Photoshop CS4 and 3D

Stephen Burns – www.chromeallusion.com

Adobe is bridging the gap between two dimensional and 3 dimensional approaches to creating art. It started with CS3 where we have the ability to import 3D objects into 3D Layers and have some of the same navigational functionalities as 3rd party 3D program. In addition, we can access the textures via the use of Texture Layers. This gives us the flexibility to alter them to match our final vision in post production.

Now we have the long awaited Photoshop CS4 that has upgraded its 3D capabilities greatly from its predecessor. Its 3D engine goes beyond reading the object and its textures. It will allow you to import & add lights to your 3D scene. It will also read and apply Glossiness, Specularity, Bump and Reflection maps. Photoshop reads its texture information off of UV maps (U –Horizontal and V-Vertical). These are basically 2 dimensional images maps that are mapped onto 3 dimensional surfaces. This style of surface mapping allows the most flexibility as to where you apply your textures.

In this tutorial we are going to explore UV mapping in a 3D program and import the 3D object into CS4’s 3D Layers. Then we will discover the great flexibility that we have with the new advances to the texturing engine.

Let’s start with the basic 3D options for creating 3D primitives from single or multiple images. You can access this under the 3D options located on your menu bar. So, Open any image and select the Cube option to create a 3D cube.

If you are a beginner at 3D modeling and texturing, CS4 will help you get familiar with the basic tools and texturing capabilities through its intuitive interface. Primitives are basic 3D shapes such as spheres, cylinders or cubes to name a few. Essentially, CS4 will take any image and place it onto the primitive that you choose. In this example I have chosen a Cube. Let’s learn how to navigate a 3D object.

Take a look at your tools bar and notice that we have something new. You will see a toolset for navigating 3D objects imported into CS4. There are two sets of tools. One set is for the navigation of the object and the other is for the navigation of your camera.

Basic 3D Navigations

When you select any navigational tool a 3D Axis guide automatically appears adjacent to your model that has red, green and blue color designations. These correspond to X, Y and Z axis. On a grid the “X” axis (red) is simply a movement going from left to right. The Y axis (green) is a movement going up or down. And finally, the Z axis (blue) is movement going in or out into the scene.

Access the 3D menu

Step 1.

If you place your mouse on a circular shape for any of the axis take notice that a ringed shape will appear that designates the direction which you will be restricted to. When you rotate automatically a dark blue highlight will display the position where you began and where the position ends.

(L) Rotation along a designated axis. (R) Resize along all axis

Stretch along a designated axis

Next, if you place your mouse directly on the cubic shape located at the end of each of the axis you will resize the shape of your object along that axis.

Place your mouse on the larger cubic shape where all of the axis connects. If you click and drag here the entire object resizes without distortion.

Finally, you can shift your object along a designated plane. This places your mouse on the plane between two axes allowing you to drag your mouse.

Now that you have a basic idea how to navigate your 3D object let’s take a look at a 3D object that was created in NewTek’s Lightwave (www.newtek.com ). We will examine how to bring in Third-Party 3D models into Photoshop’s 3D layers.

Importing Third-Party Models

Take a look at figure nine. What you’re looking at is a texture laid over UV coordinates for the body of a submarine created in LightWave. UV coordinates are simply the surface of the 3D object that has been unwrapped and laid out like a flat sheet of paper so that we can draw or paint on it. When you are completed with drawing or painting on this paper we can then wrap it back on to our object to display the new edits that are accurately placed. For example if we want the rims of the windows to be black we simply find that location on the UV map that is designated to the window’s rims and paint that area black. When the map is reapplied to your 3D object your window rims will take on that color. This painting or editing is done in any two dimensional digital paint program which in this case is CS4.

Example of UV map with texture of submarines body

Take a look at figure 10 and you will see the top view (top left), side view (bottom right) and the perspective view (top right) of the submarine. On the bottom, left hand corner you will see the UV map for the submarine’s body. Let’s define further where that is. The egg shaped cockpit on the left hand side of the model is designated as the submarine’s body.

Figure 10: 3D model displayed in LightWave

Figure 11 shows the panel that displays all of the textures for this sub. Please take note of them because when we go into Photoshop you will see these names applied again.

