said decisions. Nothing new, but it just doesn’t happen as openly as it should. If you consult with each other frequently, you’re bound to have more etiquette.

Be Teachable

Part of practicing good Web design manners is having the humility to know you’re not the best at what you do (except for one of you out there, Mr. Best Web Designer). Be open to being educated by other designers, developers and fantastic websites such as Think Vitamin Membership and Method & Craft. You’ll gain the respect of your co-workers for taking the initiative to improve your skill set.

Websites like Method & Craft are invaluable resources in your quest to become a Web design hero.

Implement Standards

The best way to force your Web team to adhere to standards is to come up with a list of best practices, on that holds each person accountable for their PSDs, HTML, CSS and beyond.

Isobar has done some of the work for you with its Code Standards and Best Practices.

The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web designers was created to give both beginner and seasoned designers a crash course in keeping PSDs organized and understandable for others. With helpful visual comparisons of “Do this” and “Not this,” the website serves as both an educational resource and a checklist. With the crown of “Layer Mayor” at stake, why not take more pride as the resident PSD pro in your office?

Setting some guidelines in your workplace is key to accountability and consistency.

Moving Forward

Having said all this, it’s encouraging to see more designers learning and understanding the process of developers, and vice versa. Some have done it out of necessity, such as freelancers who are hybrid designers/developers. Others have done it in order to understand their co-workers better, in the hope of a better product.

Hopefully, it’s become apparent that being on the same page, especially in Web development, is crucial to success. What are you doing to emphasize a high standard and clarity in your own craft and to make your team’s job easier?

(al)

© Dan Rose for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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• Powered by Article Dashboard gardening advice for bc

The Whys And The Hows Of Textures In Web Design

Texture is becoming integral to design. It’s gone beyond being a trend — it’s now a simple and effective way to add depth to a website. Wielding the power of texture is a great responsibility. It increases the effectiveness of websites and is a quality tool in the arsenal of designers. It can guide the user’s eye and emphasize the importance of key elements.

However, texture has long been synonymous with “dirty” or “grungy” design. Its overuse can be seen throughout the world of music group websites and has left a bad taste in the mouths of designers. Due to its frequent misuse, its benefits have long been overlooked. Texture can bring a website together, but should not be the main focus.

Textures vs. Patterns

Before we get into textures in depth, let’s distinguish between patterns and textures. These words are often used synonymously. Patterns are typically small, repeating, tileable elements, whereas textures tend to be much bigger images that don’t repeat. Imagine a Venn diagram, with textures on the left and patterns on the right, with a little overlap in the middle. So, some textures are also patterns. Several of the tileable texture packs found on Tileables are good examples.

The Function Of Textures

We love texture on the Web for a multitude of reasons. Design decisions shouldn’t be made simply on the basis of, “Oh, well. It looks good.” Design should serve a purpose, and each decision about texture should be made by weighing the pros and cons. Let’s start by going over some of the key benefits.

Grabbing Attention With a Call to Action

Texture can highlight elements such as titles, headings, icons and buttons. It draws the eye to calls to action and main headings. This is perhaps the clearest way that the trend towards textures is catching on.

When used minimally, texture separates the content from the rest of the website. It guides the user’s eye directly to the intended element. It can be a great way to separate key branding elements.

You can grab attention in different ways, but two common ways can be easily demonstrated with branding: a textured logo against a clean background, and a clean logo against a textured background.

Notice how Poco People’s grunge logo is accentuated against the clean background.

Cultural Solutions UK’s branding is the opposite: a clean logo against a textured background.

Enhancing Information Architecture

Texture can be used to guide the eye. And like lines, boxes and contrast, it can be used to separate content into logical divisions. Using it effectively in conjunction with other methods is vital. The goal is not to abandon other methods of information architecture, but to enhance their effectiveness.

By setting off the sliding banner with a texture, A Modern Eden highlights the content within.

See how you can use textures without violating best practices? High contrast and legibility are evident and work in tandem with the texture.

Sky’s Guide Service perfectly separates its content with textured elements.

Above, each element is individually textured for a particular purpose. Sky’s Guide Service divides the content into logical sections, and the user sees where they start and end. Texture enhances the information architecture by creating logical content areas that help the user process the information accurately.

