Adobe Photoshop for Beginners

Adobe Photoshop for Beginners

IMPORTANCE OF QUICK KEYS:

To increase your overall efficiency while using Adobe Photoshop, it is critical to apply some effort in learning 'quick-keys'.

A quick-key is in effect a keyboard short-cut. When pressed in combination with another key, a quick key will send a command to Adobe Photoshop to perform a certain action. A good example of this can be found when holding down the 'CTRL' key and pressing the 'N'. This will cause the 'New' dialogue box to appear.

There are 100's of quick-keys to learn about in Adobe Photoshop. Most of them can be found next to commands within the menu system.

It would be an unrealistic objective to try and learn all quick-keys at this point. Indeed, you might not need to know all of them, just the ones that prove to be most useful to you. If you are applying a certain action or command on a regular basis in your work flow, rather than depending upon the menu system, take time in trying to learn its related quick-key.

Do I really need to use quick keys?

If you were to measure the time it takes to perform a certain command or action or change your current tool, and strike a comparison to how long it takes to summon that same procedure while using a quick-key, you would definitely opt for the later.

Experiment

Try the following experiment for yourself to help demonstrate the importance of using quick-keys.

1. Create a new canvas (CTRL + N) and set the size at 1000 by 1000 pixels (you may need to change the unit of measurement by clicking on the small drop-down boxes next to the Height and Width boxes).
   
   
   
   
2. Zoom %1600 in to your canvas.
3. Starting from the far left hand-side, using the brush tool 'B' (with a small brush, i.e. size '1') start to draw a line across your canvas.
   
   
   
   
4. Now change tool. Use the hand tool 'H' to move your canvas along a little to the to reveal more canvas on the right. If you wish you might want to repeat this experiment later and use the scroll-bars instead of the hand tool.
5. Now change tool again. Choose the brush tool and continue repeat from step 3 until you reach the far right of your canvas. If you zoom out, you should now see a line stretching from left to right.
   
   
   
   

Now repeat the same experiment, this time using the 'spacebar' to move you from left to right across your canvas. Notice how you don't even have to change tools, you can keep on using the brush tool - the spacebar (for as long as the key is pressed) will momentary become the hand tool.

If you were to time this experiment, this first method should take about 45 seconds to complete. The second method - 5 seconds.

Using a well rehearsed quick-key will take a fraction of a second to apply, saving you time and giving you more time to spend perfecting your artwork. Such a simple philosophy - and it works!

Quick Key Map

The Following table is a useful listing of commonly used quick keys.
Note: You will need to hold the 'Shift' key to cycle though obscured tools with the tool palette.

Tool selection
	M		M		M		M		V		L
	L		L		W		C		K		K
	J		J		B		B		S		S
	Y		Y		E		E		E		G
	G		R		R		R		O		O
	O		A		A		T		T		T
	T		P		P		P		P		P
	U		U		U		U		U		U
	N		N		I		I		I		H
	Z

Viewing and Navigation
100% Magnify	Alt+CTRL+0 (zero)
Zoom in/out	CTRL + or CTRL -
Fit image in window	CTRL+0 (zero)
Actual Pixels	CTRL+Alt+0 (zero)
Move around canvas	Spacebar
Scroll up/down	Page Up or Page Down
Go to top left hand corner	Home
Go to Bottom right hand corner	End
Painting
Fill Dialogue box	Shft+Backspace
Fill layer or select with foreground colour	Alt+Backspace
Fill layer or select with background colour	CTRL+Backspace
Paint in straight lines	Shft+left click
Set flow	Shft+Numeric key (0=100%, 1=10%, 2=20%, etc)
Set Opacity	Numeric key (0=100%, 1=10%, 2=20%, etc)
Select colour from image	Alt+left click
Select Background colour from image	Shft+Alt+left click
Selecting and Moving
Move Layer	CTRL
Constrain Marquee Proportions	Shft
Draw new Marquee from Centre	Alt+left click and drag
Moves selection 1 pixel	Arrow keys
Moves selection 10 pixels	Shft+Arrow keys
Move non-selected layer	CTRL+Arrow keys
Accept changes to Transform	Enter or double left click on object
Accept Crop	Enter or double left click on object
Selections
Select All	CTRL+A
Deselect	CTRL+D
Reselect	CTRL+Shift+D
Hide/Show Selection	CTRL+H
Close Polygonal Selection	Enter
Discontinue Polygonal Selection	Escape (Esc)
Invert Selection	Shift+CTRL+Alt+I
Feathering	CTRL+Alt+D
Colouring and Correcting Colour
Levels	CTRL+L
Auto Levels	CTRL+Shift+L
Auto Contrast	CTRL+Shift+Alt+L
Auto Colour	CTRL+Shift+B
Desaturate	CTRL+Shift+U
Curves	CTRL+M
Hue & Saturation	CTRL+U
Colour Balance	CTRL+B
Cut	CTRL+X
Paste	CTRL+V
Inverse Image	CTRL+Alt+I
Various
Undo	CTRL+Z
Redo	CTRL+Shift+Z
Undo Multiple	CTRL+Alt+Z
Redo Multiple	CTRL+Shift+Z
Copy	CTRL+C
Cut	CTRL+X
Paste	CTRL+V
Apply Last Filter	CTRL+F
Extract	CTRL+Alt+X
Liquify	CTRL+Shift+X
Pattern Maker	CTRL+Shift+Alt+X
Free Transform	CTRL+T
Transform Again	Crtl+Shift+T
Photoshop Preferences	CTRL+K
Colour Setup	CTRL+Shift+K
Show Grid	CTRL+@
Show Ruler	CTRL+R
Snap	CTRL+Shift+;
Lock Guides	CTRL+Alt+;
Help	f1
File Management
Open Image	CTRL+O
Close Image	CTRL+W
Close All Images	CTRL+Shift+W
Browse	CTRL+Shift+O
New Image	CTRL+N
Save Image	CTRL+S
Save As	CTRL+Shift+S
Save For Web	CTRL+Shift+Alt+S
Page Setup	CTRL+Shift+P
Print with Preview	CTRL+P
Print	CTRL+Alt+P
Print one Copy	CTRL+Alt+P
Exit Photoshop	CTRL+Q
Layer Management
New Layer	CTRL+Shift+N
Layer Via Copy	CTRL+J
Layer Via Cut	CTRL+Shift+J
Group with Previous	CTRL+G
Ungroup	CTRL+Shift+G
Merge Down	CTRL+E
Merge Linked	CTRL+Shift+E