Fig 11: View of LightWaves texture panel

Importing your model into Photoshop

Let’s go back into Photoshop and import the model that was created in LightWave. It is important to know that Photoshop will read several formats natively that include the following:

• 3DS
• Obj
• DAE
• KMZ
• U3DDepending on your software of choice, check with the manufacturer to find out if they have created a plug-in for Photoshop thatwill read and import the application’s models and textures. In this example the LWO Importer can be downloaded from NewTek’s site (www.newtek.com).To import any 3D object into Photoshop’s 3D layer access your 3D menu and “new layers from 3D file”

Import object into Photoshop’s 3D layers

Once the object is imported you will see in your Layers Palette not only the thumbnail of the model but the textures that have been applied to it through LightWave as well.

Display of the imported model from LightWave

If you double click on the texture as a designated body automatically the texture will open up into its own file.

Display of the texture for the body of the ship

This texture can be edited like any image in Photoshop. In this example a yellow stripe has been applied around the base of the windows. After the stripe is applied all you need to do is hit Ctrl S/Cmd S to update the model.

Yellow stripe applied to the model

Figure 16 shows the visual result of the model in Photoshop.

Fig 16 Update the texture on the model

The technique that I have shown you works well but is an old technique from CS3. CS4 has been updated to take advantage of the paint tools. In other words we can utilize our Paintbrush to paint directly onto the model. This feature is really going to revolutionize the workflow of 3D modelers and concept artists.

To start it is important to open up your 3D Palette. Near the bottom of the palette you will see an option that says ‘Paint On’. Make sure that ‘Diffuse’ is selected. This option simply allows you to paint directly on the surface of the texture within that particular layer.

Experiment with these basic shapes to get to know how images are mapped onto their surfaces. Simply open a bitmap image in win this particular

Set ‘Paint On’ to ‘diffuse’

I recommend that you apply the next procedure to all of your layers because as you are painting on your model you’re going to want the entire object to have the ability to acccept paint. In order for your object to accept editing from the Paint Brush you need to have a layer that will accept bitmap information. Next click on a layer that designates the texture that you are interested in editing. Create a brand new layer above the one that’s already there as shown in figure 18.

Place a new layer above your texture

Now you’re ready to begin painting. Just select your paintbrush with any color that you choose as your foreground color and begin applying it directly to the object. Don’t forget to use your navigational tools to move, rotate and pan your object. Figure’s 19 through 21 shows examples of the surface of the submarine edited with the paint brush as well as the smudge brush.

Paint directly onto the model

All of the information that we paint on the ship will be applied directly to the new layer that we created as shown in figure 22.

Additional paint being applied to the model

Fig 22: Textures are applied to the Blank layer that we created

3D Panel Options

CS4 has given us other powerful tools for viewing and editing the surfaces on the objects. The 3D panel is divided into 4 sections which are 3D Scenes, 3D Mesh, 3D Materials and 3D lights.

Let’s begin with 3D Scenes.

One of the 3D scenes feature is to give you a visual representation of the model in a number of styles. We will look at only 3 of those but experiment with the others on your own. Take a look at Figure 23 thru 25. The Bounding Box options simply places an outline of a cube as a representation of the more sophisticated shape. The Shaded Wireframe displays the edges of the polygons that make up the model. Raytracing represents the final render. Take notice that Raytracing actually displays the reflections as well as the shadow details.

(top) View of the shaded wire option applied to model.
(above) View of the Raytracing option applied to model.
(below) View of the Shaded Wire frame option applied to model

The next button is for your 3D Mesh options. Here you can use all of the navigational tools to position, rotate, scale and move your object. In addition you can choose to Cast Shadows or catch shadow from itself or other objects.

View of the 3D Mesh Panel

Now, take look at your 3D Materials option. This is where you can modify and add Bump Maps, Glossiness, Shininess, Opacity and Reflectivity. In this example the ‘windows’ material is chose and its Reflectivity is up to 64%. As a result you can see the reflections from the submarines side.

Reflectivity applied to 64%

Figure 28 shows the Reflectivity set to ‘0’. Now reflections are no longer applied.

