Adobe Creative Suite: Using Palettes in the Workspace

<p dir=ltr>Palettes are an integral part of working with most of the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite because they contain many of the controls and tools that you use when you're creating or editing a document. The basic functionality of palettes is quite similar across the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite, and the purpose of all palettes is the same. Palettes offer you a lot of flexibility in how you organize the workspace and what parts of it you use. What you use each program for and the level of expertise you have might affect what palettes you have open at a given moment.</p><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- INITIAL ADD --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:120px;height:90px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5122984711807769" data-ad-slot="3991233535"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><p dir=ltr>Palettes are small windows in a program that contain controls such as sliders, menus, buttons, and text fields that you can use to change the settings or attributes of a selection or of the entire document. Palettes might also include information about a section or about the document itself. You can use this information or change the settings in a palette to modify the selected object or the document you're working on.</p><p dir=ltr>Whether you're working on a Windows machine or on a Mac, palettes are very similar in the way they look and work. Here are the basics of working with palettes:</p><p dir=ltr>Opening: Open a palette in one of the Creative Suite programs by using the Window menu; choose Window and then select the name of a palette. For example, to open the Swatches palette (which is similar in many programs in the suite), you would choose Window --> Swatches.</p><p dir=ltr>Accessing the palette menu:Palettes have a flyout menu called the palette menu. The palette menu opens when you click the arrow in the upper-right corner of the palette. The palette menu contains a bunch of options that you can select that relate to the tab that is currently selected when you click the palette menu. When you select one of the options in the menu, it might execute an action or open a dialog box. Sometimes there are very few options in a palette menu, but particular palettes may have a whole bunch of related functionality and therefore many options in the palette menu.</p><p dir=ltr>Closing: If you need to open or close a palette's tab or palette altogether, just choose Window --> Name of Palette's Tab. You can close a palette the same way: All you need to do is select an open palette in the Window menu, and it will close. Sometimes a palette contains a close button (an X button in Windows or the red button on a Mac), which you can click to close the palette.</p><p dir=ltr>Minimizing/maximizing: All you need to do to minimize a selected palette is to click the minimize button in the title bar of the palette (if it's available). You can also double-click the tab itself (of an active tab) in the palette. This will either partially or fully minimize the palette. If it only partially minimizes, double-clicking the tab again will fully minimize the palette. Double-clicking the active tab when it's minimized will maximize the palette again.</p><p dir=ltr>You might also see what's called thecycle widget when a palette can be partially minimized and maximized. This is a small double-sided arrow that appears to the left of the palette's name on the tab. If you click this arrow, it progressively expands or collapses the palette.</p><p dir=ltr>Palettes that partially minimize give you the opportunity to work with palettes that have differing amounts of information. This simplifies the workspace while maximizing your screen real estate.</p><p dir=ltr>Most palettes contain tabs, which help organize information and controls in a program into groupings. Palette tabs contain a particular kind of information about a part of the program; a single palette may contain several tabs. The name on the tab usually gives you a hint about the type of function it controls or displays information about, and it is located at the top of the palette (or to the left of the palette when you're using side tabs).</p><p dir=ltr>To minimize a side tab (which we discuss further in the following section), you need to click in the gray area that surrounds the tab(s) in a palette. This collapses the side tab into the side of the workspace. To maximize a minimized side tab, click one of the tabs in the palette.</p><p dir=ltr>You can also minimize a side tab by clicking the active tab in a palette. If you click an inactive tab, the palette only switches to that tab in the palette so that you can work with it.</p>

Adobe Creative Suite: Using Palettes in the Workspace

Palettes are an integral part of working with most of the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite because they contain many of the controls and...