Also, the texture perfectly suits the style and topic of the website. All of the elements are custom-tailored to fit a logical theme, thus enhancing the website’s overall message.

Building an Atmosphere and Bolstering Identity

More and more, clients want website designs that do more than display their content in a user-friendly way. They want websites that enhance their identity and enable users to identify with the brand. Texture can be used to achieve this in many ways.

While texture is plenteous on Deda, it is gentle and never over-bearing.

Deidre “Deda” Bain does exactly this for her personal brand. Her use of texture helps to put a face — almost literally — to the service. Without the texture, the website would be rather bland and would lack the personality of its creator. With legibility and a proper information architecture, the design would still be nice, but that extra something would be missing.

Texture adds to the “intangibles” of Web design: that wow factor and sexiness of a memorable website.

Tips And General Advice

All of this is fine and dandy, but you’ll want to avoid common traps while refining certain techniques and modes of thought.

Maintain Legibility

Never (ever!) sacrifice legibility for texture. Many of us make this mistake, and will continue to for a while to come. Legibility on the Web is paramount in importance. If a user can’t even read the message, then what’s the point in composing it, let alone texturing it?

Avoid doing this to your type:

Sometimes, we go a bit overboard. This poster shows what happens when you get too excited about texture.

Don’t Beat a Dead Horse

In print, texture is hard to overdo — depending on the genre, of course. On the Web, however, texture can be extremely distracting when used in “bulk.”

On Hinder’s website, legibility gets lost in the menu, and the texture is distracting. (And watch out for the auto-playing music.) Oops!

Practice Means Improvement

Experiment with your designs. Try new things. Apply textures in places where you wouldn’t normally put them. Use textures that you’ve never used before. You never know what you’ll discover until you try it.

If It Serves No Purpose, Take It Out

Refine your technique before using it on a client’s website. Always make sure that your use of texture is based on a sound plan, as would be the case with any website you create. If you can’t justify something that you’ve done as being an improvement, take it out.

There’s no point in overdoing texture. The entire purpose of the Web is to disseminate information. How can you accomplish this if your content is unreadable? Besides, subtlety and nuance are a better way to demonstrate mastery of a subject.

Consider the Effect You Are Trying to Achieve

As we know from experience, getting carried away with texture is all too easy. Keeping in mind the final effect you are trying to achieve is the best way to avoid this. If you want a subtle textured background, just do it and then move on to the next item on your list. Otherwise, you’ll never get it done.

Collect Resources So That You Don’t Have to Search Later

You can save a huge amount of time by downloading and archiving resources that seem useful to you. Keeping your files organized is a great back-up plan. Trust us: nothing is more frustrating than coming across the perfect brush pack and not being able to remember where you found it. Our list of brushes is long and diverse. We’ve been collecting the brushes over the years from websites such as deviantART and Brusheezy, from the freebie sections of various design blogs, and by making our own.

Learn Masks

Learning to work with layer masks will save you a lot of time in the long run and will be a strong tool in your arsenal. Masks are also a fantastic way to non-destructively experiment with your designs. A lot of great tutorials are out there; a quick Google search led me to “Understanding Layer Masks in Photoshop.”

Don’t Sacrifice Quality for Loading Time

There are plenty of interesting ways to keep textures from killing loading times. But don’t sacrifice the quality of the texture too much, because rather than appearing finished and professional, the website will look outdated right out of the gate. Repeating texture patterns are a good way to save on the loading times of backgrounds and larger elements.

Of course, we want to design with the Web’s inherent constraints in mind, but as Internet connection speeds rise globally, loading time shouldn’t be your primary concern. Nevertheless, use texture within reason: a website with a lot of textures will inevitably have a long loading time. A simple method to get around file size is to use repeating textures, especially for backgrounds. Tileables is a fantastic resource to get started. And we’re always learning about CSS Sprites and using Smush.it to further compress our files.

The difference in texture quality here is major. The texture on the left is compressed. The one on the right is, too, but not as much.