Reflectivity applied to 0%

Applying and Altering Lights

One of the more powerful features in CS4 is the ability to add, manipulate and move lights through the document. To see the lights themselves in your document you must turn on their visibility which is an icon at the bottom of the 3D Lights palette. Let’s start by taking a look at controlling shadows.

Figure 29 shows the Softness option set to 0%. Take note of the hard edge of the shadow.

Figure 30 shows the Softness option set to 65%. Here the edge of the shadow is soft and pleasing.

 

There are several types of light source in your scene. As a default you have 3 light sources automatically applied to your scene and they all will be Infinite light sources. You can alter these lights to other styles just by selecting the style from the drop menu as shown in figure 31. Your choices are Spot, Infinite and Global. Spot is more directional where you can change its falloff and direction. Infinite is a broader light source that is still directional. Global emits illumination in all direction. Figure 31 shows the spot light positioned for illuminating the top of the sub.

31:Spot Light illuminating the sub

You also, have the option to alter the color to match the lighting in your scene.

Bump Maps

Once the lighting is set up correctly then it’s time to bring in your bump maps to really add some character and detail to your model and it’s easy to do. Just keep in mind that 3D engines utilize black and white information to create the bump. The highlights give the surface the appearance of rising forward and darker tonalities makes the surface recede.
To apply a bump map go to your Materials panel and next to the Bump Strength then select Load Texture from the drop list.

Load a new texture dialogue box

View of the bitmap used to create the bump

The material for the body of the sub was originally chosen so ‘body bump’ designates that it’s the map for that surface.

Figure 35 shows the completed results.

Once you have finished updating the surfaces on your model then you are ready to use it for a concept piece. The final image shows the textured sub as part of an underwater environment. So, the galaxy is truly the limit in CS4.

I hope that you enjoyed this article. Keep an eye out for my new book “The Art of Poser Pro and Photoshop CS4” where we will explore some artistic opportunities with Photoshop CS4 Extended and Poser Pro.

Stephen Burns has authored several books on Photoshop and digital art.He is the trainer on the Photoshop CS4 and Poser Integration DVD from PhotoshopCAFE. He is a popular artist and runs of the world’s largest Photoshop User Groups. www.chromeallusion.com

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The New Local Adjustments in Camera Raw

Adobe just keeps making the Raw Converter better and better. With the newest version (Adobe Camera Raw 5.0), we now have the ability to locally edit our Raw images! Imagine being able to dodge and burn without using layers, or darken a sky without going even going into Photoshop. The folks at Adobe have conceived a system that allows us to locally edit our images right in the Camera Raw dialog box. Couple this with the use of smart objects and we have more power and control over our photographs than ever before.

Local Adjustments

Photographers have been altering their images since the dawn of photography. A little lighting here, some darkening there, changing the contrast of their printing paper, using a filter under the enlarger lens or choosing a longer exposure time. These methods were common darkroom practice. With the advent of digital imaging, these practices have not so much changed as just become easier.

There are two types of changes we can make to our images. Those that affect the entire image (global adjustments) and those that affects only certain areas of the image (Local Adjustments). When you open an image in Camera Raw and begin working with the Basic Tab (Fig. 1.1) you are adjusting the entire image. You are applying Global Adjustments. This is, of course, is the necessary first step. You may add a little exposure to your photo, increase the contrast a touch, or pump up the saturation a bit. These are familiar sliders to those who have worked in Camera Raw before. But what happens if you want to just lighten a face or darken only a sky? You now need to apply Local Adjustments.

There are two new tools in Camera Raw that allow you to work locally on your images, the Graduated Filter and the Adjustment Brush shown highlighted in red in Fig. 1.2. These tools allow you to target a certain area and then apply a change of Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Clarity, or Sharpness to that area only. You can even overlay a color locally with these tools!

Using the Local Adjustment Brush

Define what you would like to do the area-add brightness or contrast Then define the area that you want affect.

Step 1 starts with making your adjustments on the right hand panel. I will start by bumping up the exposure to +1.00. At first I will not know how much to add, but we can fine tune that later.

Step 2 simply requires you to paint over the area that you want to affect. The additional exposure is added to that area as you paint. I have increased the exposures slider and finished painting in the other face.