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Correcting Color Cast with Photoshop Variations

<p dir="ltr">Photoshop can provide magical transformations to images, making them unrecognizable from the original, but sometimes what you really want is simply to make an image look the same as the original — only better. Perhaps the colors are a little too warm, or the shadows a bit inky. Whatever's wrong with the image, the last thing you want is to change it so much that it looks like it's been processed more than a freeze-dried floral arrangement. You'd be happy to have everyone admire your image without a clue that you'd made major corrections in Photoshop.</p> <p dir="ltr">Photoshop's Variations feature is a variation (so to speak) on the professional photographer's ring around (a set of color prints, each made with slightly different color balance) or test strip (a single print of an image made so that each section is shown using a different color balance). Both tools let you view several renditions of an image and choose the best one visually by comparing them. You might want to use Variations when you're unsure about exactly how the color is biased, and would like to compare several versions of an image to see exactly what the color cast is.</p> <p dir="ltr">Although not as sophisticated as some color correction techniques, the Variations feature has the advantage of being quick and simple, and it doesn't require a lot of training to use.</p> <p dir="ltr">Following are the components of the Variations dialog box:</p> <p dir="ltr">In the upper-left corner is a pair of images — the original image and the image as it will appear when the corrections are applied.Below these thumbnails is a set of six variations on the original image, each with a fixed amount of correction applied using (clockwise from upper-left) green, yellow, red, magenta, blue, and cyan. In the center of this ring is the current version of the image.At the right edge of the dialog box is a stack of three thumbnails showing a lighter version of the image (at top), the current version (in the middle), and a darker rendition (at bottom).In the upper-right corner of the dialog box is a control area that includes radio buttons that let you choose shadows, midtones, or highlights for your correction, as well as saturation. Beneath the buttons is a slider that controls whether your correction will be subtle (Fine) or dramatic (Coarse).Four buttons also let you save the corrections you've made for use with the same or another photo, load settings you've already stored, apply the current corrections (by clicking OK), or forget about the whole thing (by clicking Cancel).</p>

Correcting Color Cast with Photoshop Variations

Photoshop can provide magical transformations to images, making them unrecognizable from the original, but sometimes what you really want is...

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Adobe CS5 Panels and Their Functions

<p dir=ltr>Knowing how to use the panels in Adobe CS5 can help boost your creativity and make your job easier. Adobe panels offer information and tools to help you add color, align objects, and generally transform your Adobe files (and yes, there is a Transform panel).</p><p dir=ltr>Have some fun by exploring these panels:</p><p dir=ltr>Color: Use the Color panel to select or mix colors for use in the current document. Choose different color modes, such as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) and CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), from the panel menu (the arrow in upper-right corner).</p><p dir=ltr>Info: The Info panel shows you information about the document itself or a particular selection you've made. The Info panel includes information on the size, positioning, and rotation of selected objects. You can't enter data into the Info panel. It only displays (not accepts) information, so use the Transform panel to make modifications.</p><p dir=ltr>Swatches: You can use the Swatches panel to create a library of color selections, which you can save and import into other documents or other programs. You can store colors and gradients that you use repeatedly in the Swatches panel.</p><p dir=ltr>Tools: Though the Tools panel (or toolbar) isn't available in all Creative Suite programs, it's an extremely important panel in the programs it's in. A program's toolbar contains the tools used in that program.</p><p dir=ltr>Layers: The Layers panel is used to display and select layers. You can also use it to change the layer order and to help select items on a particular layer.</p><p dir=ltr>Align: Use the Align panel to align selected objects to each other or to align them in relation to the document itself. This panel makes it easy to do precise alignment with multiple objects.</p><p dir=ltr>Stroke: The Stroke panel allows you to select strokes and change stroke attributes, such as color, width/weight, style, and caps (ends). The program you're using determines which attributes you can change.</p><p dir=ltr>Transform: The Transform panel is used to display and change the shear (skew), rotation, position, and size of a selected object in the document. You can enter new values for each of these transformations.</p><p dir=ltr>Character: The Character panel is used to select fonts, font size, character spacing, and other settings related to using type in your documents.</p>

Adobe CS5 Panels and Their Functions

Knowing how to use the panels in Adobe CS5 can help boost your creativity and make your job easier. Adobe panels offer information and tools...

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