Choose Textures Logically

Lastly, and perhaps as important as maintaining legibility, choose textures that are logical for your design. If you’re building a website for a furniture store, then rusty textures wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. Textures are meant to build identity, not to confuse the visitor, regardless of whether they look good. Usability should always take precedence.

Textures: A D.I.Y. Attitude

One of the many ways to get textures is to create them yourself. We are big proponents of this because it can save you time and give the exact result you’re looking for. And don’t worry: it’s not as difficult as it looks.

Snap Some Photos

The simplest method is to grab your trusty digital camera and snap shots of textures that are around you, especially ones that you’ve never considered to be “textures.” Unique textures can advance your style. For example, would you consider the top of a cake or bubbles in a sink as workable textures? They’re all around you.

This photo from Lost and Taken demonstrates that a distinctive photograph can be used for a special-purpose texture.

If you look around yourself, you will see plenty of grunge: worn-down buildings, concrete walls, rusted metal, tree bark, weathered wood. These are all fantastic specimens. In fact, a decent point-and-shoot camera is enough to start. We started shooting our own textures with an old Nikon Coolpix 4200, which worked flawlessly.

When you shoot, you could use full auto mode. But don’t use flash, because it will “flatten” the image and remove most of the detail in the texture, especially in close-up shots. Let the camera do the work, and always take multiple shots of a texture to get the best possible result. You can always rely on post-processing in your favorite image editor.

Scanners Work, Too

Another great tool is the good ol’ flatbed scanner. Old paper, cardboard, mouse pads (shout out to Trent Walton for this idea), paper bags, skin — the list of what you can scan goes on. Scan at a very high resolution, 600 to 1200 DPI, so that the texture is of high quality and can be adapted to any project, including large print pieces. High-resolution scans also allow you to isolate particular spots in an image to use as a texture.

Once you’re comfortable with that, you can start creating elements using traditional art techniques. For example, apply a bit of charcoal to some beautiful heavy paper, which could be the finishing touch for that grunge background you’ve been after. What about acrylic paint splatters to add depth to your UI? Or coffee stains on paper? The possibilities are endless!

Icing on the Cake

You can always spice up the process by combining textures. Using the layer blending modes in Photoshop, you can combine various textures into one. Caleb of Lost and Taken has posted an in-depth walkthrough of the process that he follows to create his packs.

Believe it or not, Photoshop’s somewhat gimmicky filters can also be used to create textures. Noise textures are a snap with the Noise filter. Playing with the values and levels of the filter, you can obtain results for a wide range of needs. There’s also the Texturize filter, although it’s rather gimmicky and rarely useful. Still, it could help you achieve part of the effect you’re going for.

A brief experiment with noise filters. Light noise is better, but make sure you can still see the effect.

If you want the texture to be seamless, then a uniform distribution is easier to work with. “Monochromatic” ensures that the texture has no color noise that could conflict with other colors in your design.

If you’re interested in learning the basic techniques of applying texture to elements, we’ve produced several videos to get you started. More advanced users may already know these techniques but might want to brush up on them anyway. Either way, we hope you find them useful.

A demonstration of using brushes, levels and layers to create texture.

A demonstration of using texture files, packs, levels and layers to create texture.

A combination of the two techniques above, with an overview of more advanced ideas.

Articles and Resources

Articles and Tutorials

• “Adding Texture in Photoshop,” Method & Craft
• “Creating Tileable Textures,” Method & Craft
• “Vintage Effects Within Illustrator,” Method & Craft
• “Design a Vintage Poster With Vector Pack 16, Part 1,” GoMediaZine
• “Design a Vintage Poster, Part 2,” GoMediaZine

Free Resources

• Smashing Magazine’s Free Textures (2000 free textures)
• Lost and Taken
• Subtle Patterns
• Projectdd
• Valleys in the Vinyl
• deviantART
• Flickr
• Tileables

Premium Resources

• Arsenal, Go Media
• WeGraphics
• GraphicRiver
• Vandelay Premier
• Premium Textures
• Zen Textures
• 48 Pixel Patterns

Related Posts

You might be interested in the following related posts here, on Smashing Magazine:

• Smashing Magazine’s Free Textures (2000 free textures)
• 100 Beautiful Free Textures

(al) (tg) (vf)

© Jon Savage and Simon H. for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Establishing Your Grid In Photoshop

Creating a grid is typically one of the very first things you do when starting a design comp. After all, it provides the basic structure on which the rest of your design will lie. In this article, we’ll provide two different methods for efficiently establishing a grid. These methods enable you to quickly and smartly form a grid so that you can spend more time designing.