EnjOy..=))
MamoOn..

How to Disable Autorun in Windows7

Here are the steps on how to disable Autorun in Windows 7:

Step 1. Press Windows key + R to launch the Run dialogue box. Here you need to enter Gpedit.msc and then click on OK.

Step 2. You will now see the Local Group Policy Editor on your screen.

Step 3. On the Local Group Policy Editor, you need to click on Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates> Windows Components. Under Windows Components, you will see AutoPlay Policies.

Step 4. When you click on AutoPlay Policies on the left, you will also see an option that says Turn off AutoPlay on the right. Click on it and then choose the Edit option.

Step 5. On the Turn off AutoPlay window, you need to select the Enabled option.

Step 6. Click on the Apply and OK buttons and to finish the disable Autorun feature on Windows 7. Also make sure you select the All drives option as shown on the screenshot of step no.5 in order to disable the Autorun feature on all drives.

EnjOy..=))

MamoOn..

Best Free Antivirus Software

To protect own computer from viruses, trojan, worm and similar threats, you should use a high-quality anti-virus software. Not using anti-virus software leaves you open to viruses, which may lead to more malware invading your system. Make sure that you install only one anti-virus software, doing otherwise will cause severe system instability.Here comes frequently asked question: Which anti-virus should I use?Many of us pay a lot of money to buy anti-virus software, but this is so unnecessary, because there are plenty of good free anti-virus software that offer the same kind of protection as the boxed software you can buy at the store.To help you out, I decided to provide you the list of top 9 free anti-virus. Let’s begin with it.

1)AVG

AVG
Download Page	brothersoft.com
File size	29 MB
Operating System	Windows 2000, XP, XP Pro x64 Edition, Vista, Vista x64 Edition
The Best Review about AVG chosen by PC Hacks	AVG Free Edition antivirus review

2)Antivir

AntiVir
Download Page	brothersoft.com
File size	23.9 MB
Operating System	Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, Vista
The Best Review about AntiVir chosen by PC Hacks	AntiVir Personal Edition Classic Review

3)ClamWin

ClamWin
Download Page	brothersoft.com
File size	5.61MB
Operating System	Windows,2000, 2003, NT, Vista, XP
The Best Review about ClamWin chosen by PC Hacks	ClamWin Review

4)PC Tools

PC Tools
Download Page	brothersoft.com
File size	21.67MB
Operating System	Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
The Best Review about PC Tools chosen by PC Hacks	PC Tools Review

5)Rising Antivirus

Rising Antivirus
Download Page	softpedia.com
File size	60.9 MB
Operating System	Windows All
The Best Review about Rising Antivirus chosen by PC Hacks	Rising Antivirus Review

6)Spyware Terminator

Spyware Terminator
Download Page	brothersoft.com
File size	631 KB
Operating System	Windows All
The Best Review about Spyware Terminator chosen by PC Hacks	Spyware Terminator Review

7)Moon Secure Antivirus

Moon Secure
Download Page	moonsecure.com
File size	10.4 MB
Operating System	Windows 95/98/98SE/2000/NT/XP
The Best Review about Moon Secure chosen by PC Hacks	Moon Secure Review

8)Spyware Doctor + Antivirus 2010

Spyware Doctor + Antivirus 2010
Download Page	virus protection
File size	34.6 MB
Operating System	Windows 95/98/98SE/2000/NT/XP

If you know any free anti-virus software that I didn’t mention, please write a comment, and I will add it.

