Adobe Photoshop CS4 New Features: Tabbed Documents

'The workspace in Photoshop CS4 presents some new features we are going to discuss. One of these new features is the new Tabbed Documents feature. This newly introduced way of files arrangement allows you to manage multiple files at the same time, in a more efficient and organized manner.'

In previous versions of Photoshop, whenever you opened more than one photos, then each one opened in a separate free floating window. For example, have a look at the following picture... I opened 3 photographs with Photoshop CS3 and each one has its own window.


As you can see, with only just 3 photos open on our screen, things begin to become a bit messy and counter productive... One in front of the other, and in general if we open some more files then it is clear that things will soon get out of control.

OK, let's see now how Photoshop CS4 deals with this quite annoying issue.

If I open the same three photographs with CS4 what I get is the following.


We have only one main document window and each photo is open and arranged in a tabbed layout. Click on a tab to view the photograph you want.


This is what happens...


Try clicking between the tabs and switch from one photo to the other. Or even better, - and faster - hold down CTRL and press the TAB key (Ctrl+TAB). With this shortcut you toggle from one document to the other in a snap!

OK, click on the middle photo now to activate it. In this case it's the photo I shot in Rome.


You can change the order of the tabs by simply clicking and dragging the tab you like wherever you like.


If you do not like this tabbed interface do not worry at all. Just click on a photo's tab, drag away from the docking area and release somewhere nearby.


The result is to have this file in the familiar free floating layout as seen below...


If you now change your mind and you want to put the photo back in the stack, just reverse the procedure. Click on the photo tab and drag somewhere near the tabs title area and release. You will also notice that when you approach the area you can let go, the file automatically snaps into place.

Suppose now you want to undock the rest of the photos. Instead of repeating this procedure for every single file, there is a quicker way to do that. At the top menu select: Window > Arrange > Float All in Windows.


The result is as follows:


Similarly, you can revert to the previous tab-style state by selecting Window > Arrange > Consolidate All to Tabs.


You now switch back to one window mode and multiple tabs.


Let's see now how we close a tabbed document. Quite easy... If you take a closer look at the document title, there is a little x sign towards the right. Click it and the document goes away...


If you do not like this tabbed layout of your documents then you can easily go and disable this feature. How? Simply choose Edit > Preferences > Interface... from the top menu.


In the pop-up window uncheck the tick box "Open Documents as Tabs".


If you do that, you will no longer have your documents opened in a tabbed layout but instead you will have the classic free floating windows.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Tutorial: The Stroke Panel

I will grab the opportunity from my last post regarding multiple strokes and fills, and I will explain in detail the Stroke Panel and its functions. You use the Stroke panel to control whether a line is solid or dashed, the dash sequence if it is dashed, the stroke weight, the stroke alignment, the miter limit, and the styles of line joins and line caps. So let's see all that in detail.

Start Illustrator and have a look on the right dock. Locate the Stroke Panel, click to open it and expand it by clicking on the small two-sided arrow symbol, so we can see the rest of the settings available.


Small Tip:
Alternatively go to Top Menu, Window > Stroke.

Now you should be able to see the fully expanded Stroke Panel. For demonstration reasons I've divided the panel in 5 areas. So, let's see what each section does.

1. Adjust the width of the stroke.

Quite straight forward. Select your path, just enter a value in the box (or just click the arrows) and you adjust the thickness of the stroke.

So start Illustrator, create a new document and draw a straight path using the pen tool (or any other tool you prefer) so that we can experiment with. Try creating something like that.

The larger the value, the thicker the stroke.

Note

Please keep in mind that in all the above cases, the path looks the same . If you select View > Outline (or just click CTRL+Y) from the Menu bar, you shall see that in all four cases the path is identical.

Ok, let's return to Preview Mode and move forward. Select View > Preview (or just click CTRL+Y) from the Menu bar.

2. Change the cap style of a line.

A cap is the end of an open line. You can change the caps of a line by changing the object’s stroke attributes. In the following image you may see the different result of each selection.

The Butt Cap creates stroked lines with squared ends.

The Round Cap creates stroked lines with semicircular ends.

The Projecting Cap creates stroked lines with squared ends that extend half the line width beyond the end of the line. This option makes the weight of the line extend equally in all directions around the line.

3. Change the joins of a line.

A join is where a straight line changes direction (turns a corner). You can change the joins of a line by changing the object’s stroke attributes.

The Miter Join creates stroked lines with pointed 'sharp' corners. Have a look below:

The Round Join creates stroked lines with rounded corners. Have a look below:

The Bevel Join creates stroked lines with squared corners. Have a look below:

Let me explain to you now what is the Miter Limit. You can consider the Miter limit as a threshold above which a pointy 'sharp' corner is transformed to a bevel. How is this threshold defined? Have a look at the following illustration. There is a 6pt stroked line and I have set the Miter Limit to 5. This means 5 times the line thickness (6 X 5 = 30 pts). So If the Mitter Length - 'the corner head' (the overlapping common area of the two segments that form the corner) - is more than 5 times the stroke thickness of the path, then the corner will be beveled.

Here is an example.

On the above image, you see that the arrow head length barely exceeds 24pts, this is a bit more than 4 times the line thickness. Since the limit is 5 and we stay below, the sharp Miter Join is maintained.