Method 1

The first method uses GuideGuide by Cameron McEfee to set up vertical columns. This Photoshop plugin is said to be in beta, but from my experience with it everything works perfectly well, and there is even talk of the release of GuideGuide 2, which will include more features. Instructions on installing it can be found on the GuideGuide page. There is also a video tutorial on using it that was put together by Russell Brown at Adobe.

Set Up Your Grid in 5 Seconds

1. Determine the margins, number of columns and gutter widths. Then click “Create Guides.”
2. If the canvas for your design comp is wide, do the quick math so that the margin lengths allow for the grid to be constrained to your 960 pixels. For example, if the canvas is 1200 pixels wide, then the left and right margins would be 120 pixels each.

An example of 12 columns with 20-pixel gutters and margins set to 120 pixels.

You can also set a baseline grid this way, but you’d end up with a lot of guides. A better option might be the method featured on a Method & Craft video by Mike Precious…

Method & Craft’s Extensible Baseline Grid

Here is a brief summary of the steps for setting up an extensible baseline grid.

1. Establish the grid’s baseline value, then create your pattern template. The baseline grid is determined by the leading (or line height) of the body text. For example, if the main body copy of your design is set in 13-point Helvetica, with the leading at 18 points, then you would set up an 18-pixel baseline grid.
2. Create a Photoshop file that is the height of your baseline grid, fill the bottom pixel, and leave the remaining pixels transparent. In this case, the dimensions of your canvas would be 1-pixel wide and 18-pixels tall.
3. “Select All,” and then save this as a new pattern. You can do this by going to Edit → Define Pattern…
   
4. Go to Adjustment Layer → Pattern, and select your newly created grid pattern.
   
5. Adjust the opacity as desired.

An example of method 1 with the columns and baseline grid together.

Advantages

• You get an optional baseline grid, which you can use independent of the vertical column grid. A baseline grid can create visual clutter when laid over top a design comp. With this method, it can just be toggled on when needed.
• If you prefer to use guides for your grid, this is the better solution.
• You can hide and show the grid through an easy shortcut.

Drawbacks

• Using vertical guides to mark other elements in the document can be difficult because you might confuse them with the grid.
• Compared to method 2, your options for the grid are not as specific or comprehensive (such as setting the height of the horizontal module).
• Grid lines are determined mathematically and won’t necessarily align with the pixel grid. This means that your guides could in some cases fall unevenly and end up being positioned down the middle of the actual pixels.
• This method requires two separate processes to create a vertical and baseline grid, compared to just the one method coming up.

Method 2

Modular Grid Pattern is an all-in-one grid solution. The tool creates a vertical columnar grid and a baseline grid all as one pattern. There are two ways to go about using Modular Grid Pattern:

Application Panel
In addition to Photoshop, this also works with Fireworks, GIMP and Microsoft Expression Design. Please note that you must have the latest software (Adobe CS5 or the equivalent of one of the other applications) and an Internet connection for this panel to work. That being said, if you have already created a pattern and saved it in your library, then you would be able to access it without needing anything else.

Web app
This works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera. The Web app enables you to create a grid pattern and download it straight from the browser in all formats.

Whichever way you choose, just pick a module width, gutter width and baseline number, and Modular Grid Pattern does the rest. You can also specify a height for the horizontal module.

Advantages

• This is a fast way to get it all; an all-in-one layer.
• You have the option to download a Photoshop pattern file, PNG or transparency mask.
• You can label the patterns and put them in a folder so that you can come back to the grid with virtually no set-up required at all.
• Frees your guide to be used for other purposes.
• You can specify a height for the vertical module to establish an overall vertical rhythm.
• The grid can be overlaid with varying degrees of opacity, so you can make it less distracting as you are designing.
• Supports applications other than Photoshop.

