To create a document using the History panel, select the state or snapshot to create a document from and then click the Create New Document from Current State button or select New Docume
Trang 1The snapshots can be treated very much like the history states You can delete them and even use the History Brush tool on them
Creating documents
Another useful feature of the History panel is the ability to quickly turn a history state into a sepa-rate document This feature is useful if you are editing an image and want to send someone multi-ple versions for her approval You can make the full edit of the document and then use the History panel to create documents based on the states that you think might meet expectations
To create a document using the History panel, select the state or snapshot to create a document from and then click the Create New Document from Current State button or select New Document from the History panel menu A new document with the image data from the selected state or snapshot is loaded in Photoshop The name of the new document is the name of the state or snapshot
Deleting history
Clearing the history can be done in a couple of ways You can select a history state and click the trash can in the History panel or select Delete from the History panel menu
Caution
If the Allow Non-Linear History option is selected for the History panel, only the state that was selected is
deleted However, if the Allow Non-Linear History option is not selected, which is the default, then all
subse-quent history states are deleted as well Make sure you know which option is selected before you delete a large
amount of history that you need n
You also can clear out all the history in the History panel by selecting Clear History from the History panel menu This removes all history states The Clear History option works only on his-tory states; snapshots remain after clearing the hishis-tory
Painting from history
A powerful feature of the History panel is the ability to select a history state and paint or erase directly from that history state or snapshot This allows you to paint through the changes that have been made until you get down to the selected history state If you consider the number of brush styles and transparency options available when painting, painting from history opens a variety of possibilities
To enable painting from the History feature, you need to click the box beside the desired state or snapshot in the History panel The box changes to the History Brush icon, as shown in Figure 5.4
Photoshop uses that state as the base level when painting from history
Trang 2FIGURE 5.4
Selecting the History Brush option for a history state enables the History Brush, the Art History Brush, and
the Eraser to utilize the history data
Using the Eraser tool in the History panel
One of the best features of Photoshop’s History panel is that it allows you to erase part of the his-tory without having to remove all the hishis-tory To help you understand how this works, consider the following example
We start with the image shown on the left in Figure 5.5 Notice that the boy’s shirt is very light, and the light coming through the trees is so bright that it really washes out his face in the photo
We fix this problem with a simple contrast adjustment, the History Panel, and the Eraser tool using the following steps:
1 Select Image ➪ Adjustments ➪ Brightness/Contrast from the main menu.
2 Adjust the brightness and contrast down until you have reduced the brightness of
the overall image, as shown in the middle image in Figure 5.5.
3 Open the History panel by selecting Windows ➪ History from the main menu.
4 Click the Enable History Brush icon for the Open history state, as shown in Figure 5.6.
5 Select the Brightness/Contrast history state, as shown in Figure 5.6.
6 Select the Eraser tool from the Toolbox.
7 Change the Mode to Brush in the Eraser Options bar, as shown in Figure 5.6.
8 Change the Brush Style to a dissipating brush with a very large size in the Eraser
Trang 3The more you click, the more the change of brightness is erased from around the face The end result is shown on the right in Figure 5.5; the face pops out a bit better than in the original
FIGURE 5.5
Using the Erase to History option on the Eraser allows you to make an adjustment to an entire image and then erase a portion of that change
FIGURE 5.6
Using the History Brush settings and configuring the Eraser tool to erase part of the his-tory from an image
Brush style
Brush mode Enable history brush
Trang 4Even if the Erase to History option is not checked, you can still erase to the history by holding down the Alt key
while using the Eraser n
Using the History Brush
The History Brush tool actually works in the same way to erase part of the history of changes as using the Eraser tool with the Erase to History option checked—except backward Instead of eras-ing the changes made since the history state was set in the history panel, you use that history state
to draw on the currently selected history state Either way, the end result is the same
Cross-Ref
Using the History Brush gives you a major advantage over using the Eraser in that you can utilize the brush
modes to provide more effects when painting on the history For more information about using the brush and
brush modes, see Chapter 16.
Using the Art History Brush
The Art History Brush tool also works the exact same way to erase part of the history of changes as using the Eraser tool with the Erase to History option checked Once again, you have to think about it in reverse terms Instead of erasing the changes made since the history state that was set in the history panel, you are using that history state to draw on the currently selected history state
Tip
Using the Art History Brush has a major advantage over using the History Brush tool: In addition to utilizing
the brush modes, you also can choose a style to apply to the brush, giving an impressionistic appearance For
more information about using the brush and brush modes, see Chapter 16 n
Using selections when painting history
Sometimes, you want to limit the area of an image on which history is being painted You can use selections to limit the area of the image that will be affected by the Eraser, History Brush, and Art History Brush tools
Follow these steps to use a selection to limit the area painted on while using the history painting options:
1 Click the Enable History Brush icon for the history state you want to paint from.
2 Select the history state you want to change.
Trang 54 Use the Eraser, Art History Brush, or History Brush to paint into the image
Only the area inside the selection is painted on
Creating and Using Automated Actions
Photoshop does an excellent job of providing simple keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) for most com-mon tasks The more you use Photoshop, the more you will rely on these shortcuts They save lots
of time, allowing you to create at a much faster rate However, even performing shortcuts over and over can become tedious That is where actions come into play
Actions are a list of operations to perform from the current window Actions can include most of the tasks that you can perform using the shortcuts, menus, and panels in Photoshop Actions can range from something as simple as adding a special effect to the active document to a long series of operations that include creating several new documents and layers with numerous effects, filters, and masks There really is no limit to what you can do with custom actions
Actions save so much time because you can perform an action, whether it involves 2 steps or 50 steps, with just the click of a button or a hotkey Photoshop comes with several predefined action sets for various common tasks
The predefined Photoshop action sets do everything from creating frames to applying a sepia ton-ing effect to an image As you work more with Photoshop, you likely will find tasks that you repeat over and over that get tedious Then you will want to create custom actions Recording a custom action is as simple as recording the steps you take as you perform those tedious tasks
Note
After you play an action, you can click the History tab to view the History panel and see each step that was
taken by the action n
Understanding the Actions panel
The first step in helping you implement actions to speed up your work is to help you understand the organization of the Actions panel The Actions panel can be accessed by selecting Window ➪ Actions from the main menu By default, the Actions panel is shown with the History panel
The Actions panel is made up of four main sections, as shown in Figure 5.7; the action list, the Actions panel menu, the toggle boxes, and the Quick Buttons
Trang 6FIGURE 5.7
Using the Actions panel to manage a set of actions to perform on an image
Menu Action list
Action set
Toggle item on/off
Toggle
dialog
on/off
Actions Play New set
Stop Record
New action
Quick buttons
Delete
Action list
Located in the main portion of the panel, the action list is made up of three components: action
Trang 7two sets in Figure 5.7: Default and Video You can load any one of seven predefined action sets from the Actions panel menu, or you can create your own Click the triangle next to the action set name to see a list of actions contained in the set
l Actions: An action is a preset list of operations that can be preformed quickly and
auto-matically by selecting an action and clicking the play button in the Actions panel Click the triangle next to the action name to see a list of recorded commands contained in the action
l Recorded commands: A recorded command is a list of commands that have been
recorded in a set order to perform the same series of operations every time the action is played These commands may also contain submenus For example, clicking the triangle next to the Stop command in Figure 5.7 shows the message displayed by the command
Actions panel menu
Available by clicking on the menu button located in the upper-right corner of the panel, the Actions panel menu contains menu items that allow you to set the panel mode, add new actions, load action sets, save action sets, and set other options for the Actions panel
Toggle boxes
Located along the left side of the panel are two toggle boxes available for each action set, action, and operation in the action list The left toggle box enables or disables the set, action, or operation
If the toggle box is not checked, the operation is not applied when the action is run The right tog-gle box enables or disables any dialog boxes contained in the set, action, or operation
If a dialog box is displayed in the toggle box, Photoshop displays the dialog box associated with the operation when running the action For example, if an operation adjusts the levels of an image, having the dialog box toggled on displays the Levels dialog box and waits for you to adjust the lev-els manually every time the action is run
Quick Buttons
Located on the bottom right of the panel, the Quick Buttons are icons that provide quick access to the Stop, Record, Play, Create New Action Set, Create New Action, and Delete tasks for actions
These options are available in the panel menu as well
Changing the view of the Actions panel
Just when you thought you had a handle on the Actions panel, you can dramatically change the way it looks by choosing Button Mode from the Actions panel menu Figure 5.8 shows that the actions list has converted to buttons This allows you to simply click the action you want to per-form without the dual steps of highlighting it and pushing Play You can see that the action sets are delineated by color
Trang 8FIGURE 5.8
Using the Button mode of the Actions panel
Loading existing action sets
When you initially open the Actions panel, it is populated with the default action set At this point, you can use one of the available default actions, load an existing action set, or create a custom action set
Loading an existing action set can be accomplished in one of two ways Photoshop’s predefined action sets are listed at the bottom of the panel menu These action sets are predefined for specific purposes such as frames, image effects, and textures They can be loaded by simply clicking them
You also can load action sets that you have created previously or downloaded by clicking the Load Action option in the panel menu and then navigating to the location of the action set
Note
Action sets have an atn file extension n
When you load an action set, it is added to the action list Photoshop automatically expands the action set to show all actions contained inside
Creating custom actions
Custom actions are created by recording operations you want to add to the action as you apply them
After you begin recording the action, all steps that affect the current document are recorded, includ-ing creatinclud-ing new documents Be prepared to perform the steps in order without any extra steps
Follow these steps to create a custom action:
1 Select New Set from the Actions panel menu