As you define the area, you are actually painting a mask with the paintbrush. By checking the Show Mask box you get a visual of where you are painting as seen in Fig. 1.7. Uncheck the box to remove the mask overlay. To change the mask color, double click on the color box next to the Show Mask box and choose a new color.

The overall effectiveness of your local adjustment is going to largely depend on how your paint your mask. Fig. 1.8 shows section of the panel that governs your paintbrush as you paint.

Size- Controls the overall size of the brush. For those of you who wish to use the keyboard shortcuts instead, Left Bracket key shrinks the size or Right Bracket Key enlarges the size.

Feather- This determines how soft the brush edge will be. A higher number gives you a softer brush so that your adjustment feathers out, a lower number gives you a harder brush. Fig. 1.9 shows a low feather of 12 and the corresponding mask it creates and Fig. 1.10 shows a high feather of 54 and its mask. Most of the time when painting in a local adjustment, you want your brush feathered. Rarely will you use a hard edged brush.

 
Flow- This slider controls the rate of application of the adjustment, or how much comes out when you’re painting. A low flow rate will keep building up to the max density you have set in your density slider. Keep this setting at 100 if you are using a mouse and experiment with it if you are using a pressure sensitive tablet.
Density- controls how much opacity there will be total. Keep this setting at 100 if you are using a mouse and experiment with it if you are using a pressure sensitive tablet. If the Density is set to 100, then you get 100% of your adjustment coming through on your image. This is where I recommend beginning. It is easier to paint a 100% density mask and then control the amount of your adjustment through the Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, etc. sliders.
Auto Mask- When checked, this box attempts to control the brush strokes to areas of similar color.

Multiple Local Adjustments

The Raw Converter also allows us to have multiple masks, defining different areas. I have a grayscale image that I would like to fix both the door and the stairs, but each separately. Each area needs slightly different adjustments. I begin by clicking the Adjustments brush. Notice that the new button is checked by default. This means I will be starting a new mask with the adjustments that are currently set.

I set the adjustments to +1.25 Exposure and +100 Contrast and painted in the door. Notice in Fig. 1.12 the small green circle with a black dot in it? This is called a Pin. This Pin lets me know that I am working on the door mask. After painting, the door looks much more alive. The bump in contrast and exposure has brought out more of the details.

 

If I wanted to return to the door mask, I simply click on the pin for that mask. The mask temporarily shows, and the pin gets the black dot. Now my adjustments apply to that mask. I move my exposure up to +1.45 to make the door a touch brighter. Fig. 1.15 shows the finished image. To leave the Adjustment Brush mode, simply click on any other tool. Your Local Adjustments are written in to that image and you are ready to proceed with Global adjustments once again. When you are finished editing your image press Done to save your changes and close the file. Press Open Image to open the file into Photoshop for further editing.

A couple of other hints:

Checking the Show Pins box allows you to view the pins (recommended). If you turn this off you might not know which mask you are working on!
When you are working with the Adjustments brush, the preview button turns on and off the local adjustments only. All other global adjustments stay as they were when you entered this area.
Double clicking on any of the sliders, returns them to the zero position.
If all of your sliders are at the zero position, you cannot create a new mask. One of the values must be changed to start painting a new mask.
Check the Eraser radio button and paint to remove the effect from that area (you are removing the mask)
You can paint different densities on the same mask. Begin by painting at 100% Density. If you want to add the same adjustment to other places on the image, but not quite as strong, simply lower the density and paint them in.
Pressing Command+Z (PC-CTL+Z) will undo your last step in working with the Adjustment Brush. Pressing Command+Opt+Z (PC-CTL+Alt+Z) will keep stepping you back in time through all of your edits with the Adjustment Brush.

The Graduated Filter

The other great local adjustment tool to find its way into the Adobe Camera RAW 5.0 is the Graduated Filter. Fig. 1.16 shows the Raw box open with Graduated Filter tool selected.
The Graduated Filter tool works very similar to the old Split Neutral Density Filters-except much, much better. This tool gives us complete control over our filter. You can use this tool when you want to darken, lighten, and change contrast or color in a large part of the image. The image in Fig. 1.16 is a perfect candidate for this tool. Here I want to darken down the sky to give it more punch.