Drawbacks

• If your canvas is wide, then making the grid a pattern will make it extend across the entire page, which could be annoying and make it harder to see the boundaries of the content. This can be fixed in a couple of ways:
  1. Apply a layer mask to constrain the grid to just the main content area.
  2. Draw a rectangle the size of the main content area (for example, 960 × 1200 pixels), and apply the grid as a layer style, with the fill set to 0% in this case.
• This method forces you to choose a baseline grid, preventing you from just creating vertical columnar modules.
• It requires you to manually hide and show the grid layer, without the benefit of a keyboard shortcut.

Concluding Thoughts

We hope these methods will increase your efficiency and precision in establishing a grid. In the end, the way you set up the grid will depend on your workflow. Evaluate your needs, then choose the method best suited to them. Either method requires minimal set-up but can save much time and frustration.

Additional Resources

If neither method interests you, quite a few templates out there would also do the job. I recommend checking out Mindy Wagner’s layout template and Robbie Manson’s 960-pixel grid templates. Also, The Grid System links to a number of quality resources and tools.

(al)

© Steve Schoeffel for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Exporting From Photoshop

Congratulations. You’ve just completed a pixel-perfect mock-up of an app, and you’ve gotten the nod from everyone on the team. All that’s left to do is save the tens, hundreds or maybe even thousands of production assets required to bring it to life.

It’s probably the least interesting part of designing software, usually entailing hours of grinding. Saving images to multiple scales — as required by iOS and other platforms — adds complication to the process. But there are ways to streamline or automate the exporting process.

Copy Merged

Cutting up a design with the “Copy Merged” feature is fairly easy: ensure that the layers are shown or hidden as needed; draw a Marquee selection around the element; choose Edit → Copy Merged, and then File → New; hit Return; and then “Paste.” The result is a new document with your item isolated, trimmed to the absolute smallest size possible.
From here, all you need to do is save the image using “Save As” or “Save for Web & Devices.”

Rinse and repeat for every image needed for the app or website. The technique is simple and quick, but repetitive; and if you ever need to export the images again, you’ll have to start from scratch.

This seems to be the most common method and, for some designers, the only method, which is a shame, because better techniques exist.

You could create an action that triggers the “Copy Merged,” “New,” “Paste” process — a small time-saver, but ultimately not much of an improvement to the workflow.

Export Layers to Files

If you’re lucky, and your goal is to export a lot of similar images (typically with identical dimensions), you might be able to use Photoshop’s “Export Layers to Files” script.

By choosing File → Scripts → Export Layers to Files, each layer of the document will be saved as a separate file, with a file name that matches the layer’s name. This means you’ll probably have to prepare the document by flattening all of the elements that you’d like to export down to bitmap layers — a time-consuming process, but often quicker than using “Copy Merged.” It could also trim the size of the resulting file, if you choose to remove completely transparent areas.

I can’t say that I’m a fan of the script’s Flash-based UI or of the way it works, but “Export Layers to Files” is handy if your desired result fits its limited range of use cases.

Slices

Photoshop’s Slice tool lets you define rectangular areas to export as individual images, with some limitations: only one set of slices can exist per document, and slices cannot overlap (if they do, then smaller rectangle slices will be formed). During the ’90s, the Slice tool was a good way to create table-based Web layouts, filled with images. These days, designers far more often need finer control over how images are sliced, especially when creating efficient, dynamic designs, typically with images that have transparency. But, with a twist on the original concept, the Slice tool can be put to great use.

Sprite Sheets With Slices

Sprite sheets are commonly used in CSS and OpenGL games, where texture atlasing can have significant performance benefits. A similar method can be employed to build UI elements in Photoshop, even if the result is a set of images, rather than one large image.

By spreading out the elements that you need to export as a flat sprite sheet, you eliminate the need for slices to overlap. If there are too many elements to comfortably fit in one document, you can create multiple documents, eliminating the need for more than one set of slices per document.

The other benefit to working like this is that you’ll no longer need to build your main design documents with the same level of precision. Occasionally using a bitmap or forgetting to name a layer is fine, because you’ll have a chance to fix things when preparing the sprite sheet for exporting. But it does mean that the original mock-up document could get out of sync with the export documents if you make changes (for example, to adjust colors or layer effects).

