Bernskiold Learning » Quick-Tips

QT: Fast Ratings

Erik Bernskiold — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:00:12 +0000

Rate images in Bridge a whole lot faster by using the rating shortcuts. Select the image you wish to rate and hold down the Command (PC: Control) key while pressing any number from 0-5. The zero rating is the shortcut to null out the ratings and the 1-5 is the corresponding number of stars.

QT: Cycle through Open Documents

Erik Bernskiold — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:00:18 +0000

Whether you have your documents open in tabs or not you can cycle through them by using the shortcut Control + Tab (on both Mac and PC).

QT: Clone to Blank Layer

Erik Bernskiold — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:00:15 +0000

To be able to undo any cloning in the simplest way, create a new layer before you want to start to clone. In the clone brush toolbar set the Sample drop-down from Current Layer to either Current & Below or All Layers! This will sample from all layers or the layer below but still allow you to clone on that new layer!.

QT: Scrubby Slider Shortcuts

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:00:36 +0000

Whenever you can use the scrubby sliders to change values in a box you can use these shortcuts to speed it up. Holding down the Shift key will make the scrubber go very fast through the range while holding down the Option (PC: Alt) key will allow you to fine-tune the settings, slowing down the scrubber to move in small increments.

QT: Quickly Change Image/Canvas Size

Erik Bernskiold — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:00:06 +0000

In Photoshop you can quickly access the Image size dialog box as well as the Canvas Size dialog box as both have their own shortcuts. For Image Size, use the shortcut Command + Option + I (PC: Control + Alt + I) and for Canvas Size use the shortcut Command + Option + C (PC: Control + Alt + C).

QT: Another way of duplicating PS layers

Erik Bernskiold — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:00:52 +0000

One way to duplicate layers in Photoshop is to hold down the Option-key (PC: Alt-key) and drag. This works both in the canvas and in the layers panel box! In the canvas, just hold down Option/Alt and drag the object to a new place on the canvas to create a duplicate. In the layers panel just click on the layer, hold down Option/Alt and drag the layer to duplicate it.

QT: Hang the punctuation in Photoshop

Erik Bernskiold — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:00:26 +0000

You can make typographers worldwide happy by using this when you have quotation marks in your text. Open the Type panel and in the fly-out menu, select "Roman Hanging Punctuation". This will make the punctuation marks to hang outside the text box boundaries.

QT: Place a file into any CS Application from Bridge

Erik Bernskiold — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:00:39 +0000

When you have a file in Bridge that you want to place into a Creative Suite application, there is a really simple way. Just go to File > Place and select the application you want to place into. This saves the time of going into the file system and finding the file all over again!

QT: Place multiple objects in InDesign

Erik Bernskiold — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:00:41 +0000

Did you know that you can hold down the Command (PC: Control) key to select multiple objects when using the Place command (File > Place). InDesign will then load in all of these files and give you the standard place thumbnails where you can toggle between the documents using your left and right arrow keys. To get rid of an image, simply press the Escape key while the image is active in the preview.

QT: Erase in Illustrator

Erik Bernskiold — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:00:50 +0000

The standard behaviour for the Illustrator eraser tool is to only affect the immediate areas you paint over, like a brush. If you however hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, you can drag out a box to erase a full area.