With the Graduated Filter selected, I can see the now familiar sliders to the right. I will use the exposure slider to darken down the sky. I click at the top of the image and start to draw down to the center of the image. This draws out the gradient and reveals the darkening from the lowered exposure. Now I have the chance to readdress the sliders. In this case I lowered my exposure and raised my contrast to get the pop I was looking for in the sky. Fig 1.18. Looks pretty good but we can make it better. The bottom of the gradient does not align with the hillside.

To rotate the gradient, move your mouse over the line of the gradient and push up or down as seen in Fig. 1.19.
To move the bottom line upward click on the red circle and push up.
To move the top line downward, click on the green circle and push down.
Remember that what you are actually drawing is the gradient itself. Everything above the Green circle is receiving the full adjustment, and everything below the red circle is receiving no adjustment at all. The adjustment decreases in intensity from the green line down to the red line. So in Fig. 1.20 you can see that I am lowering my green line so that I am adding more of the darkening adjustment lower in the sky. This has the effect of shortening the gradient. Going too far with this can make your transition zone (gradient) more obvious.

Much like the Adjustment Brush, you can create more than one gradient in your image. Simply click on the new button and draw another. In the case of Fig. 1.21, I will draw a gradient from the bottom up to saturate the foreground and increase contrast. You will notice that your first gradient has mostly disappeared and is now represented by white circles. It is no longer active. This means the effect of it is still present, but you are no longer editing it. The new (active) gradient has the red and green circles. If I made any further adjustments to the sliders, it would apply to this new gradient.
You are free to combine the affects of the gradient tool and the local adjustment tool in one image. In Fig. 1.22 I have clicked on the Adjustment Brush and lightened up the rock a little. I then lowered the density on my brush and painted the yellow flowers. This allowed a little of the lightening through but not 100%. When you are finished editing your image press Done to save your changes and close the file. Press Open Image to open the file into Photoshop for further editing. Fig. 1.23 shows the before and after.

A couple of other hints:

Holding down the shift key while dragging the gradient keeps the gradient traveling in a straight line. It is much easier to do this first. To rotate, move your cursor over the line until it becomes the curved arrow. Now rotate. This gives you much more control. If you decide that you do not like a gradient, while it is active (red and green), just hit the delete key to get rid of it. To activate a gradient when it is displayed by white circles, click on one of the circles. Click the Show Overlay box to hide and show the overlays. It is often easier to adjust the sliders when they are not present. You can pull either the red end or green end off of the canvas to get an even smoother gradient. Double clicking on the color box brings up a box where you can choose a color. This color will be overlaid in the gradient. This can be good when you want to warm up a foreground or add color into the sky. Be careful. Use the saturation slider at the bottom of the box so that your effect is not too garish.
You can use the gradient tool sideways as well! Same technique, just drag sideways. The Preview box only toggles on and off the Gradient effect when you have this tool selected. It will not turn on and off the global settings.
The Clear all button does just what you think it will: Remove all of the gradients you have created.
Pressing Command+Z (PC-CTL+Z) will undo your last step in working with the gradient. Pressing Command+Opt+Z (PC-CTL+Alt+Z) will keep stepping you back in time through all of your edits to the gradient.
The plus and minus buttons on either side of the sliders will move your slider in either .25 or .50 jumps.

Tim Cooper is an author and photographer. He travels the nation teaching Photographers through Rocky Mountain School Of Photography. He is author of the Perfect Exposure and Perfect Composition training videos (PhotoshopCAFE.com)
timcooperphotography.com

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By Colin Smith

Exclusive Interview with John Nack – Principle Product Manager: Photoshop.

I was recently at Adobe Headquarters and managed to catch John Nack for an interview. John is the principle Product manager for Photoshop. John was kind enough to take a few minutes out of his busy day (Actually he gave me about an hour). Thanks John!

Photoshop CS4 new feature overview

When you launch Photoshop CS4 for the very first time, something is totally in your face. Yes, it sports a brand new interface. Over at Adobe, they have decided it’s time for Photoshop to be easier to use and make the tools you need within reach.