Because we’re interested only in user-created slices, it might also be a good idea to click “Hide Auto Slices” (in the options toolbar when the Slice Select tool is enabled) and to turn off “Show Slice Numbers,” under “Guides, Grid & Slices” in Preferences. This way, you’ll remove unnecessary clutter from Photoshop’s slice UI.

After you’ve created a sprite sheet with the slices all set up correctly, you’ll be able to export all of the images at once, using “Save for Web & Devices.” Assuming you’ve done things correctly, you’ll be able to scale up by 200%, save all of your Retina images, and then batch rename them (adding @2x to the file names) — or scale them down, if you built everything at Retina size to begin with.

Layer-Based Slices

If your UI element is one layer and you’d like the exported image to be the smallest possible size, you might want to consider using a “Layer-Based Slice.” To create one for the currently selected layer, choose “New Layer-Based Slice” from the Layers menu. A Layer-Based Slices moves, grows and shrinks with the layer it’s associated with. It also takes into account layer effects: strokes and shadows increase the size of a Layer-Based Slice, so the effects are included. Less control, but more automated.

My Exporting Workflow

For years, I’ve used Copy Merged as my primary exporting method, and used Export Layers to Files when it made sense. That was a poor choice. Sprite sheets have so many advantages, especially in medium- to large-scale projects, that the set-up time is made up for very quickly. This is even truer when exporting Retina and non-Retina images: each set can be exported in a few clicks and is far less likely to have issues with file names or sizes due to its automated nature.

It also creates an environment in which modifying production assets is easy, allowing for faster iteration and more experimentation. It lowers the barrier to improving artwork during development and when revising the app or website.

And that’s a very good thing.

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© Marc Edwards for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Mixing Up Illustration: Combining Analog And Digital Techniques

In the digital age, don’t forget to use your digits! Your hands are the original digital devices

— Lynda Barry

People often ask how I arrived at a finished illustration. Honestly, it’s different every time, but it always starts with a hand-drawn sketch. Sometimes, I paint it completely by hand; sometimes I’ll scan in a pencil drawing. Many of my pieces are 100% analog that I’ll show only at shops or galleries. Use anything you can; if the illustration would work as a wood carving, go that route. There are concrete steps one can take, but they certainly don’t have to be the same every time. My goal is to take a sketch or idea as far as it can go — and also, to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself with every new job. For this article, I’ll use handcrafted brushes and Photoshop as my tools.

Sketching It Out

Concepting for me always starts with pencil and paper. If there is one consistent element through all of my pieces, it’s sketching. I love to draw. If I could establish and execute everything with a single pencil drawing, I would. The best thing to do is keep some type of sketchbook or journal with you as much as possible. Milton Glaser said it best: “Drawing is visual thinking.” Drawing creates many possibilities for any idea you might have. It’s then when the character’s personality starts to emerge. Then, I’ll add some volume to the sketch to show where the textures should really come through.

Researching

This is the most underestimated part of the process, but one of the most important. Here, we’re assessing the sketch. What textures would work? What colors would work? It helps to look at your influences.

Some artists who always inspire me are Mary Blair, Alice Provensen, Charley Harper, Maurice Noble and Eyvind Earle. And there are so many ways now to catalog and bookmark historical artwork.

Also, if I’m drawing an elephant’s skin, or wood on a camera, or a band on a helmet, I’ll want to take a close look at the real thing. Google Images is quick, but if I have time I’ll run to the library. Sometimes I do this as soon as I have an idea. Really seeing what you’ll be working with helps.

Crafting Your Own Brushes

I do this because I want my brushes to be my own. Many great websites out there offer textured brushes for Photoshop. For me, the more unique these brushes, the better. Based on my sketch and research, I will have some idea of what I want to capture. I’ll use oil pastels, paint, paper towels, charcoal and anything else. It’s all about being resourceful — use everything. One more thing: when making brushes, the grittier the paper, the better. The more tooth it has, the more the marks will scan. It is for this reason alone I have to clean my scanner all the time.

Some rough crosshatching for the elephant’s skin, with an oil pastel on drawing paper.