Ok, now I have reduced the Miter Limit to 4 times the line thickness of the segment. See what has happened. My nice sharp and pointy corner has been replaced by a chamfer. The limit has been violated, therefore the Miter Join is now replaced replaced by a Bevel Join.

The Miter Limit controls when the program switches from a mitered (pointed) join to a beveled (squared-off) join.

4. Align the stroke along the path.

This option is only available in closed paths. So, let's draw a rectangle as shown below so that we explore all three options.

a. Align Stroke To Center

As you see, the stroke is symmetrically aligned to the center of the path.

b. Align Stroke To Inside

In this case, the stroke is aligned to the inside of the path.

c. Align Stroke to Outside

Here, the 30 pt amber stoke is aligned along the path to the outside area.

Note:

Be cautious when you try to align objects, to use the same stroke alignment settings, otherwise you will not be able to achieve perfect match and alignment.

5. Create a dotted or dashed line.

This is a handy tool that helps you quickly draw dotted lines or dashed lines. Let me show you how.

Draw a straight path segment so we can experiment with.

Select the line and in the Stroke panel, check the Dashed Line checkbox. You can specify a dash sequence by entering the lengths of dashes and the gaps between them. I have used a sequence consisting of 5pt dashes and 20pt gaps. So just input these values in the first two boxes as shown below.

The numbers entered are repeated in sequence so that once you have established the pattern, you don’t need to fill in all the text boxes. The square-ended dashes result from the Butt Cap setting being selected. Select the line and toggle between the Butt Cap, the Round Cap and the Projecting Cap line ends and see what happens.

As you would have probably guessed, the Round Cap option creates rounded dashes or dots and the Projecting Cap option extends the ends of dashes.

Try playing around with the values in the dash size and gap size and produce really nice patterns. For example if you input the values shown in the following image, you will end up with a nice dotted line.

Finally, you can create completely custom line patterns by filling all the values. For example, have a look at the following image. If you enter the values shown you will get the following nice interesting line pattern.


That's all folks...

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Tutorial: Multiple Strokes and Fills

Today I am going show you how you can use the Appearance Panel to create multiple strokes or fills for the same object or path.

And please allow me, since it's been less than a month that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has ended, my demonstration example to resemble a 400 Meter Running Track... OK let's begin.

First of all, find the Appearance Panel Icon, click on it so that it expands, and drag it off the dock. We are going to use it quite often so let's place it somewhere so that we can quickly access it.



Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool from the toolbar on the left. Click and drag while pressing the up arrow key on the keyboard so that you draw a rectangle with fully rounded sides.


You should try and get an object similar to the following.


Select the shape, open the Color Panel and input the following values: Red 178, Green 96 and Blue 72. Then set a stroke of 41 points.


Ok... Now what we are going to do, is to create a second, narrower stroke on top of the first stroke we just created. Let me show you how. Select the shape and expand the Appearance Panel menu. Select Add New Stroke.











At first glance, you will not see any change since the newly created stroke is on top of the first one. Select the new stroke in the Appearance panel and change the color to white and reduce its width to 31 points. If you have followed along, you should end up with the shape shown below.


At this point you should keep in mind that the path remains ONE! Click on the View menu and select Outline (CTRL+Y). You can see the original path we drew, on which we apply multiple strokes.


Let's move on. Select the path and repeat the same procedure. Add a 3rd stroke of 29pt width and use the same light brown color we used before (R:178, G:96 B:72). You should now begin to understand where things are leading.


Important: First select the rectangle (path), and then select (in the Appearance panel) the stroke you created last. This way, the new stroke we are going add will be placed on top of the stacking order.

Repeat this procedure using the Stroke colors and Widths shown in the following image.


If you did everything correctly, you should have the following Illustration.


Note:

In this example, We applied several strokes (7) on a single path. If you now pick an anchor point with the direct selection tool, you may edit (move, delete etc.) that point and therefore change the overall shape in the usual way you would have done if you were dealing with a single stroke path (Have a look at my Selection Tools post. This way you can produce some very interesting and impressive shapes.


Following the same procedure also allows you to apply multiple fills to single paths. Select the track and change the fill to a light grass green.


Select the path and select the fill in the Appearance Panel. On the menu select Add New Fill. Choose a grey gradient for the color and change the blend of that fill to multiply so that you get a draft impression of grass stripes.


Finally, I will show you a very cool feature available in Illustrator. First delete the newly created fill (the grey gradient fill) and choose No Fill for the remaining one.


If you take a closer look at the Appearance panel, you will notice that there is a Graphic Styles panel hiden behind.


Activate it and ungroup it from the Appearance panel. Grab the tab from the title bar and drag it until you have the two panels side by side.


Now click on the little square in the Appearance panel and drag and drop it in the Graphic Styles panel.


An identical little square was created in the Graphics panel. Double click on it and give it a name of your like. I named it track.


What you have actually done now is that you created your own graphic style. All the attributes we used for the track are now stored in this little tile.

What does this mean? I'll show you right away.

Draw a path with the Pen tool.


Select the path and click on the track tile shown in the Graphic Styles panel.


Attributes of the style we created before are applied to the path 'in a snap' and it may be available for future use. It saves you time, since you do not have to go through the procedure of adding all those strokes one by one, and helps you producing impressive designs.