The windows version is now running in 64 bit mode (allows access to more then 3Gig RAM). The Mac version is still in 32 bit. The reason it’s not 64 on Mac? At the last moment Apple pulled Carbon 64 support. It would require a complete rebuild in Cocoa for Mac to be in 64 bit which according to my sources Adobe is working on for the future. Don’t be alarmed by this, there are not that many users that are working on images so large they need more than 3 gigs of ram anyway. Both Mac and Windows versions are making use of the video cards’ GPU , this takes some of the strain of the CPU and makes for really speedy graphics and more, while freeing up the CPU to work on other tasks..

Performance improvements

The new view features are really great. Be warned that if you don’t have a video card with GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) you won’t have access to them. An easy way to tell is to look at the lower right corner of your document. If you see a drop shadow, you are good to go otherwise you are almost out of luck. Yes, there is hope, you can get a video card and add it to your machine.The best brand I can recommend are NVIDIA, they make cards that start out very cheap, all the way up to the high end cards that cost a few thousand dollars, for those who have a lot of heavy lifting to do. If you skimped and got integrated video, you won’t have GPU. You can add a card event to a machine with integrated graphics; this is the cheapest way to get speed improvements from your machine. See the article on GPU later in this guide.

Go to Preferences and choose Performance. You will see an option to use Open GL. Turn it on to enable the new features, if it’s grayed out, then you don’t have a supported GPU.

If you have more than 256 MB of Vram (Video Ram) you can take advantage of an accelerator called blitpipe.
The first thing you’ll notice is the way documents are viewed. You no longer have to zoom into 25%, 50% etc to get an accurate view. Everything looks great at any magnification; this is a long awaited improvement. As you zoom in or out, you will see this nice animation as the document zooms, this prevents you getting lost in you document.

When you zoom in, give the document a little nudge and release your button, notice it glides a little bit, just like “throwing” the document. This is called “flick pan”. If you don’t like this behavior, you can turn it off in prefs. (See the website for a video on the GPU features as you can’t experience these with still images: www.photoshopCAFE.com/cs4).

Once you are zoomed in past 500% you will see a little grid that separates the pixels. This helps achieve pixel accurate editing. You can also zoom into 3200%.

Birds eye view

When you are zoomed into the image and want to move around, press and hold the H key. Click with your mouse and you will zoom out. Reposition the viewing rectangle and it will zoom back in to the new location. This is a super fast way to get around your document. It’s called Birds Eye view and is amazing fast.

The document views are very fast and responsive. This is so much better than waiting as your document is redrawn line by line! This is especially good for large images and panoramas, since only the viewing information needed is loaded into the video ram.

Another GPU improvement is the rotating canvas. Hold the R key and drag. You will see a compass and the whole canvas rotates for your convenience. This is useful for freehand painters using graphics tablets. The rotated canvas enables you to draw with the natural arc of your hand, just like you would spin a piece of paper around as you’re drawing on it. The rotation doesn’t affect the filters or anything, its not changing pixels; it’s only for convenience. For example if your page was rotated 30 degrees and you add a 90 degree motion blur, it would be 90 degrees in reference to the page.

Brush Improvements

I think by now you’re starting to see the improvements that GPU processing in CS4 gives you. On top of that we get a new brush engine, which is faster and smoother, especially when working with a graphics tablet. You will also notice a new brush preview, and wait for it, a new way to resize brushes by dragging in the doc. On the Mac hold down Control+Alt (Windows Alt+Right click) click and drag and you will see the brush tip change size. Drag to the left or right to change the size. Choose Control+Alt+Cmd (Ctrl + Shift on Windows) to change the softness.

32bit tone-mapping in HDR

Tonemapping in HDR also gets a boost from the GPU and makes for smooth and speedy adjustments in the exposure adjustment. Sadly, there are no other improvements with HDR tone mapping.

You also get speed improvements with video playback and 3D features using GPU.

Interface

On the Mac there is an optional new application window. This enables users to float the entire application. This now allows users to drag the entire Photoshop application to a second monitor or to use the program without the desktop showing through.

Tabbed Documents

Borrowed from apps such as Flash, Photoshop now has tabbed document windows. This allows you to manage your working space without document windows spread everywhere. There are options in the new Application Bar which allow you to tile the windows in different ways, or to float them just like in previous versions of Photoshop.

New Panels

Palettes are now called panels across the suite, not just in Photoshop. You’ll see some inspiration from Lightroom in this release. All the panels have been redesigned and there is the addition of a couple of new ones; Adjustments and Masks panels. Don’t worry though; most of the panel behavior is the same as CS3.