Scanning It All In

Scan everything: the initial sketch, the textures, anything you’ve made to this point. I’ll keep anything that I don’t use at this point in a library, possibly to use for something else. I’ve set the scanner to 600 DPI at “Millions” of colors. If your scanner has a “Sharpen” setting, crank it to “High.” You can scan the sketches in black and white at 1200 DPI, or in grayscale since the brushes will be black and white. I’ve set the colors to “High” so that I can archive the files and use them for something else. Once everything has been scanned, let’s open the images in Photoshop.

Here is a scan of my original sketch. I scanned it in at 300 DPI because I will eventually be printing this piece.

If you scan as black and white, you won’t need to worry about adjusting the levels. I’ve scanned in color, so I’ll increase the black and white values in Photoshop. The levels can be found in Images → Adjustments → Levels.

Defining Brushes In Photoshop

I recommend making each one of these brushes a separate file. For the resolution, you can go up to 2500 × 2500. It really depends on what the finished piece needs to be. For this exercise, I’ll select a portion of the scan and define a brush from it.

From the menu drop-down, go to “Edit” and then “Define Brush.”

Now that we have created a brush, we can name it. It will be added to our Brush palette.

You can view the Brush palette by selecting the Brush tool. Look at the options toolbar, and you’ll see a thumbnail of the brush; you can pull this down to view the entire palette. From the menu arrow in the top right, you can save brushes you’ve created. Brushes are saved in Photoshop’s Presets/Brushes folder. You can also load brushes from this menu as well.

Selecting A Color Palette

Now that our brush set is in order, let’s start painting. For the color palette, I’ve researched my idols. Mary Blair and Alice Provensen are masters of color and shape. I always look at their use of color and design. Again, this is why research is so important. Study the people you admire, and analyze why you admire their work. I really like a somewhat muted palette, with some small areas of intense color. In my scanned sketch, I’ve added another layer and sampled the colors I’d like to use.

Making Shapes And Painting

Let’s go to the Paths menu and draw the shapes that we want to paint. From here, we create a “New Path” using the Pen tool, to define the shapes that we established in the sketch. So, let’s open the sketch that we scanned, select the Pen tool from the toolbar, and select “New Path” from the Path menu. Once the Path is saved, we use the Path tool (which is the Pen tool), and start tracing out our shapes. The image below shows all the paths I’ve created that I intend to paint.

Let’s start by painting the shape that will be the background. From the toolbar, select the Path tool, and select a specific path.

Now that we’ve selected a Path, we can create a selection from that path. To do this, select from the pull-down menu on the right in the Paths menu. You’ll see an option named “Make Selection.”

Once that’s selected, a dialog box will pop up asking for a radius to feather the selection; 0 is fine. Also, enable “Anti-aliased” and “New Selection.”

Now that we have a selection, we can “Create a New Layer.” This layer will be specific to this shape. We’ll end up with many layers for each shape, but they will give us the flexibility to edit down the road.

Now that we have a new layer, and the Path is a selection, we can use a brush from the brush set that we created. Also, I’m still using the colors from the palette that I created earlier.

Here’s where the research, brush creation and painting all come together. Let’s paint the path on a “New Layer,” using the steps described above.

Painting within the shapes you’ve defined is a chance to experiment. You can try all kinds of things, like making the brush more transparent or painting over other textures. For me, it’s a lot of trial and error. This image below is a close-up of the brush I’m painting with.

After many painted layers, I end up with a piece that is digitally painted with hand-crafted brushes.

Other Resources

You might be interested in the following articles and related resources:

• Illustrations of Alice and Martin Provensen
  Alice and Martin Provensen were a husband-and-wife illustration team. They wrote and illustrated numerous children’s books, including many little and giant golden books from the ’40s until Martin’s death in 1987. Alice continues to work as an illustrator.
• “How to Steal Like an Artist”
  An excellent article on creativity and life by the brilliant Austin Kleon.
• The Drawn Blog
  A daily source of inspiration for illustration, animation, cartooning, and comic art.
• Today’s Inspiration
  A great source for inspiration and the history of Illustration by Professor Leif Peng.

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© David Mottram for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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• Powered by Article Dashboard hand painted nail art

Holiday Frame – New Year Eve with Dragon

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