Enjoy..=))

MamoOn..

Change Windows 7 Logon Screen To Anything You Want

You might have been bored because of same logon screen every time you logging in. The default windows login screen lacks taste of being Windows 7. Today I am here with a helpful tool. This 250 KB tool helps you to easily modify your logon screen to whatever you want.

This useful tool is actually brought to you by tweaks.com.

It enables you to change the background of the windows logon screen. You can have any size of background, this tool automatically resizes and recompresses the image to the highest quality possible being the original image untouched and unmodified.

If you want the default Windows 7 logon screen back just click Revert to Default Logon Screen and the application will automatically uninstall any customized screens.

To change the logon screen, download Tweaks.com Logon changer for Windows 7.

Unzip the 250 KB zip file and run the program. When the program loads up, Click on Change Logon Screen button.

Browse the background image you want in your logon screen. Don’t worry about 245KB image limit as logon changer tool automatically compress and resizes the image. So you can choose any large file.

If the file size is too large, then it will ask to create copy of it and resize it. Click Yes to proceed.

If it detects old logon backgrounds then click OK. Now you’ll have new logon screen ready. To have a live preview of it click on Test button.

If you don’t like the current screen and want to switch back you can always click on Revert to Default Logon Screen.

Hope this tutorial was helpful.
EnjOy.. =))
MamoON..

How To Partition Hard Drive Without Losing Data in WindOws 7

How To Partition Hard Drive Without Losing Data in WindOws 7

By the time using your computer, you might have wished to partition your hard drive. Perhaps, the reason might be to dual boot or secure some separate partition for backing up old or important data. You might be guessing that I would suggest you to download some tools. But it’s not like that, I am not going to suggest you those old tricks that says to back-up your data and place it in separate storage device and partition it again and again it to one of your partition.

In Windows 7, there is simple way to do it. Today in this tutorial, I’ll be guiding you through the each and every steps with screenshots.

Before starting note that,

- We can partition any drive, even a system drive

- We can do it only in Windows, Windows 7 and Vista specifically

So let’s divide it.

Go to Start > Right click on My Computer and choose Manage.

Disk Management Window will Pop-up, it may take time to load it since it fetches for all the hardware and system information in your PC. After it’s fully loaded, go to Storage> Disk management at the left sidebar. This is where we’ll have all the information about storage devices that are in our PC currently connected and active.

At the right column all the storage media will be listed with their basic information like File system type, and status. Now choose the Volume that you want to partition. Right Click on it and select Shrink Volume option from menu.

As soon as you click on the Shrink Volume option, system will search for available space in your selected Disk Volume.

This will not take much longer than few seconds. After querying, Shrink window will pop-up. This is where you’ll have to specify the Volume for next partition.

Look at the total size of available shrink space. Below it, you’ll have to Enter the space to shrink.

You must make sure that the size is not below the total size of space taken by files in that drive.

You can check the used space by right clicking on the drive you are going to partition and choose Properties.

Click on Shrink button after specifying the size to shrink. The shrink size is for the value for the partition where your old files will be contained and remaining size will allocated for your next partition.

But you’ll still not able to access this new drive. You’ll have to format it and specify the drive letter to access them. To do so, continue reading.

Right click on unallocated drive and choose New Simple Volume option.

New Simple Volume Wizard Window will popup.

Click on Next button to continue.

In next window, you’ll have to specify the size for your new volume. Set full size if you are satisfied with two partitions; else divide it again for new partition.

Next choose any drive letter from the available list and click on Next button.

In next window, leave everything as default but make sure it’s similar to the screen below:

Click on Finish window to complete the wizard.

If you’ve autoplay enabled in your computer, then New Volume will be auto played for the first and last time.

Go to my Computer to see your new drive ready.

With similar method you can also format your empty drive to create multiple partitions.

Hope you post was helpful. Subscribe to our feed for more interesting articles.

EnjOy.. =))

MamoOn..

Transform your Windows XP in to Windows 7

Transform your Windows XP in to Windows 7

If you are using Windows XP and want to experience Windows 7 without installing then here is Seven Remix XP transformation pack to transform Windows XP to Windows 7.With this simple app you can make your XP look like Windows 7 in just few clicks. It supports Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Media Center Edition and some other flavors of XP. Will work with only 32 bit edition of Windows.
Just download it and install .
Download Seven Remix XP and transform your windows xp .

EnjOy ..=))
MamoOn..