Adjustments panel

One of the biggest changes in CS4 is the addition of the Adjustments Panel.Adobe is using the modular concept from Lightroom. Instead of opening a bunch of dialog boxes, you can now work with adjustments from a centralized panel. This means all of Photoshop’s functionality is available while making image adjustments.

This is way easier and faster than before. A few users are yet to discover adjustment layers, now’s your chance to switch. The beauty of this is that all the image editing is non-destructive. Shadow/Highlights and Variations still need to be applied as smart filters, but there is an addition of the new Vibrance adjustment. Vibrance made its debut in Lightroom. Sadly, the clarity slider didn’t make its way across. (These are accessible from Camera raw which also works on jpg and tiff images – launched from Bridge). To make an adjustment, simply choose the desired tool from the adjustments panel or use the option at the bottom of the layers panel like before. The difference is that a dialog box doesn’t open. You can make all the changes with sliders right in the panel. There are also options in the panel such as clipping to a single layer.

The Adjustments panel allows you to select an adjustment. Once selected, its options take over the Adjustments panel so you can adjust without opening any dialog boxes. When done, click the left facing arrow, to return to all adjustments. Adjustment layers are added to the laters palette just like in the past.

A really useful addition to the Adjustments panel is the ability to easily save and use presets. Sure you could save your settings in the past, but it was so obscure it wasn’t really useful. All that has changes, it’s now really easy to create and apply presets.

TIP:Typically an adjustment layer will affect the entire layer stack. At the bottom right of the panel is an option, which affects only a single layer. It does this by adding the adjustment as a clipping group to the layer directly beneath it. This even works on masks, so get your creative thinking caps on!

Masks Panel

One of the most useful tools when working in layers is masks. This allows you to hide or show a layers’ content with a brush. Masks are essential for any retouching, compositing or collaging. Much of the functionality of masks has been moved to a single location in an easy to use masks panel.

Pixel Masks and Vector Masks are both living in this new home. Two major features have been added. Mask Density and Feather. Density is a fancy name for an opacity slider for masks. In the past, more advanced Photoshop users used levels or brightness adjustments on masks to change they way the work on a layer. By deducing the density of the mask, you allow some of the masked out portions to come back in a controlled way. This is great for making those creative little tweaks. For example you want to reduce the effect of a masked layer rather than remove it, just dial back the density and away you go.

The feather option is a great way to blur a mask non-destructively. In the past we applied a blur to the mask to soften the edges of a selection for example. If we changed our minds later, we had to recreate the mask. With the feather options, masks can be blurred and we can change our minds or experiment with them later. As an added bonus, the feather now allows us to apply a soft edged selection to vector masks.

 Masks density turned down. This lowers the opacity of the mask.

Click and Drag

In Photoshop CS3, a new behavior was added to the black and white adjustment (If you didn’t know, now you do). You can click and drag on an image to adjust the underlying tones. This Lightroom inspired feature is now in the Hue Saturation and curves adjustments. Click the little icon and drag on the image to make color and tone adjustments, that’s slick!

Clone Stamp preview

The Clone Stamp tool has enjoyed a little bit of a tweak. If you have ever seen the brush previews in Vanishing point, you will have noticed that the brush tip shows what it’s going to paint. This is called a clipped preview. We now have the clipped preview on the Clone Stamp; this allows us once and for all, to perfectly align things while cloning. All the usual comforts such as size and opacity controls are included.

Spring loaded keys

Here is a tiny, but useful change. Something called Spring Loaded keys. How many times have you been using a tool and need to temporarily switch to a different tool? Rather than tapping a keyboard shortcut for the tool, hold the key, use the tool, then release the key and you go back to the previous tool. For example, you’re working with the brush tool and need to make a quick selection. Hold the M key, make the selection, release the key and continue painting around the new selection. Now is a good time to learn all the tool shortcuts!

Auto align

When using the Auto-align tool you’ll find some minor tweaks. The first is an automatic fisheye correction. Photoshop will read the metadata and if it finds a supported lens, it will compensate for it while building seamless panoramas.
Here are the currently supported lenses.

• Canon 15mm Fisheye
• Sigma 15mm Fisheye for Nikon and Canon
• Sigma 4.5 mm Fisheye for Nikon and Canon
• Sigma 8 mm Fisheye for Nikon and Canon
• Nikon 10.5 mm Fisheye
• Nikon 16 mm Fisheye
  

These lenses should be supported with all Canon and Nikon DSLRs.

Vignette correction

When making panoramas you can also compensate for lens vignette (less light makes it to the edge of the lens, therefore the edges of the image are darker). This makes the panoramas more seamless without dark edges on each photograph.

Color Range

One of my favorite tools for making selection is Color Range. I always had problems with it being too greedy and grabbing colors from all over the image. It now has a new spatial tolerance with Multiple color clusters. What? Ok, in English: Color range has always selected by the how close the colors are from each other. Now it can be constrained to physical distance too, so you don’t have to select a color all over the image, just within a certain distance that you choose with the new Range slider which appears when you turn on the Localized Color Clusters option.

Color Range used to select the blue boat in the photo.

The traditional way

With the Localized Color Clusters turned on

Retouch tools

The Sponge tool has the addition of the vibrance control as an alternative option from saturation. Vibrance first found its way into the Adobe world through Lightroom. It’s now in Camera Raw and as an Adjustment layer. Vibrance works like saturation except if avoids clipping colors. When a color is dull it gets adjusted more than an already bright color, quite nifty really. The Dodge and Burn tools have also been tamed a little and are a lot more usable than they were in the past. They now affect just the tone without messing with the colors.

Content aware scale

Probably the sexiest looking feature in Photoshop CS4 is the Content aware scale. When you transform an image vertically or horizontally, usually it ends up with a squashed looking distorted image. When you turn on Content Aware Scale, it looks for the most important parts of the image and maintains their shape while squishing everything else. It looks just like a magic trick! If Photoshop can’t figure out the important parts of the image, you can paint on a channel to tell it. There is also a protect skin tones button, which prevents skin toned people from getting distorted.

 

    

Gestures on Mac!

I had to try it for myself to believe it! Yes! For those of you who have a newer MacBook pro, be happy. Those little pinch to scale gestures (ala iPhone) now work in Photoshop. That’s just so cool! So cool in fact, it works in Bridge too! You can also scroll and rotate with the use of 2 fingers.

Flash panels

Adobe had now allowed us to create our own panels in Flash and bring them into Photoshop. If you have Flash skills and can build a swf, you can make a panel. There is even a Configuration widget that will be added in Adobe Labs, this will allow you to make your own panels. You can add buttons, commands, movies and more. Check out the free custom panels that we have on PhotoshopCAFE for your convenience! Just drop them into your Panels folder and open them from Window>Extensions.

Photoshop CS4 comes with 2 panels. Kuler (pr- cooler) and services (Or connections). Kuler is a color widget. It helps you choose and match color combinations. Its part of the Adobe Kuler community, where you can create and share color palettes.

Kuler: Kuler was in Illustrator CS3 and now also in Flash.

Adobes definition of Kuler: With Kuler, you can easily generate color themes that can inspire any project. Whether you’re creating web sites, in¬terior designs, scrapbooks, fabric patterns, graphic identities, or any other piece of visual communication, you can ex¬periment quickly with color variations. You can also fast search by tag word, title, creator, or hex color value through thousands of themes created by the Kuler community.

Connections: The Connections panel helps you manage all your Adobe accounts. It can log you into Adobe.com services (Kuler and ConnectNow) as well as check for updates and new panels.

Extra panels

I have created a selections panel, which includes all the common selection tools, commands, tips and even a little video to help you work more efficiently with selections. Keep coming back for more, as I will be adding more free panels for your use. Also look for the PhotoshopCAFE TV Widget coming soon.
(Note, this is a thing of the past and no longer exists)

Connect- now

Connect Now: File>Share My Screen, allows you to share your screen with up to 3 people. This free service allows for amazing collaboration, just like being in the same room.

Annotations

The little notes have been improved. You now have a panel for displaying their contents. Much easier to work with, plus you can now export the contents as a text document. Audio annotations are gone. Yes, they had audio annotation, see; no one used them, that’s why they are gone.

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